1.What is the potential of Jatropha as an energy crop?
Jatropha has great potential to grow on lands, that are not productive for food crop. If inter-cropped with Castor, oil production income and starts from first year itself. Jatropha yields oil in smallest time frame as compared to all other trees.

2.What is the germination time for the seed? Is any chemical needed for fast germination time?
•Germination needs between 5 and 7 days, depending on the ambient temperature.
•There are no chemicals, which might accelerate this process. It is not necessary. But pre-planting of Jatropha in tree nurseries is important and can accelerate the development of trees substantially.

3. Does the harvest of the seeds increase from year to year?
The yield will be increasing for the first years. During the first year, the yield will be 500 kg/hectare; during the second year, the yield will be 2500 kg/ha; during the third, it will be 5000 kg/ha; during the fourth, it will be 10,000 kg/ha and from the 5th year till its life time the yield will be between 12,000 to 15,000 kg/ha/year.

4. If seeds are stored for six months in normal conditions, will oil content increase or decrease?
•Six months storage will not affect the oil content.
•The Jatropha seeds are oily and do not store for long. Research on viability of Jatropha seeds shows a decrease due to term of storage. Seeds older than 15 months show viability below 50 per cent (Kobilke 1989)

5.  Can Jatropha seeds be infected with insect when stored for a long time?
•We observed small beetles, which infected the seeds. The name of the beetles is unknown.
Solution: Try to avoid long storage. If storage is necessary, store in a dry place and in small quantities for each place.

6.  What is the basic step in the production of oil extraction from the Jatropha seed?
The first and foremost step is to dry the seeds before the extraction process. Then you can precede the separation of oil from the seed.

7.  What are the equipment necessary in the extraction of Jatropha oil?
Oil press machine and pressure oil filter machine are the two most important equipment necessary for the extraction of Jatropha oil.

8. Can we extract the Jatropha oil from seeds and directly use in vehicles?
•It depends on the engine. If we have a diesel engine with a precombustion chamber, we can use the oil directly (after good filtering). If we have a modern diesel engine with direct injection, we have to modify the engine. The best is, to start the engine with diesel, then switch to plant oil (when the engine is hot), and to stop the engine by using diesel again for some few minutes.

9. Can Jatropha oil be used directly as fuel with automobiles or other diesel engine without modification?
•Yes, Jatropha oil can be used as fuel directly in stationary diesel engines and in mobile ones (cars, trucks, buses), but you have to modify the diesel engine.
•You can also use Jatropha oil in some diesel engines with a precombustion chamber without modification

10. Which diesel engine is suitable for bio diesel, precombustion chamber or direct injection.
•Bio-diesel is a chemically modified plant oil. It behaves like diesel and can be used in any diesel engine (DI or precombustion chamber) directly.
•Since bio-diesel is a strong organic solvent, it attacks joints and tubes from organic material (plastic, rubber). So you have to make sure, that your engine has bio-diesel proof joints and plastic parts

11. Why is India leading in Jatropha cultivation?
•In India, they have discovered that Jatropha is good for employment for rural poor people. In India, it is used for lighting the lamps and in soap manufacture, as other edible oils, like palm, used so far are very expensive (prices have doubled). Jatropha has bright future in India, as the country is densely populated and soil is good due to largely organic farming techniques used for last hundreds of years.
For further reading www.jatropha.de