Jatropha curcas, L. Pruning Residues for Energy: Characteristics of an Untapped By-Product
Luigi Pari,
Alessandro Suardi,
Leonardo Longo,
Monica Carnevale,
Francesco Gallucci
Affiliations
Luigi Pari
Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e l’Analisi dell’Economia Agraria (CREA)—Centro di Ricerca Ingegneria e Trasformazioni Agroalimentari (Council for Agricultural Research and Economics—Research Centre for Engineering and Agro-Food Processing), via della pascolare 16, 00015 Monterotondo, Roma, Italy
Alessandro Suardi
Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e l’Analisi dell’Economia Agraria (CREA)—Centro di Ricerca Ingegneria e Trasformazioni Agroalimentari (Council for Agricultural Research and Economics—Research Centre for Engineering and Agro-Food Processing), via della pascolare 16, 00015 Monterotondo, Roma, Italy
Leonardo Longo
Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e l’Analisi dell’Economia Agraria (CREA)—Centro di Ricerca Ingegneria e Trasformazioni Agroalimentari (Council for Agricultural Research and Economics—Research Centre for Engineering and Agro-Food Processing), via della pascolare 16, 00015 Monterotondo, Roma, Italy
Monica Carnevale
Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e l’Analisi dell’Economia Agraria (CREA)—Centro di Ricerca Ingegneria e Trasformazioni Agroalimentari (Council for Agricultural Research and Economics—Research Centre for Engineering and Agro-Food Processing), via della pascolare 16, 00015 Monterotondo, Roma, Italy
Francesco Gallucci
Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e l’Analisi dell’Economia Agraria (CREA)—Centro di Ricerca Ingegneria e Trasformazioni Agroalimentari (Council for Agricultural Research and Economics—Research Centre for Engineering and Agro-Food Processing), via della pascolare 16, 00015 Monterotondo, Roma, Italy
Jatropha (Jatropha curcas, L.) is an energy crop mainly cultivated for the oil-seed, and the oil is usually used as bio-fuel. However, few studies have reported information about the utilization of the wood as a fuel for boiler heating systems. With 2500 jatropha trees per hectare, it is possible to produce about 3 t·ha−1·y−1 of woody biomass from pruning. In addition, jatropha trees are commonly cut down to a height of 45 cm once every 10 years, with a production of 80 t·ha−1 of dry matter of woody biomass. The use of this biomass has not yet been investigated. During the European project JatroMed, woody biomass from jatropha pruning was collected in Morocco. Chemical and physical characteristics of the wood were conducted according to UNI EN ISO standards. The following jatropha wood characteristics have been analyzed: Moisture and ash contents, the ash melting point, heating value, and concentrations of C, H, N, and S. This research focused on the evaluation of the potential use of jatropha pruning for energy production, and the results represent critical data that is useful for future studies and business potential.
