Daimler Chrysler is launching a new public-private partnership in India for the production of environment-friendly bio diesel fuel. This was announced by Daimler Chrysler on the occasion of the third Environmental Forum in Magdeburg, Germany, attended by over 300 participants from 20 countries between November 17 and 19, 2003. The project is setting out to test the production of bio diesel fuel from Jatropha plants on eroded ground and its preparation for subsequent use in internal combustion engines. Further positive effects to be expected are the creation of jobs and a reduction in CO2 emissions.

This program with a five-year timeframe will investigate a wide variety of topics: the conversion of Jatropha oil into bio diesel including the assessment of chemical suitability as a fuel, the binding of CO2 in plantations, possible use of the resulting by products, and the estimated revenue to be generated by production. With the establishment of this plantation, wind erosion will be alleviated and the roots of the plants will help reduce water erosion. The organic residue created as a by product of the oil extraction makes an excellent organic fertilizer that helps improve the quality of the soil. It is envisaged that the plantations will later be operated by the municipal authorities. The project is expected to serve as a model that can be transferred to further regions of India and beyond the country’s borders.

The project partners, who reached this agreement at the third Environmental Forum staged by DaimlerChrysler and the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), are the University of Hohenheim, Germany - Institute for Animal Production in the Tropics and Subtropics which already has experience in other jatropha projects, and the Indian CSMCRI (Central Salt & Marine Chemicals Research Institute). DaimlerChrysler will be financially supporting this project and providing the test vehicles; DaimlerChrysler engineers are contributing their expertise on fuels and environmental impact.
Jatropha biodiesel is characterized by particularly favorable ignition performance. It also contains no sulfur and is thus a clean, low-emission fuel.

India currently relies on diesel fuel imported from abroad. In Delhi it is forbidden to drive a diesel-powered vehicle, in view of the high level of air pollution. The Indian government is therefore also interested in finding a clean fuel that can be produced domestically, in order to alleviate the environmental problems
Jatropha grows wild in many areas of India and even thrives on infertile soil. A good nut crop can be obtained with little effort after two to five years, depending on soil quality and rainfall. The nut kernels contain about 60 percent of oil which can be extracted and transformed into bio diesel fuel through esterification.

Researchers from the University of Hohenheim have found particularly resistant high-yield varieties in Mexico and Mali; these are now to be deployed in India. For this purpose, cuttings of the plants are being cultivated for use at the plantation. New Jatropha plants can also be propagated from tissue samples under laboratory conditions. The young plants are more sensitive than the cuttings and must be protected from excessive solar radiation for a certain period.

The two Jatropha plantations are located in different climatic regions of India; it can thus be determined which local conditions are more advantageous for cultivation. Orissa, one of the least developed regions of the country, is the site of a 20-hectare plantation in a sub-humid climate. 44 percent of the local population lives below the poverty line, and almost half the inhabitants are lacking access to electricity and clean drinking water. Gujarat, the location of the second plantation, is one of India’s most highly industrialized areas. Here, in a semi-arid climate, a plantation of approximately 10 hectares is to be established. In view of the favorable environmental conditions and the traditionally industrial setting, many domestic and foreign companies are making investments here.

Jatropha: Fuel from a bush on eroded soil.

Between April 5 and May 7, 2004, a Mercedes-Benz C-Class sedan completed a 5,000-kilometer (3,100-mile) run across the Indian subcontinent. The special aspect of this particular trip was the fuel in the tank: bio diesel, derived in India from the oilseed of the Jatropha curcas plant. The aim of the journey was to test this renewable diesel fuel in everyday use, and to present it as a beneficial addition and alternative to conventional diesel. This bio-fuel offers a number of convincing benefits: It can be produced from plants grown on eroded wasteland; it helps conserve fossil fuels; it reduces CO2 emissions; and it cuts tailpipe emissions, as well. By way of example, the experts from Daimler Chrysler have determined that emissions of particulates are one third lower that with the conventional diesel fuel available at the pumps in India. Even under the conditions prevailing in India, modern diesel vehicles running on this environmentally friendly fuel already comply with Euro 3 emissions limits.

The fuel for our test vehicle came from jatropha shrubs growing in the wild. In the future, though, jatropha biodiesel is to be produced from plants expressly cultivated in plantations on former wasteland in the Orissa wetlands region in eastern India, and in the dry region of Gujarat in the west of the country. The positive spin-off is that the wasteland will be turned back into fertile arable land, and people will be provided with work and income. As part of the Jatropha Project initiated by Daimler Chrysler, the planting of these hardy shrubs on an initial 30 hectares of land has already been completed. The project is being run under the aegis of Daimler Chrysler and implemented by the Indian Central Salt & Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI) and the University of Hohenheim, Germany, with support from

Daimler Chrysler and the German investment and development company, DEG. If the project comes through the current test phase successfully, it would mean that a substantial part of the 133 million hectares of wasteland in India could be restored to arable use, and an increasing amount of fossil fuel substituted by biodiesel from domestic production. These are promising perspectives for a country which consumes over 40 million metric tons of diesel fuel a year – most of it imported at great cost. So it was not surprising that the test run and the ambitious project for which it stands harvested such a positive echo in the media.