Jatropha curcas as feedstock for green fuels production

Abstract

An increasing demand of energy and fuels for diverse applications, in addition to the depletion and negative effects of fossil resources, has raised the interest to use nonedible biomass or residual biomass as alternative raw material to produce renewable fuels for heavy vehicles. Currently, several projects around the world aim the sustainable production of green fuels and a major challenge to overcome is to guarantee the continuous supply or biomass required as raw materials. To this purpose, non-edible vegetable oils, such as Jatropha curcas (JC) oil, have been suggested as a very favorable feedstock. In this review, we briefly summarized the potential to produce JC seeds and oil in Mexico as well as the outcomes and challenges found when JC oil was used to biodiesel production. We also identify some the actions required to establish a JC supply chain, which is a basic premise to promote the development of green liquid fuels such as sustainable aviation fuel.