Biodiesel

Did you know that Indonesia is the largest

country that produces vegetable oil, besides
crude palm oil and copra oil. The vegetable oils
stored a potential raw materials to produce an
alternative fuel energy replace the fossil fuels
looks like coal and petroleum. As we know, that
the fossil fuel will be exhausted within a few
decades more which promotes the alternative
energy to be developed. The existence of
biodiesel could be the best option for Indonesia to
overcome this problem considering that Indonesia
is a huge agrarian country that has a fertile soil.
The idea of making vegetable oil as an
alternative fuel started by the scientist Rudolph
Diesel. The research and development about it
continues and reached its peak in the mid 80s
with the discovery of biodiesel. Biodiesel is an alternative fuel produced by the
seeds of Jatropha tree that are used in the production of it.
We needed to know about the potency of biodiesel to reduce or even
replace the consumption of fossil fuels in Indonesia. Is it an effective way to
reduce the consumption of fossil fuels considering the geographical condition in
Indonesia? Or, is it just an imaginary plan which hasnt a huge effect to this
problem? Is it succeed or not? Let us see.
The research will start by review life characteristic of jatropha tree. Is it
possible to plant this tree in all of geographical conditions? Then, when we have
already know about the life characteristic, we can go to next step by evaluate
the effectiveness of biodiesel as an alternative fuels besides fossil fuels
considering the good and bad of this fuels. Finally, we can conclude the
worthiness of biodiesel replacing the fossil fuels in Indonesia.
Jatropha is a genus of flowering plants in the spurge family,
Euphorbiaceae. Plants produce separate male and female flowers. As with many
members of the family Euphorbiaceae, Jatropha contains compounds that are
highly toxic. Jatropha tree origin from the central of America and usually live in
the tropical. The cultivation of this plant must comply the requirements of the
altitude 0 800m above seal level. Besides that, the environmental temperature
must be about 20 30 o C for an optimize growth.
There are many species of Jatropha tree that has been cultivated.
Reviewed from the effectiveness, it contains about 40% - 60% of oil in each seed.
The blooming period occurs after 60-70 days old plants and the fruits can be
harvested when the plant about 100-110 days, which usually falls in the summer,
August and September. The fruits that late to harvest will bouncy and tumbled,
so, the harvest of this fruits must be on time. Production can be achieved
approximately 1-3 tons/ha.

From the explanation above, it can be inferred that Jatropha tree cant be
planted in all Indonesia regions. It required a specific conditions as we told
before. The ratio of fruits and oil produced relatively low. However, there are
many advantages of the consumption of biodiesel which are very
environmentally friendly. It produce a lower emissions (CO 2, SO2, CO, and
hydrocarbon) which is almost the same amount of energy compared with
petroleum fuel. Then, it also has the biodegradable characteristic which is more
easily decomposed by microorganism compared to mineral oil. Though it cant be
planted in every Indonesia regions, but the potential of lowland area in Indonesia
is still huge enough to cultivate this plant.
Answering the questions submitted before, so, the plan to reduce the
consumption of fossil fuels to overcome those nearly extinction, looks like the
best option for Indonesia. We cant immediately replace the consumption of fossil
fuels considering the difficulty of cultivation of the Jatropha tree and the habitual
consumption of fossil fuels by the Indonesian society. Also, the lower ratio of
seeds production compared with the oils produced could be the other reason for
us though this alternative fuels has many advantages.

References
http://www.langkahbisnis.com/budidaya-jarak/