Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Jatropha Oil Production Grown on Poor Quality Land

How much land would be required to provide enough jatropha oil for the world’s aviation fleet, if it is grown on poor quality land?

Total demand for aviation kerosene	About 240 million tonnes per year (extrapolated from OECD use)
Jatropha berry yield	2 tonnes per hectare
Oil content	40%
Processing losses (estimate)	15%
Kerosene replacement per hectare	0.68 tonnes
Number of hectares needed to replace kerosene	About 350 million hectares
Percentages of world land area
Percentage of all land area	About 2.5%
Percentage of all arable land	About 18%
Percentage of all pastoral land	About 9%