Nerdy Science Blog

Palm oil is the world most consumed edible oil.  Palm oil is also used as important source of biofuel.

The Genome of oil palms, the plant that produces palm oil, had been sequenced by consortium led by Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), Orion Genomics and the Advanced Biotechnology and Breeding Centre.  The sequence completion announced by Datuk Dr Mohd Basri Wahid, director-general of MPOB, at that International Palm Oil Congress 2009.  The consortium sequenced three oil palm genomes from two palm species, which are Elaeis oleifera and Elaeis guineensis (namely pisifera and dura palm).  It is hoped that the completed sequences will help to understand and improve oil yields and resistance to diseases.

MPOB and Orion Genomics will also collaborate with Mogene LC to study epigenetics make-up, a study of mechanisms that turn on and off genes, of the palms to develop oil palms with higher and more rapid yields.

(news)

Air New Zealand successfully test fly a jumbo jet, Boeing 747-400, with biofuel for two hours on Tuesday.  The passenger jet took off from Auckland International Airport on Tuesday.  This test flight is a joint venture by Air New Zealand, airplane maker Boeing, engine maker Rolls Royce and biofuel specialist UOP Llc.  This flight biofuel experiment aims to reduce carbon footprint and tackling the problem of rising oil prices.

The biofuel is a 50-50 blend of jatropha oil and standard air jet fuel.  This biofuel is also known as second generation biofuel, which has less emission than traditional biofuel ethanol.  The jatropha nuts for this biofuel were harvested from trees grown in India, Mozambique, Malawi and Tanzania.  The fuel was freezing at -47C and burning at 38C.

According to the International Air Transport Association, other plant materials such as grass, algae and salt-tolerant plants called halophytes have been considered to replace traditional fuel.  New technology is also invested to design lighter and air resistance fleets to replace the outdated ones.  Currently air travel contributes 3% of global carbon dioxide emissions.

Air New Zealand hoped to use jatropha oil for 10% of its needs by 2013. Poisonous Central American shrub, Jatropha, was studied by scientists to turn the extracted oil into jet fuel. Tee jatropha oil was significantly cheaper than the skyrocket crude oil. The jatropha oil was estimated $43 per barrel, and there were no side effects of other biofuels (such as deforestation, ethanol production, etc.). The shrub could be grown in difficult environment, as it did not require much water and fertilizer. Jet-engine maker Rolls-Royce will made one of the four engines compatible with jatropha biofuel. Air New Zealand will test flight from fields in southeastern Africa and India.

(news [pic])

Energy Current (8/5/2008):

Mission also intends to begin producing biodiesel from jatropha seeds next year. The biodiesel producer has contracted 200,000 acres (80,937 hectares) of farmland in Malaysia to grow jatropha and expects to expand the land area to increase to 750,000 acres (303,514 hectares) by the end of 2008. The total land area is expected to increase to 1.5 million acres (607,000 hectares) in 2009 and 2.5 million acres (1 million hectares) in 2010.

Bernama (5/5/2008):

KUALA LUMPUR, May 5 (Bernama) — Malaysia and Indonesia have agreed to cooperate in development of the jatropha industry under the ambit of renewable energy, the Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry said Monday.

The cooperation will cover research and development (R&D) activities related to agronomic practices, breeding of quality seeds and processing technologies, the ministry said in a statement.

Bernama (14/5/2008):

KUALA LUMPUR, May 14 (Bernama) — The government is looking at the possibility of using jatropha oil as a raw material for the production of biodiesel in the future, Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui said.

However, this is still at the research and development stage and it has not reached the commercialisation stage yet, he said.

The current use of palm oil and other vegetable oils as fuel has raised differing views as well as competition on their use as fuel or food sources, he said.