Jatropha seed cake valorization for non-food applications

Biomass is currently used on large scale for the production of biofuels. Well known examples are bioethanol from sugarcane and biodiesel from plant oils like rapeseed and oil palm. The Jatropha curcas L. (JCL) tree has received high attention in the last decade as it produces seeds with a high non-edible oil content and as such can be a source for sustainable biofuels that do not directly compete with food products. The JCL oil and biofuels derived thereof have been tested successfully in diesel engines and recently also in jet engines. However, the commercialisation of JCL biodiesel is far below expectations, mainly due to techno-economic issues related to the lower-than-anticipated seed yields. One of the possibilities to improve the economic viability of the JCL value chain is by giving value to the byproducts by use of the biorefinery concept. This concept aims for full valorisation of all by- and waste products into value-added products and as such to maximise the overall value of the JCL chain.
When the JCL seeds are processed for oil recovery, a seed press cake and seed shells are obtained as the byproducts. In this this thesis, experimental studies on the valorisation of JCL seed cake and seed shells are provided and discussed. The main emphasis is on the conversion of the press cake to construction materials like hardboard and liquid energy carriers like fast pyrolysis and related oils.