Jatropha-based biodiesel project to begin in US

Florida-based Alternative Fuels Americas (AFA) will initiate trial production runs of jatropha-based biodiesel to verify its processes and procedures.

The trials will be conducted in three phases, the first of which is set to begin before the New Year. AFA will be using feedstock from its plantation in Costa Rica and the biodiesel produced will be used for testing and marketing purposes.

‘We are testing our assumptions and capabilities before we engage in large-scale activity, as we need to be certain we not only produce quality biodiesel, but also that we do so within the cost structures we have imposed,’ says AFA CEO Craig Frank.

Franks adds earlier company trials were completed last spring ‘in which we created and set a range of operational activities including Project Jetropha, a wild feedstock program, the signing of offtake agreements and additional projects in development’.