Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 52 (2015) 9911002

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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser

A review of processing and machinery for Jatropha curcas L. fruits

and seeds in biodiesel production: Harvesting, shelling,
pretreatment and storage
Bo Yuan Lim a, Rosnah Shamsudin a,n, B.T. Hang Tuah Baharudin b, Robiah Yunus c
a

Department of Process and Food Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
c
Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
b

art ic l e i nf o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 6 November 2014
Received in revised form
15 May 2015
Accepted 11 July 2015

The harvested Jatropha fruits need to be cleaned, dehulled and stored properly as part of the production
of Jatropha biodiesel. During processing, the oil yield and quality of the extracted crude oil can be further
improved by removing the husks (outer coating) of the seeds before any necessary seed treatment. This
report attempts to provide an insight into the major issues of the process from harvesting the Jatropha
fruits to the nal storage of the seeds and pretreatment of the Jatropha seeds prior to the oil extraction
process in production. This report describes a few aspects of the processes including common methods,
research and technologies involved so that some improving strategies can be devised. The nal part of
this report also describes current development trends and the future prospect of Jatropha as a biodiesel.
The paper has determined that both the harvest and shelling processes are basically performed
manually, especially in rural areas. These activities are time consuming and introduce a high labour
cost (80% of the feedstock cost) that can potentially make the Jatropha oil economically uncompetitive. A
solution consisting of process mechanisation and mechanical device development are proposed to
improve the sustainability of the industry and to meet the increasing world demand. An improvement in
oil yield can also be achieved by fruit/seed pretreatment such as drying, shelling and heating. However,
improper control may lead to the formation of oxidation products such as free fatty acids which will
affect the efciency of biodiesel production. This is an important sustainability issue which is related to
the future development of Jatropha biodiesel.
& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Jatropha curcas L.
Process mechanisation
Harvesting
Pretreatment
Shelling process
Seed storage

Contents
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 992
Botanical description of Jatropha curcas L. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 992
Jatropha fruit harvesting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 993
Jatropha fruit pretreatment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 994
Shelling Jatropha fruits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 994
5.1.
Removal of outer shells from whole fruits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 994
5.2.
Removal of husks from seed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 995
The use of physical and mechanical properties of Jatropha for equipment design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 997
The use of shells and husks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 998
Storage of seeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 999
Suggested pretreatment steps for oil extraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 999
The cost of Jatropha postharvesting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 999
The current development of the Jatropha industry in Malaysia and future prospects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1000

Corresponding author. Tel.: 60 3 89466366; fax: 60 3 86567123.

E-mail address: rosnahs@upm.edu.my (R. Shamsudin).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.07.077
1364-0321/& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

992

B.Y. Lim et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 52 (2015) 9911002

12. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1000

Acknowledgement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1001
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1001

1. Introduction
Fossil fuels such as crude oil, coal and natural gas have been widely
used for generating electricity and for vehicle power, heat and many
other purposes. However, the high reliance on fossil fuels for the
development of the country has led to the problem of over usage
which consequently means that fossil fuels are in danger of exhaustion. The price hikes and unstable supplies of fossil fuels in the global
market can also affect the economies of developing countries. In 2013,
the usage of crude oil, coal and natural gas together reached more
than 80% of the total energy consumption of the World [1]. Further,
the overall world energy demand is estimated to keep growing by 37%
from 2013 to 2035 [2]. The statistics show the world strongly relies on
traditional fossil fuels as a primary resource to generate energy in
order to full current demand.
The high demand placed on energy and fossil fuels as a main
resource has drawn attention towards developing sustainable energy
to confront the fossil fuel depletion issue. Among the alternative
resources, biodiesel which has the same function as diesel, is gaining
worldwide acceptance and has been reported as a promising substitute for conventional diesel [3]. Biodiesel is derived from vegetable
oil or animal fats for use in a compression ignition engine [4]. Blends
of 20% (B20) or lower of biodiesel can be used with minor or no
engine modication [5]. Biodiesel also produces less carbon dioxide,
carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, hydrocarbons and particulate
matter [6]. Thus, the mix will directly reduce the dependence on
fossil fuel as well as reduce the impact on the environment. In
addition, the world trend shows the usage of fossil fuel based diesel
is slowly being replaced by biodiesel.
Different vegetable oils are used in different countries for biodiesel
production. The United States is an exporter of edible oil. The country
uses soybean for biodiesel production. The European countries use
rapeseed oil as the raw material. Tropical countries such as Malaysia
use palm oil or coconut oil for the purpose. However, India is trying to
reduce its reliance on edible oils. Therefore, India prefers using nonedible oils such as Simarouba, Jatropha and Karanja to produce
biodiesel [7]. In order to be a future prospective fuel, biodiesel must
be readily available, economically competitive, technically feasible and
environmentally friendly [8]. It has to compete economically with
petroleum diesel fuels. One of the means to reduce the cost is to use
the less expensive sources of fatty acids such as animal fats, waste
food oil, inedible oils and the by-products of rening vegetables
oils [9].
The plant sources that are currently used as the feedstock for
biodiesel production include coconut oil, palm oil, rapeseed, soyabean,
jatropha and so forth. Most of them are edible and require a large area
of land for growing. Over usage of food based crops in the biodiesel
industry will eventually cause a food crisis problem which can impact
human life. Inedible vegetables oils, mostly produced by tree bearing
oil (TBO) seeds and shrubs, can provide a more suitable alternative.
The current world emphasis is focused in terms of food security
during feedstock selection with ongoing bioenergy development. The
cultivation of biodiesel feedstock should not compromise future needs
in terms of food supply [10]. Hence, with no displacement of food
crops and disturbance of food production, the focus has shifted to
Jatropha curcas L. to be the energy crop of choice [1114]. The wide
acceptance of Jatropha is mainly due to the high adaptation of
Jatropha trees to marginal or waste land. Moreover, the requirement
for nutrients and water is lower for Jatropha because it is a perennial

crop which has a deeper root system to help retain water and
nutrients more effectively [15,16,89]. There are many benets offered
by Jatropha including reclamation of waste land, control of erosion
and stimulation of rural development [1719].
There are few steps involved in the production of Jatropha biodiesel
including cultivation, harvesting, fruit pretreatment, oil extraction, oil
purication and biodiesel production [14,20] (Fig. 1). High production
of biodiesel is required to cope with the depletion of current energy
sources. Hence, a large amount of Jatropha seeds need to be prepared
prior to the oil extraction process in order to meet the demand.
Jatropha is a promising crop for biodiesel production but the
technology is still in its infancy [24,25]. The development is still in
progress but not much has been realised to date. Further, most of the
studies focus on Jatropha plantations, oil extraction and biodiesel
production. However, a comprehensive study on Jatropha postharvesting has not been widely carried out at present. The objective
of this review is to share the most recent knowledge of the processing
of Jatropha prior to extraction. It is important to compile information
about the collection and processing of seeds as the activities have
become one of the major challenges in the Jatropha cultivation
programme [90]. Within this context, the primary focus will be on
the fruit harvesting, fruit pretreatment, the shelling process and seed
storage as part of Jatropha biodiesel production.

2. Botanical description of Jatropha curcas L.

J. curcas L., also known as the physics nut, belongs to the
Euphorbiaceae family [23,26]. It is a drought resistant shrub and
is well adapted to arid and semi-arid conditions [27]. It can be
planted under a wide range of rainfall regimes from 250 mm/
annum to over 3000 mm/annum [28,29]. It is a perennial crop. The
roots grow vertically and laterally into deeper soil and this
structure helps the plant to efciently store nutrients and water
[15,30].
The shape of the fruit is ovoid oblong and resembles an American
football. The outer shell is green when it is fresh [31]. J. curcas L. can
be propagated reproductively through direct seeding or transplanting
by stem cutting [15]. Normally, it grows up to 5 m in height [15]. A
height of 8 m or 10 m can be achieved under favourable conditions
[14]. The tree is a succulent plant that sheds its leaves during drought
or under conditions of stress [29]. The Jatropha tree starts to produce
fruits after six months and the yield becomes stable when the plant is
13 years old [32]. The lifespan in terms of seed productivity is in the
range of 50 years [33]. The Jatropha is native to Mexico and Southern
America countries such as Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Paraguay,
Bolivia, Honduras, Nicaragua, Brazil, Peru, Argentina and Guatemala
[34]. It has been widely cultivated throughout tropical and sub-tropical
regions in China, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, sub-Saharan Africa,
Tanzania etc. [6,7,14,15,19,27,3438].
The seed yield has been reported as 0.212 t/ha depending on the
growing conditions [7,17,32]. The oil yield can achieve 1590 kg/ha [19].
Other research has stated that the oil yield of Jatropha seeds is
competitive compared to soybean and rapeseed which both produce
lesser oil by weight [39]. Further, the Jatropha oil can be converted to
biofuel which easily meets the American and European standards
[40,41]. The Jatropha seeds (23 seeds in each fruit) are covered by
shells (the outer layer of fruit) in each fruit. The seed itself consists of
husk (the outer coating of the seed) and kernel (the nucleus of the

B.Y. Lim et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 52 (2015) 9911002

seed) as shown in Fig. 2. The fruits contain 3540% of shells by weight

and 6065% of seeds by weight while the seeds consist of 4042%
husks and 5860% kernels by weight [6]. The seeds are black and the
pure kernels are white. Further, the seeds are toxic due to the presence
of phorbol esters [42]. Both the shells and husks do not contain any oil.
Around 3055% of the oil is stored in the nucleus that needs to be
recovered using a screw press or by using the solvent extraction
method for biodiesel production [14,31,43,44].

3. Jatropha fruit harvesting

The harvest starts in the third year after planting since the fruit
yield for the rst two years is too low [45]. The fruits become
mature when the colour changes from green to yellow [22]. The
mature fruits remain on the branches and become brittle and
Jatropha
Cultivation
Oil extraction
(Screw press
or
Solvent
extraction)

Fruit Harvesting

Seeds/kernels storage
Crude oil
purification
(Sedimentation,
filtration and
centrifuging)
Biodiesel storage

Pretreatment
(Cleaning,
drying,
fruit decapsulation
and seed dehulling)
Biodiesel production
(Transesterification)
Biodiesel purification
(Separation of
glycerol and biodiesel
washing biodiesel
and drying)

Fig. 1. Jatropha biodiesel production process ow [14,2123].

Whole fruit
Mean size:25.3 x 21.4 x 20.5

Outer shell

Whole seed
Mean size: 18.4 x 11.2 x 8.8

Husk (Seed coating)

993

black when dried under the sun [32]. Jatropha fruits are best
harvested when mature (yellow-brown) [15]. Jatropha seed yield
is still difcult to predict, the earlier reported yield showing a very
wide range (0.412 t/ha/yr) [15,27].
Another issue is that the Jatropha fruit ripening is uneven
making harvesting a challenging process. Basically the harvesting
cannot be completed at one time, unlike for rice and other crops,
due to the fact that the fruits ripen over a long period of time and
require a few weeks to months of picking [23,46,91]. Further, the
low density of fruits in the eld is a cause of concern because of
the greater distance required to transport the fruits in the eld.
The fruits are basically hand-picked. Sometimes, the workers use a
long stick to hit the fruits or shake the tree during harvesting [32].
This method is strenuous and can cause the fruits to fall on the
grass. Therefore, a long wooden stick, with a circular comb and a
bag at one end, has been invented to make the harvesting process
easier [21,47]. The fruits can be directly collected in the bag on the
stick. In Tanzania, a pole is used to pull down the branches of a tree
to reach the higher fruits [37].
In order to ensure quality harvesting, the proper tools and
baskets should be provided. In the Philippines, a harvesting shear
has been developed as shown in Fig. 3 [48]. The fruit is inserted
into the slots of the tool which is then pulled and the fruit sheared
during harvesting. A bucket is connected to the harvesting shear
by a exible hose in order to convey the harvested fruits directly
into the bucket. Further, a motorised harvesting rod has also been
developed to pull the fruits from the tree using a rotating claw
[48]. Training on the use of the tools has to be conducted in order
to improve the effectiveness of the harvesting activity. Further, the
shading of neighbouring crops can be reduced through pruning to
facilitate harvesting [15,27].
There is a large variation in harvesting rate as tabulated in Table 1
as it depends on the picking method and plantation strategies (space,
nutrients, water) [17,49]. The fruits have to be harvested manually at
regular intervals causing this step to be very labour intensive and this
potentially affects the production cost [27]. Mechanisation of the
process has been proposed to mitigate the cost issue. FACT in 2010
stated that Viridas PLC (a Brazilian company) gave a presentation
about a prototype mechanical harvester in Jatropha World Miami
2008. The conceptual design was based on a shaker design used in the
olive industry. An American company, Oxbo International Corporation,
introduced the Korvan 9240 mechanical Jatropha harvester, as illustrated in Fig. 4, that utilised a dynamic rotor to pick the fruits and
allowed continuous harvesting. On the other hand, a robotic arm
might be an alternative method but it is not currently feasible due to
the low density of yield and low cost of the end product.
Mechanical harvesting ensures continuously efcient harvesting, as well as providing cost control and a strong ability to harvest
on demand. Although mechanical harvesting provides several
benets, a suitable and convenient technology has still to be
developed for harvesting [37] as mechanical methods can damage

To bucket

Kernel (seed nucleus)

Fig. 2. The components of Jatropha fruits (unit: mm).

Fig. 3. A sketch of a harvesting shear (left) and motorised harvesting rod (right)
developed by the University of the Philippines Los Baos [48].

B.Y. Lim et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 52 (2015) 9911002

Table 1
Manual harvesting rate in different countries
[23,37].
Country
Brazil
Congo
Honduras
India
Indonesia (model based)
Nicaragua
Sudan
Sumbawa, Indonesia
Tanzania

Harvesting rate
48 kg seeds/day
4050 kg seeds/day
40 kg seeds/day
8 kg seeds/h
7.5 kg seeds/h
18 kg seeds/h
3 kg seeds/h
30 kg fruits/day
210 kg seeds/h

Compression roller: 13mm clearance

Single pass Dual pass
Shelling efficiency, %

994

100.00
90.00

89.48

84.39

82.90

80.00

74.26

66.77

70.00
60.00

77.68

5.83

8.18

10.30

74.68
64.77

11.15

Moisture content, % w.b.

Fig. 5. Shelling efciency for different moisture content (data are mean values 7 standard deviation) [51].

5. Shelling Jatropha fruits

Jatropha fruit shelling is a cleaning process in which the outer
shells are detached from the fruits to produce clean seeds. The
seeds can be further processed to produce white kernels by
removing the husks (outer coating) from the seeds. The technology of seed cleaning is well established for other crops such as
barley, coffee and beans [5254]. The physical characteristics used
to separate the seeds include size, length, weight, shape and
surface texture [55]. The most effective differences between the
seed/kernel and undesirable material should be rstly identied
for the selection of a suitable separation mechanism.
5.1. Removal of outer shells from whole fruits

Fig. 4. A sketch of a dynamic rotor in a Jatropha curcas mechanical harvester

KORVAN 9240 [50].

owers and tend to harvest both mature and immature fruits at

the same time [39]. Therefore, the technology might work if all the
mature fruits are allowed to fall down when shaken without
affecting the immature fruits.

4. Jatropha fruit pretreatment

Before the shelling process can take place, the fruits need to be
dried since the moisture content will affect the shelling rate [24,47,51].
The decrease in moisture content (11.15% w.b. to 5.83% w.b.) could
increase the shelling efciency of the compression rollers by around
18% for one pass and 15% for a dual pass as shown in Fig. 5 [51]. It has
been previously reported that fruits with low moisture content are
brittle and easily damaged by mechanical force [32]. Further, the water
adds to the weight and transporting cost so that drying is a necessary
step. Direct sunlight is preferred if the seeds are not used for
cultivation [47]. The fruits should be spread over a concrete oor or
a plastic sheet. A solid concrete oor can make the work more efcient
[23]. Further, the oor should be inclined to avoid stagnating in rain
water. Sun drying is free but the time taken (710 days based on
Mehla [21]) to reach the desired moisture content is highly dependent
on the environmental conditions. Adding a fan can improve the drying
rate where an electricity supply is available. Another vital step is to
ensure the fruits are free from small stones or other solid impurities to
prevent damage to the shelling equipment.

The cleanness of seeds decides the efciency of oil recovery so that

the shells should be removed prior to the subsequent oil extraction
process [56,57]. The presence of shells allows the diffusion of oil from
the kernels to the shells during the oil extraction process as the shells
can retain the oil in the press cake [58]. Therefore, the separation of
shells from the seeds is now normal practice for better oil yield.
Further, increased shell content could potentially increase the operational pressure required in the mechanical expeller and hence cause
energy wastage [59]. The oil-free husks can also be a barrier to block
the oil emerging from the kernels and this affects the oil yield.
Therefore, the whole seeds should be processed into a broken form
to allow greater exposure of the oil-rich kernels to the pressing tool
during extraction [60]. However, this is not a common practice
currently. The whole seeds are basically produced and just stored
instead of producing the broken form. It is believed that the whole
seeds are more valuable to commercialise as compared to the broken
form since the broken seeds are typically related to poor quality.
The outer shell can be removed manually or mechanically. The
manual method uses a long stick or any hard tool to beat the dried
fruits in order to loosen the outer shells [27]. It can also be undertaken
entirely by hand, but it is time consuming. Some workers may use a
wooden board to press the dried fruits on a table or a concrete oor to
split the shells [21]. The separation of the shells and seeds does not
require any advanced technology as it can be achieved easily using
winnowing and sieving [21] (Fig. 6). The rural areas basically rely on
labour to remove the shells manually. The production of a large
quantity of seeds using a manual method is inefcient and requires a
lot of labour which is costly. Only 5 kg of seeds can be recovered in
3.4 h as reported by Grimsby et al. [37]. The reported major costs for
fruit treatment for Jatropha biodiesel production is the labour cost
[45]. This issue can restrict the development of the industry.
Other than the manual method, the implementation of a mechanical system in the shelling process is encouraged since a motorised
machine can be designed to have a higher capacity and thus reduce
the requirement for manual labour. Table 2 shows that most of the
commercialised shelling machines in the Jatropha biodiesel industry
produce whole seeds from whole fruits by removing the shells. The

B.Y. Lim et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 52 (2015) 9911002

whole seeds or broken seeds are normally produced without removing the husks (the outer coating of the seeds). The steps to separate
the shells from the whole seeds can be carried out by using a screen or
mesh and a blower which uses the difference in terms of size and
density as the basis to achieve separation. The other separation
devices which might be useful for this application include a spiral

Rotating mesh

995

separator, an inclined belt separator, a vibrator separator, a roll mill

and an aspirator since the shells and seeds are also different in terms
of roundness and mass according to the physical properties measured
by Pradhan et al. [32].
Figs. 7 and 8 visualise the designs of a few Jatropha shelling
machines available in the market. In summary, the machines can be
categorised into two types which are either hand operated or
motorised machines. Basically, the hand operated machines have a
smaller footprint and are portable and useful in rural areas where no
electricity is available. All of the motorised machines consist of a
cracking unit (cracking roller, impact blade, shearing mesh or shearing
blade) while some of the machines are combined with a separator
(vibratory sieve or air-screen unit) for a one-stop shelling process as
shown in Table 3. In the cracking unit, the shearing mesh and blade
provide stress in the fruits against the xed part while the design of
the cracking roller and impact blade can generate compression and an
impulsive force such that the shells can be detached from the seeds.
5.2. Removal of husks from seed

Motor
Fig. 6. A sketch of separator used in the Gota Verde project in Honduras [23].

Just as for the shells, the husks also do not contain any oil. The
husks are the hard and brittle coating of the kernels. The husks can

Table 2
Summary of Jatropha shelling equipment in the market [23,32,6165].
No. Machine

Input

Output

Universal nut sheller

Hand-operated Jatropha
curcas L. fruit decorticator
Hand-operated decorticator

Whole
fruit
Whole
fruit
Whole
fruit
Whole
fruit.
Whole
fruit
Whole
fruit
Whole
fruit
Whole
fruit

Mixture of seed and No

detached shell
Whole seed
Shell

3
4
5

Jatropha curcas Shelling

Machine
Jatropha sheller

Jatropha decorticator

Jatropha fruit shelling

machine
Dehuller

Discharge Supplier/developer

Whole seed

Shell

Whole seed

Shell

Whole seed

Shell

Whole seed

Shell

Broken seed

Shell

Whole seed

No

Capacity

Footprint

Status

Fully Belly Project, USA

50 kg/h

Unknown

Commercialised

Indian Institute of Technology

40 kg/h

Unknown

R&D

Rajkumar Agro Engineers Pvt.

Ltd., India
Thailand National Metal and
Materials Technology Center
Mixa Foods and Beverages,
Kenya
Rajkumar Argo Engineers Pvt.
Ltd., India
Universiti Putra Malaysia

3060 kg/h

Unknown

Commercialised

NA

Unknown

Commercialised

NA

Unknown

Commercialised

500
700 kg/h
43.16kg/h

Unknown

Commercialised

0.6 m  1.6 m

R&D

1000 kg/h

70 cm  100 cm  150 cm Commercialised

Projector Tempate, Leon

Nicaragua

Fruit inlet

Rotating blade
with sieve

Upper sieve

Rotating inner
piece

Lower sieve
Outlet
Fig. 7. Examples of hand-operated shelling machines [23,32].

996

B.Y. Lim et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 52 (2015) 9911002

become a blocking wall to obstruct the extraction of oil from inside

the kernels. This will affect the performance of the oil recovery.
The removal of the husks is not a common practice because as yet
no mature technologies are available to recover the kernels on a
large scale basis. The easiest way to improve the oil yield is to
rupture the whole seeds into broken form as the feedstock for the
oil extraction process. This allows a greater exposure of kernels to
the press tool in order to increase the extraction efciency. The
quality of the Jatropha crude oil is also an important issue since it
can affect the quality of the biodiesel production for use in vehicles
[67,68]. The husk content tends to affect the colour of crude oil
and contribute to the formation of sediment in the crude oil.
Achieving low husk content will denitely reduce impurities in the
extracted crude oil. The efciency of any subsequent crude oil
purication process in biodiesel production can also be improved
simultaneously.
Greyt et al. [69] revealed that a reduction in the amount of husks
could improve the oil yield, increase the protein content and reduce
the bre content as illustrated in Fig. 9. The reported oil yield could be

improved by around 20% by reducing the husk content to 5%.

However, Greyt et al. [69] commented that a zero level of husk is
not encouraged since the consequent press on the soft kernels is
difcult. This might be due to slip and the pressed kernels may turn
into a paste inside the press tool. With regard to this issue, Beerens
[59] reported that a reduction of the husk content to 66% could reduce
the oil recovery of BT50 press due to the slip of solidoil mixture. A
modication of the press tool to process seeds with low husk content
is necessary. Further, the higher bre content of the undehulled seeds
can increase the wear of the press. Table 4 shows the effect of husk
content on the level of oil recovery based on previous research. A zero
husk content could improve the oil yield by 26.8%. A high quality
crude oil should be free of impurities or sediment such as husk
particles. Therefore, one of the direct ways to improve oil quality is to
reduce the husk content. A seed cleaning process has been proposed
to remove the husks from the whole seeds in order to produce kernels
with purity as high as possible prior to the oil extraction process for
better oil quality. In addition, the presence of husk content leads to
more solvent required during solvent extraction process and thus the

Cracking
rollers

Vibratory
sieve

Blower
Shaking
Air-screen

Rotating
blade with
sieve

Outlet

Fig. 8. Examples of motorised shelling machines [23,6264].

Table 3
Summary of separation mechanism to produce seeds from whole fruits for the machines in the market [23,32,6166].
No.

Machine

Supplier/developer

Dehulling

Separation

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Universal nut sheller

Hand-operated Jatropha curcas L. fruits decorticator
Hand-operated decorticator
Jatropha curcas shelling machine
Jatropha sheller
Jatropha decorticator
Jatropha fruit shelling machine

Fully Belly Project, USA

Indian Institute of Technology
Rajkumar Agro Engineers Pvt. Ltd., India
Thailand National Metal and Materials Technology Center
Mixa Foods and Beverages, Kenya
Rajkumar Argo Engineers Pvt. Ltd., India
Universiti Putra Malaysia

Vertical mill
Impact and shear
Impact and shear
Cracking roller
Impact and shear
Impact and shear
Cracking roller

No
Screen
No
Screen
Blower
Air-screen
Screen

B.Y. Lim et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 52 (2015) 9911002

husk content should be reduced in order to save the solvent

extraction cost.
The technology to remove the shell from the whole seed is
considered mature as there are many types of processing equipment
available. Separation between the shells and whole seeds is not
challenging due to the high difference in terms of mass (the seeds
are 25% heavier than the shells) [6]. However, not many mechanical
devices exist to separate between kernels and husks due to the great
difculty in dehulling seeds mechanically without causing crush
damage. Breakage free kernels can be obtained only if the force is
selective and applied only to the husks. The Jatropha seed is oblong in
shape, has fragile cotyledons and a tough covering wall with a
relatively thicker ring around the edges [21]. Therefore, dehulling
can best be achieved by compression or impact associated with a
shearing action [21].
Very few seed cleaning devices are found in the market, which
indicates that the technology is still at an emerging stage. In Ghana, a
groundnut cracker was modied for cracking Jatropha seeds and the
design of the sieve in the shelling drum is shown in Fig. 10. At an
optimal setting, the blower loss, capacity and cleanliness were 2.76%
(mass of kernel loss over total mass of sample), 1037.90 kg/h and
88.65% respectively [72]. In China and India, the seed cleaning process
has been achieved with a large and complicated system. The whole
system combined a few individual machines and occupied a large
space in the production area. The system basically consisted of a
grading machine, a feed elevator, a seed shelling and separation
machine, a sorting machine and an air classier as stated in Table 5.
Zhengzhou Amisy Trading Co., Ltd. claimed that their system could
achieve a 90% shelling rate.
In summary, most of the machines are designed for the purpose of
detaching and separating shell from seed. If the removal of the husks
from the kernels is required, another seed cleaning system/device
needs to be added. A concept has been proposed by Universiti Putra
Malaysia to recover kernels directly from the whole fruits within a
single machine as demonstrated in Fig. 11. It involves two stages,
namely cracking and separation processes. Both stages consist of a
double level cracking unit and a pneumatic separation unit complete
with a blower and duct to supply air movement. Both stages have a
similar design but with different roller clearances and blower speeds.
Based on preliminary testing reports, the shell and husk removal
achieved were 100.00% and 45.46% respectively. A total of 2.40% of the

Oil

Protein

997

kernels were lost throughout the various stages in the process [75].
However, the technology is not mature and is still under development.

6. The use of physical and mechanical properties of Jatropha

for equipment design
The physical and mechanical properties of the Jatropha fruits, seeds
and kernels are important information required to design and
fabricate particular equipment and structures for processing, handling,
storage and transportation [31,7678]. The physical properties discussed include moisture content, fruit size, sphericity, porosity, surface
area, bulk density, true density, 1000 unit mass and the composition of
the fruits.

Fig. 10. A sketch of the sieve in the shelling drum for a Jatropha seed cracker built
by Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana [72].

Jatropha fruits

Fibre

First stage

Percentage (%)

60
50
40
30
20
10
0

Undehulled

30

25
15
Husk content (%)

Second stage

Fig. 9. Effect of husk content during the oil extraction process [69].

Table 4
The oil yield improvement along with the reduction of husk content.
Reference

Reduction of husk content (%)

Oil recovery improvement

[70]
[71]
[72]

50
95
100

45%
Around 20%
26.8%

Discharge

Collect

Fig. 11. The concept to recover kernels directly from whole fruits [75].

998

B.Y. Lim et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 52 (2015) 9911002

The information concerning the moisture content is useful to

determine the time required for the drying process [76]. Knowledge of the size and shape are useful when designing the
separator, harvester, sorting device and grinding machines [76].
Further, the shape can be dened in terms of the sphericity and
aspect ratio which can have an impact on the material ow
characteristic in the machine [76]. The properties such as porosity
and surface area affect the resistance to airow over the bulk
material bed during the drying process [76]. Furthermore, the bulk
density, true density and 1000 unit mass are useful in determining
the size of the storage bins required and the structural loads [76].
Further, the information concerning the fraction of each part of the
fruit gives an overall idea of the composition of the kernels and
shells which affects the oil yield of the product.
Based on Table 6, the seed fraction shows a higher value of
sphericity than the kernels. This indicates that the kernels are more
difcult to roll along a plane. The bulk density of the fruits is lower
than the kernels, thus revealing that the fruits require more space per
unit mass as compared to the seeds and kernels. The solid density of
the seeds and kernels are close to each other, signifying that the
densities of the husks (the coat of the seeds) and the kernels are very
close as well, thus causing the separation of the husks from the
kernels to be difcult using mechanical means. From another report
the bulk densities for the seeds and kernels are stated as 450 kg m 
and 420 kg m  respectively while the solid densities are 1040 kg m 
and 1020 kg m  respectively [76].
The porosity of the kernels is less than the seeds. However, the
results are different as per a report by Sirisomboon et al. and Karaj
and Mller [31,76]. In addition, Sirisomboon et al. [76] reported
the static coefcient of friction of the kernels was the highest of all
the surfaces studied as compared to the fruits and seeds. This is
because the kernels are softer and have a viscous surface and thus
are more difcult to move within a machine [76]. Unlike the
kernels, the whole seed is harder and has a slippery surface which
enables it to move easily on a plane surface [76].
The minimum force required for the shelling process and oil
extraction can be determined through a study of the mechanical

properties such as the rupture energy, rupture force and hardness [76].
The energy or work used to rupture the kernels is the lowest and that
of the fruits is the highest as shown in Table 6. This suggests that the
kernels can be broken easily during the shelling process [76]. The
hardness and the rupture force of the seeds are the highest as the
seeds consist of a hard skin [76]. The fruits have the least hardness due
to the weak connection lines of the outer shells [76]. Further, the
rupture force of the kernels is much lower due to the soft texture of
the kernels [31,76]. The deformation ratio at the rupture point can be
obtained by dividing the deformation at the rupture point by the
dimension of the fruit components in the direction of the applied
force at the loading point [76]. The fruits require a lower strain to
rupture compared to the seeds and kernels as the deformation ratio of
the fruit is the lowest [76]. Moreover, the angle of repose of the fruits
or seeds decides the feeder and storage design [76].

7. The use of shells and husks

The oil free shells and husks are not used in biodiesel production.
They are also not valuable as fodder. The concept of zero waste
agriculture for Jatropha production has been proposed [62]. Further,
Marieke Bruins commented that Jatropha oil itself will likely never
generate much prot [25]. It is necessary to create higher value of its
by-products in order to make Jatropha a viable biofuel in the market
[92]. Therefore, the unwanted shells have been utilised as the feedstock for biomass production as it stores energy recorded at
3123 kcal/kg [62]. For the husks, the reported gross energy is
19.0 MJ/kg [43] and it also has potential to be used as a burning
material. The shell particles have the potential to be employed as a
fertiliser since they consist of high levels of potassium (7.1%) and some
nitrogen (0.86%) and phosphorous (0.14%) [62,79]. The husks, which
consist of potassium (1.9%), nitrogen (0.7%) and phosphorous (0.1%),
can be applied as green manure as well [43]. Further, the conversion
of the seed husks into charcoal is feasible if a large quantity of husks
can be collected during production [5] (Table 7).

Table 5
Summary of seed cleaning systems available in the market [73,74].
No. System name

Supplier

Capacity

Footprint

Zhengzhou Amisy Trading

Co., Ltd., Machine, China
Goldin (India) Equipment
Pvt. Ltd.

400 kg/h

2.8 m  11.4 m Commercialised Material loading hopper, elevator, grading screen machine, screw
elevator, shelling and separating machine, sorting machine
Unknown
Commercialised Feed elevator, Impact huller, three deck ne grader, air classier

Jatropha seed
cleaning system
Jatropha seed
dehulling system

100
200 kg/h

Status

Components

Table 6
A comparison of physical and mechanical properties between Jatropha fruits, seeds and kernels [32,76].
Properties

Fruit

Seed

Kernel

Seed fraction (%)a

Kernel fraction (%)a
Shell/husk fraction (%)a
Sphericitya
Bulk density (kg m  3)a
True density (kg m  3)a
Porosity (%)HYPERLINK \l "MEP_L_tbl6fna" \o "aPradhan et al., 2010. "a
Angle of repose (lling) (deg)b
Angle of repose (emptying) (deg)b
Rupture force (N)b
Deformation ratio at rupture pointHYPERLINK \l "MEP_L_tbl6fnb" \o "bSirisomboon et al., 2007 "b
Hardness (N mm  1)b
Energy used to rupture (N mm)b

E71.68
E44.73
E28.32
Highest
Lowest
Lowest
Highest
Smallest
Larger
Higher
Lowest
Lowest
Highest

E63.02
E37.13
Higher
Higher
Higher
Higher
Larger
Smallest
Highest
Higher
Highest
Higher

Lowest
Highest
Highest
Lowest
Largest
Largest
Lowest
Highest
Higher
Lowest

a
b

Pradhan et al. [32].

Sirisomboon et al. [76].

B.Y. Lim et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 52 (2015) 9911002

Table 7
The potential uses of shells and husks [5,23,29,80].
Discharged fruit components

Potential uses

Shells
Husks

Fertilisers, combustibles
Fertilisers, combustibles, charcoal production

8. Storage of seeds
One of the factors that make Jatropha suitable for small-scale
production is that it can be stored for a prolonged period of time
under good conditions before further processing [81]. It faces less
deterioration problems as compared to other crops such as oil palm
and cassava. The long storage period eases production planning and
can ensure that the seeds are available for processing even when there
is high demand. Most of the storage is in the form of whole seeds
without the outer shells. The outer shells are larger and can add to the
weight. Therefore, storage in the form of whole fruits will increase the
transportation cost and require more storage space. The stored seeds
may be further processed to remove the husks prior to extraction.
The degradation of oil is basically caused by hydrolysis and
oxidation reactions which are a function of storage temperature
and relative humidity [93]. The seeds must be properly stored
before oil extraction to prevent the formation of oxidation products and free fatty acids which can inhibit alkaline-catalysed
transesterication reactions during biodiesel production [93]. The
moisture content of the seeds for storage should be in the range 5
7% and not more than 8% [21,23]. This control is necessary to
prevent the seeds from deteriorating which could result in the
formation of free fatty acids during storage [23]. The dried seeds
are basically stored in woven sacks and must be placed in a wellventilated room [21]. A long storage period of more than 8 months
and long exposure to the sun should be avoided since these can
degrade the oil quality [23]. Another report suggested it is better
to store the extracted oil in closed containers to prevent it from
being exposed to oxygen and light, rather than storing whole
seeds, especially under tropical climate conditions [93].

999

production, which is around 82.83% as shown in Fig. 12, is incurred

at the seed production stage [45]. The major costs at this stage are
the salaries of the labour for fruit collection, treatment (handling
and capital cost) and the fertilisation cost. Openshaw [29] estimated that 95% of the cost of harvesting, fruit shelling and seed
cleaning is the labour cost. Therefore, the cost of production was
reported to be almost directly proportional to the fruit yield as
shown in Fig. 13 due to the fact that more labour hours would be
required to process a larger amount of mature fruits. On the other
hand, although the pretreatment of fruit/seeds, such as drying and
heating, are suggested for the best postproduction, there is no
established documentation for the cost distribution of each
process.
Table 8 shows that different costs are incurred in different
countries. The lower labour cost in Tanzania contributed to the
lower harvesting cost. However, the development of Jatropha
using manual harvesting and the traditional dehulling method
becomes impractical for a large scale plant and in the countries
where the labour cost is relatively high such as Malaysia, Belize,
Brazil, etc. The production of Jatropha biodiesel should be effective
and low cost so that the Jatropha can be a sustainable alternative
for fossil fuels. Henning [47] stated that the economy of the oil is
very much dependent on the price of the seeds. The reduction in
the price of the seed from US$0.10 to US$0.08 per kg can decrease
the price of the crude oil from US$0.83 to US$0.67 per litre [47]. As
a result, the process of mechanisation has become the primary
development trend to reduce the seed cost in the Jatropha
biodiesel industry. On the other hand, one of the best means of
reducing cost is to combine the steps in the various operations
[83]. Therefore, simplication using a single machine, using low
cost components or combining two machines might be a further
trend for the purpose of saving production space, material handling time, reducing labour requirement and reducing the maintenance cost. This is to make the feedstock preparation
economically feasible and market-competitive [29].

6.10

10.89

Seed production (%)

0.19

Oil extraction and

refining (%)

9. Suggested pretreatment steps for oil extraction

Transesterification (%)
Biodiesel distribution
(%)

82.83

Fig. 12. Financial analysis of Jatropha curcas L. biodiesel [45].

Harvest

Remove shell

Remove husk

60
50
Cost (US$/ha)

Before extraction, the seeds must be dried if they are too humid
(4 8%) [23,47]. The seeds can be dried in an oven at 105 1C or sun
dried [36]. Beerens [59] reported that cooking seeds in water at
80 1C for one hour could achieve the highest oil recovery based on
a mechanical press (89% for BT50 and 91% for the Sayari expeller
(dual pass)). However, the contact of seeds with water is risky as
free fatty acids may form. Further, the seeds must be free of sand
and stones or any hard impurities which could destroy a mechanical expeller [47]. The thresher or vibrating sieve is most commonly used to remove the stones and sand [23]. In a separate
study, Mehla [21] stated that steaming is necessary to improve the
oil extraction efciency. However, Sirisomboon and Kitchaiya [82]
reported that heat pretreatment by steaming did not improve the
oil yield in a Soxhlet extractor. Drying in an oven at a higher
temperature (4080 1C) has been reported to improve oil yield
(36.8347.06% by weight) but resulted in a higher acid value [82].
In conclusion, the control of temperature and moisture content
parameters during pretreatment is important so as to maintain the
oil quality.

40
30
20
10
0

10. The cost of Jatropha postharvesting

Year 2 (0.50) Year 3 (1.25) Year 4 (2.50) Year 5 (5.00) Year 6 (7.50)
Yield per ha (tonnes)

The feedstock accounts for a large portion of the direct

biodiesel production cost due to the fact that the major cost of

Fig. 13. An estimation of the cost of the traditional harvesting and shelling
processes. Adapted from Openshaw [29].

1000

B.Y. Lim et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 52 (2015) 9911002

Table 8
Data concerning the harvesting cost (cultivation of 1 ha Jatropha for 5 years)
adapted from Achten [49].
Country

Cost (TSH/kg)

Equivalent to USD
(1 TSHE0.0006USD)

Reference

Global study
Africa
Tanzania

120210
210471
80100

0.070.13
0.130.29
0.050.06

[84]
[85,86]
[87,88]

11. The current development of the Jatropha industry in

Malaysia and future prospects
The highly suitable climate and land availability in Malaysia has
created great potential for the development of Jatropha biodiesel
production. The Malaysian Ministry of Plantation Industries and
Commodities has launched a B5 biodiesel (5% of biodiesel blend)
mandate in 2013 in order to achieve an annual demand of 500,000 t of
biodiesel [94]. However, currently all the biodiesel is produced using
palm oil. The Malaysian government has no immediate policy to boost
the development of Jatropha production as it may lead to a negative
impact on palm oil plantation equilibrium [14,95]. Further, there is a
lack of a marketing channel and a price structure for Jatropha
production in the country. In addition, the Malaysian Agricultural
Research and Development Institute (MARDI) has suggested the
implementation of a contract farming programme to boost interest
among farmers to plant Jatropha. Further, Bionas Sdn. Bhd. has offered
a buy-back guarantee for thirty years with an initial price of RM1050
per tonne of fruits [96].
Up to three projects have already been identied in Malaysia in
2012 with around 259,906 ha of Jatropha plantation area as reported
by University of Lneburg [97]. On the other hand, Bionas Sdn. Bhd.
claims to have 600,000 acres of Jatropha planting area, 313 nurseries
and a collection centre in Malaysia with a total capacity of around
850,000 t of Jatropha crude oil [98]. However, the development of
Jatropha in Malaysia is relatively slow as compared to India, China, and
the Philippines which all have vast plantation land and cheaper labour.
In fact, there is a trend for local companies to develop the Jatropha
industry elsewhere outside of Malaysia. For example, Bionas Sdn. Bhd.
has announced a plan to develop Bohol in Philippines as a Jatropha
production hub in the Philippines [99].
On the other hand, many Malaysian companies, universities and
research institutions are keen on R&D and commercialisation of
Jatropha-based products such as biolubricants and biofuel
[14,98,100,101]. Further, research regarding the development of an
effective method of biodiesel production is ongoing. For example, a
novel method using a pulsed loop reactor has been developed for a
more effective transesterication reaction of Jatropha crude oil (JCO) to
J. curcas methyl ester (biodiesel) [102]. In addition, the nation is
concentrating on improving the oil yield per hectare rather than
expanding Jatropha plantations due to the disadvantage of high land
acquisition cost in the country [14]. For example, ARK Bio Sdn. Bhd. is
currently focused on the development of enhanced genetic material
for Jatropha to improve oil yield and quality. Further, the high labour
cost and high reliance on foreign workers in agricultural works in the
country has also encouraged the development of mechanical devices
for any agro-based production, including Jatropha production in the
country. As a result, R&D expertise in terms of Jatropha and plantation
experience can potentially lead the country to be a role model to
improve Jatropha cultivation by collaboration programmes with other
countries. An example is Kenya where the improvement of seed
material and local agronomic knowledge are much required [103].
It is a fact that Jatropha is one of the best candidates for future
biodiesel production since it is one of the cheapest among the
other potential biodiesel feedstocks as shown in Table 9. Apart

from that, the following are other factors that make Jatropha a
strong candidate as a future biodiesel source [11,14,19,95,96]:
a. Unstable edible oil price depending on food demand and
unstable conventional fuel prices.
b. Availability of marginal land.
c. Lower carbon and emission of greenhouse gases.
d. Launch of biodiesel mandate by government as shown in
Table 10.
e. Jatropha biodiesel can meet ASTM standards and is suitable for
diesel engines.
f. Fast growth The rst yield can be expected after 6 months of
cultivation. The tree has a long life expectancy of more than
45 years.
g. Low maintenance due to lower nutrient and water requirements and the use of pesticides is not required.
As a result, the cultivation and production of Jatropha biodiesel
can be expected to offer environmental and economic benets
while playing a role to be a substitute for fossil fuels in tropical and
sub-tropical region countries, especially for the top world oil net
importers such as India and Indonesia [105].

12. Conclusion
Attention needs to be paid to the harvesting and shelling
process due to the fact that the majority of the cost of manual
processing is introduced during the seed preparation stage in
biodiesel production. The reported labour cost was more than 90%
of cost of harvesting, fruit shelling and seed cleaning [29]. Manual
processing, which is time consuming and cost ineffective due to
the high reliance on workers, will cause the Jatropha industry to
be less sustainable especially when large scale production is
envisaged. In Malaysia, a total of 259,906 ha of Jatropha plantation
area have already been identied in 2012 [97]. Further, the coverage of Jatropha plantations has been estimated to increase to
9.0 million hectares worldwide in 2015 [84]. The processing of
large quantities of Jatropha seeds cannot be accomplished effectively without the assistance of mechanisation. All of the abovementioned machines or tools can play a role in the business
operations and the technical activities that must be conducted so
that the technology is effective and protable. Even though there
is no mature technology as yet to speed up the harvesting, the
Table 9
A comparison of biodiesel prices from different
feedstock [104].
Feedstock Price of B100 biodiesel (USD/tonne)
Jatropha 400500
Palm oil
720750
Soybean 800805
Rapeseed 940965

Table 10
Some Biodiesel targets and mandates in different countries [90,95].
Country

Target

China
EU
India
Japan
Malaysia

Tax exemption
20% of renewable content in diesel fuel by 2020
Meet 20% demand within 20112012
5% Biodiesel blend by 2010
Target 5% of palm oil blend

B.Y. Lim et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 52 (2015) 9911002

seed production can be undertaken efciently using a handoperated or motorised shelling machine. Currently, a 1000 kg/h
of shelling rate is achievable using a dehuller for whole seed
recovery. However, the further processing of Jatropha seeds to
produce cleaner kernels has turned out to be characterised by
various bottlenecks such as the difculty of separating the kernels
and husks mechanically. Dehulling seeds mechanically without
causing crush damage is a challenging task. Broken husks and
broken kernels tend to have irregular sizes and similar mass and
thus they are not easy to be separated mechanically. The research
to achieve breakage free kernels has become a research gap that
needs to be solved to further stimulate the growth of the Jatropha
biodiesel industry. Another concern is that process mechanisation
can require a high capital cost that can burden small-scale farmers.
However, this is a xed capital cost and can be solved provided
sufcient support/subsidies are provided by the government if the
biodiesel industry is part of the development plan of the country.
On the other hand, the seeds should be stored under the conditions with 57% of moisture content, less than 8 months of storage
period, well-ventilated room and without exposure to the sun
[23]. Proper storage and seed pretreatment can increase the oil
yield. In contrast, any improper conditions (e.g. temperature and
moisture content) can contribute to the formation of oxidation
products and free fatty acids leading to a degradation of the
extracted crude oil.

Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank the Prototype Research Grant
Scheme (Reference no. 5529200) from Universiti Putra Malaysia
for nancially supporting this research.
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