I am about to start planting jatropha trees in Madagascar. Jatropha seeds can be used to make biodiesel. It would be interesting to guage knoweledge and interest in a fuel that is renewable and less polluting than petroleum diesel from your responses
Dear "GoAway" thank you for replying to my question in response to your points…

Jatropha is used as a tutuer for vanilla meaning that is used to hold the vanilla plant up so actually land for vanilla is already being used for biofuels.

One of the nice things about jatropha is that it can be planted on non-agricultural land because its basicly a tree that will grow anywhere. I certainly would not want to plant biofuel plants in a situation that would compete with food crops.

Biodiesel is a renewable fuel produced from animal and vegetable fats that can be used in diesel engines with little or no modification. Biodiesel is typically blended with petroleum diesel in formulations referred to as B2 (two percent biodiesel, 98 percent petroleum diesel), B5 (5 percent and 95 percent), B20 (20 percent and 80 percent), etc. Though biodiesel is most commonly used in these kinds of blends, it can also be used in its pure form (B100). Biodiesel can be used in virtually any diesel engine without modification. It can be used in its pure form (called B100) or as a blend with diesel fuel at any ratio. The most commonly used form of biodiesel is a 20% blend of biodiesel with 80% petroleum diesel, known as B20. This has become a common practice as a balancing of benefits with costs, cold weather and solvency considerations associated with biodiesel. More on these below.) Biodiesel provides similar horsepower and fuel economy as petroleum diesel with superior lubricity to reduce wear and tear on the engine.

Biodiesel runs in any unmodified diesel engine. There is no engine conversion typical of other alternative fuels. The diesel engine can run on biodiesel because it operates on the principle of compression ignition whereby air is compressed and then fuel is sprayed into the ultra-hot, ultra-pressured combustion chamber. Unlike gasoline engines, which use a spark to ignite the fuel/air mixture, diesel engines actually use fuel to ignite hot air. This simple process allows the diesel engine to run on thick fuels. Since biodiesel is chemically similar to petroleum diesel fuel, you can pour biodiesel right into the fuel tank of any diesel vehicle. Biodiesel has many advantages as a transport fuel. Biodiesel has lower emissions, it is made domestically (which increases national security), it does not affect engine performance and biodiesel is produced from plants.

Biodiesel is registered as a fuel and fuel additive with the Environmental Protection Agency. The Departments of Transportation and Energy recognize biodiesel as an alternative fuel. An ASTM standard, D6751, has been developed to ensure biodiesel quality. Diesel vehicles has driving more than fifty million miles on biodiesel fuel in the United States, even more in Europe.

With ever-rising fuel prices and an increasing dependence upon foreign oil, research into alternative fuel has become extremely important. Ethanol has quickly become a well-researched and known additive for conventional gasoline engines. For diesel engines, however, alternative fuels are just becoming more intensely researched. A potential replacement for petroleum diesel fuel that has come to the forefront in recent years is biodiesel. Biodiesel is a renewable fuel comprised of esters derived from vegetable oils. The vegetable oils can be from almost any oilbearing seed, such as soybean, corn or sunflower. The oil reacts with an alcohol such as methanol, but ethanol, another valuable product from crop production, can be used as well.

Long Meadow Ranch confirmed today that it had formally adopted a policy of exclusively employing biodiesel fuels in all of its farming equipment after more than two years of experimentation. Biodiesel is an alternative fuel produced from plant oils and animal fats that can supplant the use of conventional petroleum-based fuels in most diesel engines.

There are also several disadvantages to using biodiesel fuels. Overall, biodiesel has lower energy content than diesel fuel, causing a reduction in fuel economy. Current production costs keep biodiesel slightly more expensive than diesel fuel. The cold flow properties of biodiesel prevent it from being used in colder climates or in winter conditions. The flow characteristics of biodiesel have been shown to not work well in some diesel fuel injection systems. Though significant reductions in other emissions exist, biodiesel produces higher nitrous oxide emissions. The exact cause of this phenomenon is not exactly known. This greenhouse gas is becoming more strictly regulated by the government and more research needs to be completed to better understand how it is produced so it can be more effectively controlled.