Jamaica studies producing biofuel with local crops

Last Updated on Wednesday, 19 November 2014, 21:47 by GxMedia

Jamaica studies producing biofuel with local crops

San Juan, Nov 19 (EFE).- The state-owned Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica, or PCJ, is looking into producing biofuel from local crops as an alternative to imported oil, the government said Wednesday

PCJ has signed agreements with Bodles Agricultural Research Station and the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute for the experimental cultivation of select crops for biofuel production, according to an official statement.

“We are also procuring an oil press, which will press the seeds out to get the oil, which we can test,” PCJ’s manager of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, Peter Ruddock, said.

The results of the study are expected to be published in one or two years. Research is being carried out on locally grown jatropha and castor.

After selecting crops, the next stages will include harvesting, extracting the oils, engine tests and establishing a retail market with Petrojam Limited, which supplies the country with a full range of petroleum products, the PCJ said.

“If it is locally produced versus being imported, I recognize that we could have some savings that could be derived, even if it is just the saving of our precious export dollars,” Ruddock said.