JATROPHA GREEN OIL INVESTMENT PROGRAMME

Feb 7 (Reuters) – NASA’s latest space shuttle mission, now rescheduled to launch at 4:14 a.m. (0914 GMT) on Monday after cloudy skies delayed it for a day, will deliver a connecting hub and a viewing port to the International Space Station.

The flight is the 130th for the U.S. space shuttle program, with four more missions remaining before the fleet is retired at the end of this year. Highlights of the mission include:

* Installing Tranquility, the International Space Station’s last connecting hub, which will house life support equipment, a toilet and exercise gear to support the live-aboard crew.

The module was built by Franco-Italian group Thales Alenia Space (TCFP.PA)(SIFI.MI).

* Installing what has been called the crowning gem of the orbiting station — a dome-shaped module with six trapezoidal side windows and a 31.5-inch (80-cm) circular top window, the largest viewing port ever flown in space. The cupola, which also was built by Thales Alenia Space, is intended as a robotics control station and viewing nook.

* Conducting three spacewalks to hook up the new modules. Veteran astronauts Robert Behnken and Nicholas Patrick are paired for all three spacewalks, which will be overseen by crewmate Stephen Robinson from inside the station.

* Delivering new parts for the space station’s broken water recycling system, designed to purify urine and other wastewater into potable water for drinking, cooking and other uses.

* Delivering new scientific experiments including a study on the Jatropha curcas plant, used for producing biofuel, to see if its breeding process can be sped up for commercial use. (Reporting by Irene Klotz; editing by Pascal Fletcher and Paul Simao)

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WHILE AMERICA sits down tomorrow to enjoy the Super Bowl game, space shuttle Endeavour will be launched for a thirteen day mission from Florida, delivering a connecting and a viewing port at the International Space Station. This thirteen day mission would undertake the following: * Install last connecting hub at the International Space Station, Tranquility, to house life support equipment, a toilet and excercise gear for onboard crew. * Install viewing port, a dome shaped module with a circular top window and six others. * Conduct three spacewalks for installation of new modules. These will be done by astronauts Robert Behnken and Nicholas Patrick and overseen by crewmate Stephen Robinson. Those who wish to watch the live launch tomorrow can catch it on quite a few websites which will carry its streaming live videos. * Deliver new scientific experiments, including one on the Jatropha curcus plant, to see if its production can be sped up for commercial use. * Deliver parts for the space station’s broken water recycling system, which purifies urine and other waste water into useable water for drinking, cooking and other uses.

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Airbus Industrie is sure that biofuels, the ‘green’ hope of the aviation sector, will work in its planes and is looking forward to testing them, a senior official for the European airliner builder said on Thursday.

“If there is biofuel available we will do the flights, but we have absolutely no reason to believe there would be any problem,” Rainer Ohler, senior vice-president for public affairs and communications told a news conference.

Ohler said Airbus, a subsidiary of EADS, had successfully tested gas-to-liquid fuel for Qatar Airways two years ago. The resulting fuel was as effective as normal jet fuel or kerosene, but without the sulphur smell.

While this offered an alternative to jet fuel, it did not reduce carbon emissions which biofuels promised. Unlike oil, biofuels can be constantly replenished and harvested.

But the process for synthesising fuel from gas, known as the Fischer-Tropsch process, could equally be used on biofuels, Ohler said ahead of the trial flight to Geneva of Airbus’s new 850-passenger capacity A380 airliner.

Airbus is planning to test biofuels with JetBlue Airways. Its American rival Boeing with which Airbus is cooperating on fuel and environment research, has already made several test flights using biofuel.

Paul Steele, executive director of the Air Transport Action Group (ATAG), an industry association for airlines, airports, planemakers and others in the aviation sector, said the biofuels targeted by the industry would be environmentally friendly.

They would not draw on food crops, require farmland or use excessive fresh water, in contrast to some crops used for producing motor fuel, he said.

The most promising crops are jatropha and camelina, but the industry also sees huge potential in producing biofuel from algae and plants that grow in salty water known as halophytes.

Ohler called on regulators to ensure that the aviation industry had priority access to biofuels, as other forms of alternative fuel, such as electricity, were not practical for planes.

Giovanni Bisignani, director-general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which groups 230 airlines, urged governments and oil companies to subsidise and invest in research in biofuel production. (Reporting by Jonathan Lynn; Editing by Stephanie Nebehay)

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In China’s southern Hainan province, China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) has begun the first government-run project to produce biodiesel using jatropha feedstock.

CNOOC is China’s largest offshore oil and gas producer, and got the go ahead from Beijing in July 2008 to use jatropha in its plant.

The refinery can produce 60,000 tonnes of biodiesel every year. It is now expected that the use of jatropha to generate biodiesel will reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions by 140,000 tonnes every year.

In similar news, in the northern Shanxxi province of China, China Integrated Energy is constructing a biodiesel refinery.

Production is scheduled to commence in the Q3 2010, with 150,000 tonnes being generated every year.

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Jatropha should be regarded as a promising commercial crop as its market is assured by Bio Oil Nasional (Bionas).

Bionas group executive chairman Mohd Safi’e M Jaffri said Bionas had started to embark aggressively on the development of jatropha bio-fuel in the country following a successful test conducted by German company, Elsbert.

With the German technology, Bionas set up a processing factory in Peninsular Malaysia, which is an assurance of a market for the crop.

“In the beginning stage, we encourage people to take part in the planting of jatropha. In Sarawak we started with a jatropha planting scheme called Projek Ekonomi Rakyat Sarawak (PERS). “

Bionas is prepared to provide up to 80 per cent subsidy on seedlings to anyone interested, and free seedlings to poor farmers in rural areas. The subsidy was limited to 10 acres per farmer.

Farmers need not worry that the crop would be destroyed by animals or insects as its fruit is poisonous (inedible). It normally fruits six months after planting with a life span of up to 50 years.

Hence the plant gives high yield but requires minimal supervision.

“Roughly 10 acres of jatropha (8000 plants) can generate a monthly income of RM3,000. Each acre can yield up to 3.6 tonnes or 300 kilogrammes per month. At the current price of RM1.05 per kilogramme, farmers with 10 acres of jatropha plant can earn RM3,000 per month.”

Jatropha could be seen as a crop that could help in the eradication of rural poverty, he pointed out.

As the demand for jatropha is expected to rise, its price would also rise, he said. This year the price is expected to reach RM1,500 per tonne.

Apart from production of bio-diesel and bio-petrol for our country, jatropha can also be used to produce bio-conola for the European market.

Farmers should not doubt Bionas’ role in developing the industry as it has the best technology in the world when it comes to supplying quality seedlings. It produces seedlings with 47 per cent oil content, he said.

Bionas has appointed 200 nurseries in the state, each nursery to get ready 50 million seedlings to be supplied to those interested. To date 121,000 farmers in the state have registered to participate in PERS involving about 500,000 acres located all over the state.

Bionas also carried out similar programmes in Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar and Thailand.

Meanwhile, about 60 farmers attended a briefing on the scheme by Zurina Amnan at a hotel here yesterday.

Similar briefings will be held in other places like Kuching, Selangau, Julau, Belaga Kapit and Bintulu in the next few days, he added.

Among those present were Bionas coordinator for Sarikei Division, Ling Pan Ming.

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