Biofuel co-products as livestock feed - Opportunities and challenges

Status of biofuels in India and scope of utilizing castor (Ricinus communis) cake – a biofuel co-product – as livestock feed 341India has to triple ethanol production or has to go formassive imports, both of which are unlikely due tothe plateau in the productivity of sugar cane, demandfor land and water for staple crops, import policy andhigh price of ethanol in international markets. Similarlyfor biodiesel, the jatropha-based biodiesel productionprogramme is bogged down because of obstacles like slowprogress in planting (current plantation area is 0.5 millionhectares against the requirement of 26.25 million hectaresfor 20 percent blending), sub-optimal processing andmarketing infrastructure, and under-developed distributionchannels (Shinoj et al., 2011).BIOFUELS FEEDSTOCK AND CO-PRODUCTSGlobally, the major feedstocks for biofuels are maize, sugarcane and oilseeds, as shown in Table 2.Unlike other countries, which rely heavily on foodcrops like maize and oilseeds for their biofuel production,India’s major biofuel feedstocks are molasses for ethanol,and non-edible oilseed such as jatropha and pongamia forbiodiesel. Other minor feedstock include sugar cane juice,sweet sorghum, tropical sugar beet, edible oil wastage andanimal fats. Although India is the largest producer of castor,the possibility of using castor oil for biodiesel productionhas not been explored intensively. In contrast, in Brazil,the third-largest producer of castor, the Brazilian Ministryof Agrarian Development has revived castor production asraw material for biodiesel (Lago, 2009). The co-products offeedstocks, such as bagasse (fibrous residue of sugar caneafter juice extraction), oilseed cakes and glycerol, can beused for feeding livestock as sources of roughage, proteinor energy. The scope and limitations of biofuel feedstockco-products from castor for livestock feed is discussedbriefly here.CASTOR CAKE PRODUCTION AND UTILIZATIONIndia is the largest producer of castor seed, followedby China and Brazil, accounting for around 73, 12 and7 percent of global production, respectively (FAOSTATdata, 2009). Globally, the area under castor bean has notchanged significantly over the last two decades, with littlechange in production (Table 3). The production of castorseed in India, largest producer of castor, has shown a consistentincrease. Much of the castor oil produced in India isexported after meeting local demand. Currently castor oil isnot being used for biodiesel production, and in the event ofits use as biodiesel the local demand for castor oil in Indiawould go up. This is likely to stimulate castor production, asthe castor crop has several advantages over other biodieselcrops in terms of availability of high yielding varieties, shortproduction cycle and consistent, superior yields. Castor oilis one of the world’s most useful and economically importantnatural plant oils, with wide applications. Castor is ahigh-yield oilseed crop producing around 50 percent oil byweight in the seed, out-yielding conventional oilseeds likesoybean, rapeseed, groundnut, sunflower and cottonseed.Castor oil obtained from castor seeds has high viscosity,heat and pressure stability; low freezing point; and theability to form waxy substances after chemical treatments(Conceic et al., 2005), making it a potential candidate forbiodiesel. There are different cultivars of castor, and oilcontent varies from 46 to 55 percent by weight (Ogunniyi,2006). The residual castor cake obtained after oil extractionis approximately half of the seed weight. Whole seedcontains 29 to 31 percent hulls, which are high in fibre andlignin, and de-hulling improves the oil extraction yield by15–20 percent, besides improving the oil quality (Shashikalaand Singh, 1992). De-cortication machines capable of deshellingcastor seeds are used in Brazil with an efficiencyTABLE 2Distribution of feedstock in major biofuel producing countriesCountry orregionBio-ethanolFeedstockBiodieselCo-productsUSA Maize Soy (40%), tallow (20%), canola (20%), palm (20%) Distillers grain, oilseed cake and glycerolBrazil Sugar cane Soy (80%), tallow (10%), other vegetable oils (10%) Bagasse, oilseed cake and glycerolEU Beet/grain Rapeseed (50%), soybean oil (40%), palm (5%) and tallow (5%) Distillers grain, oilseed cakeChina Maize Waste vegetable oils Distillers grain, GlycerolCanada Maize Tallow Distillers grain, GlycerolSource: Anon., 2009.TABLE 3Production of castor seed and cropped area1995 2000 2005 2009Area Production Area Production Area Production Area ProductionIndia 789 780 1080 883 864 991 840 1098China 190 170 290 300 240 220 210 190Brazil 76 33 195 101 231 169 159 91World 1237 1083 1769 1373 1586 1497 1481 1484Notes: Area in thousand hectare; production in thousand tonne.