Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I was hoping that someone could give some advice or help on making jatropha seed cake. I have some crushed up seeds and hexanes as suggested by a laboratory in Canada. I was wondering if I should have taken the seed coat off before crushing them then combining with the hexane to make the cake. Another thing, my jatropha cake and my fertilizer (which has50% manure in it) should have made some type of heat reaction and it did not. I hope someone can help. Thank you in advance!

-Jess

Hi Jess,

Can you tell us a little more about your project and what information you obtained from the laboratory in Canada? I do not know anything about jatropha seed cake, and you may not have received responses because it is difficult for experts to understand what you are trying to do with your project.

Where did you get the idea for this project? What substances are you expecting to participate as the reactants in your exothermic reaction?

If you provide some more details, I hope that we can help you!

Heather

Hi,

This is a very original project. Are you trying to make Jatropha seed cake for a biofuel or detoxify it so it can be used as a fertilizer? From your brief description, it sounds like you are trying to make the fertilizer.

http://www.jatropha.pro/Jatropha%20seedcake.htm

I am not familiar with making Jatropha seed cake, but I suppose that the hexane would remove the organic compounds that make these seeds toxic. If you mix organic matter with manure, the microorganisms in the manure should start fermenting the Jatropha seeds and this would definitely be an exothermic reaction. If there was no heat, it’s possible that the manure was not fresh enough, or the moisture was too low, or there was too much hexane left in the sample. If you can post the details of what you did, I will probably be able to make suggestions of what you could to do correct the problem.

Since your project is due in a few days, you probably won’t have time to do another experiment, but you should go ahead and write up your project with the results that you obtained. It sounds like you did a complete project, but just didn’t get the expected results. Here’s the link from the science buddies website that includes directions for your board:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... oard.shtml

For a science project, it is important to include the science behind your project, and if you did not obtain the expected results, you should describe what you would do for your next experiment to solve the problem (if you had the time).

Donna Hardy