PCJ has new B5 castor oil biodiesel blend in the works

August 5, 2017 |

In Jamaica, the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica, the government agency charged with leading the country’s energy resources, developed a castor seed oil blend for use in diesel vehicles. The blend should replace 97,000 barrels of imported oil and PCJ says the new B5 blend will save Jamaica an estimated $540 million per year in imports.

PCJ is making the effort to develop local alternative energy sources to rely less on imports and help advance Jamaica’s economy and agricultural sector with satellite farms even as small as an acre being able to grow caster plants. As reported in Biofuels Digest in June, small-scale trials with the new blend have been going on for a while but they are now working on further refinement in collaboration with the University of Technology.

PCJ’s Group General Manager, Winston Watson, told JIS News “This is very good for the clean energy sector[…]But what is more important is that when you use the castor oil, it reduces the sulphur. Because it has less sulphur, when you mix it with regular diesel, it reduces the amount of sulphur, which reduces the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.”

Category: Fuels

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