Industrial and Agricultural Potentials of Moringa

Abstract

Moringa is called the "miracle tree"" because the plant can provide as a food supplement for fortification, energy drinks, specialty creams (cosmetics, shampoos, etc.) and oil and especially in the current oil crisis, can be blended with diesel to form as "biofuel". The leaves can be used as food and oil can be extracted from the seeds as vegetable oil or as biofuel feedstock. According to published Report "Moringa Oil" (Jesus Benavides, et. al., 01.17.2008) the demand in the United States and European Union could only be filled by 3.8% and 7.3%, respectively, and there was a growing demand for biofuel production from 12B liters to 37B liters by 2010. As biofuel feedstock, Moringa seeds can produce up to 40 percent oil. This means that a kilo of seeds from the pods would yield 400 milliliters of oil, which can be seed either for cooking or as substitute for diesel. Jatropha was the toast in biofuel oil industry until Moringa was discovered as better source.  More recently the ben oil has also been shown to be particularly effective in the manufacture of soap producing a stable lather with high washing efficiency suitable for some African countries. The seed oil is used in arts and for lubricating watches and other delicate machinery, and useful in the manufacture of perfumes and hairdressings. The pressed cake obtained after oil extraction may be used as a fertilizer. The industrial uses of the Moringa tree include the use of its wood in paper and textile industries, bark in the tanning industry, and the seeds in water purification. The dried leaves appear to be much more effective animal feed. One agriculturist fed his cows with just 2 kg of dry matter of Moringa per day in addition to the normal food he had been feeding them with and the milk production increased by 58 percent. Then he increased it to 3 kg per day, and the milk production increased by 65 percent. The extract obtained from the leaves of Moringa in 80 % ethanol contains growth enhancing principles (i.e. hormones of the cytokinine type). The extract can be used in the form of a foliar spray to accelerate the growth of young plants. Study on moringa and global warming revealed that 1 person emits 320kg of CO2/yr; it takes 23 Japanese Cedar trees takes 50 years to absorb this amount of CO2; it takes 2 Moringa trees 2 years to absorb this amount and 1 family car emits 2300kg of CO2/yr; it takes 160 Japanese Cedar trees 50 years to absorb this amount of CO2; it takes 10 Moringa trees 2 years etc (Muriel, 2010). Therefore, this review article tries to depict the industrial and agricultural potentials of Moringa.

Keywords: industry, biofuel, carbon emission and absorption, Moringa