I'm currently looking into producing biodiesel here in Texas, for my self, my family, friends, and later possibly commercially.  I'm an engineering student at A&M, and have recently been turned onto Biodiesel due to raising gas prices, and the prospect of becoming energy independent.

1.  I'm getting the oil from the Jetropha plant, which is used in Central America, Africa, and India on a decent sized scale.

2.  While the plant can grow in wasteland grade soil, due to the requirement of high grade output, I'll be cultivating the plant in a large aeroponic garden.  The plant supposedly can remain productive for up to 40 years.  However it takes from 1 to 2 years to begin to produce, again though this is in poor quality soil.

3. I'll be processing the seeds, and extracting the oil via cold press, and using the seedcake from the rest of the seed for compost.  Roughly 4kg of seeds produce 1 liter of biodiesel. Which in current production methods is about 1 liter per tree per year, since their in soil production rates are about 3.5kg per year.  About 1000 of these can be planted per acre.  So on some spare land, you can grow these without too much intervention.

 4.  Once the oil is extracted from the seeds, I will have to initially due the transesterfication my self.  Though for this plant I'm unsure of the exact ratios I'll be needing of methanol and sodium hydroxide.  The figures I'm looking at are roughly for 1 litre of oil, 200 ml of methanol, and 5g of sodium hydroxide.

Some of the things I'm looking at experimenting with on the growing aspect.

1. Hydroponics / Aeroponic growth rates, and nutrient solutions to use.

2. Angled or Suspended growth effects on the plant  (For High density, Vertical enclosures)

3. Sound frequencies interactions and effects on growth rates and production. Supposedly heavy metal equates to bumper crops.

4. Optimal light spectrum, and exposure time.

5. CO2 / 02 concentrations effects on production.

On the refinement and biodiesel side I also have a number of questions.

1. Optimal ratios of catalysts for converting extracted oil into biodiesel. 

2. Equipment for scaling up designs, either self made or bought.

3. Storage considerations, (storage lifespan, corrosiveness, transport safety)

4. Utilizing the biodiesel.  What conversions are necessary to utilize it, and what equipment could it run?

5. How feasible would it be to produce the methanol, to be used in the conversion? 

 Wow what a lot of questions. You have come to the right site. What year are you in? Perhaps the best place to start is to do a search on this site about specific topics. I know this may come as a shock but there are already a lot of people working on growing different feed stocks and believe it or not they have a lot of experience and money. WOW. Take a look around the site and post some new questions after you have read everything.

Have you looked locally? I know there are about 3 plantations in East Texas of Jatropha. There is also a farm in Anahiem CA where they propogate about 3 million plants a year for Texas and Mexico. Do a quick Google search; you might be able to visit them, maybe not. -My interest is perhaps similar to yours, but being in Maine my research is for greenhouse (vertical and or underground) bioculture. Structure similar to the produce they grow in the old underground salt mines. Good luck!

do you currently have seeds or cuttings?

from what i gather, no further refinement is needed, press the seeds, collect and filter the oil, and into the tank it goes.

there may be some concern during winter months whether the oil drops below 40 degrees. then you'll possibly want a mixture 20/80 i think.

east texas does experience sub freezing weather so i am concerned a prolonged frost (2-3 days) will wipe out anything grown so far north.

im growing in south texas (corpus christi) and still have some concern about frost.

 i've obtained cuttings from california, and am hoping to get more, and find some more land to purchase.