Jatropha: the Biofuel that Bombed Seeks a Path To Redemption

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Earlier this century, jatropha was hailed as a "wonder" biofuel. A simple shrubby tree belonging to Central America, it was hugely promoted as a high-yielding, drought-tolerant biofuel feedstock that could grow on abject lands across Latin America, Africa and Asia.

A jatropha rush occurred, with more than 900,000 hectares (2.2 million acres) planted by 2008. But the bubble burst. Low yields led to plantation failures nearly everywhere. The aftermath of the jatropha crash was polluted by allegations of land grabbing, mismanagement, and overblown carbon reduction claims.

Today, some scientists continue pursuing the incredibly elusive guarantee of high-yielding jatropha. A resurgence, they state, is reliant on cracking the yield issue and attending to the harmful land-use problems linked with its initial failure.

The sole staying large jatropha plantation remains in Ghana. The plantation owner claims high-yield domesticated ranges have been attained and a new boom is at hand. But even if this return falters, the world's experience of jatropha holds essential lessons for any promising up-and-coming biofuel.


At the start of the 21st century, Jatropha curcas, a simple shrub-like tree belonging to Central America, was planted throughout the world. The rush to jatropha was driven by its guarantee as a sustainable source of biofuel that might be grown on deteriorated, unfertile lands so as not to displace food crops. But inflated claims of high yields fell flat.


Now, after years of research study and advancement, the sole staying large plantation concentrated on growing jatropha is in Ghana. And Singapore-based jOil, which owns that plantation, claims the jatropha return is on.


"All those business that stopped working, embraced a plug-and-play design of scouting for the wild varieties of jatropha. But to commercialize it, you need to domesticate it. This belongs of the procedure that was missed out on [during the boom]," jOil CEO Vasanth Subramanian told Mongabay in an interview.


Having gained from the errors of jatropha's previous failures, he says the oily plant could yet play a crucial function as a liquid biofuel feedstock, minimizing transport carbon emissions at the global level. A brand-new boom might bring extra benefits, with jatropha likewise a possible source of fertilizers and even bioplastics.


But some researchers are hesitant, noting that jatropha has actually currently gone through one hype-and-fizzle cycle. They caution that if the plant is to reach full potential, then it is necessary to discover from previous mistakes. During the first boom, jatropha plantations were hampered not only by bad yields, however by land grabbing, deforestation, and social problems in nations where it was planted, including Ghana, where jOil runs.


Experts also suggest that jatropha's tale uses lessons for researchers and business owners exploring appealing new sources for liquid biofuels - which exist aplenty.


Miracle shrub, significant bust


Jatropha's early 21st-century appeal came from its promise as a "second-generation" biofuel, which are sourced from lawns, trees and other plants not obtained from edible crops such as maize, soy or oil palm. Among its several purported virtues was a capability to flourish on abject or "marginal" lands; thus, it was claimed it would never ever take on food crops, so the theory went.


Back then, jatropha ticked all packages, says Alexandros Gasparatos, now at the University of Tokyo's Institute for Future Initiatives. "We had a crop that seemed incredible; that can grow without too much fertilizer, too many pesticides, or too much need for water, that can be exported [as fuel] abroad, and does not take on food because it is poisonous."


Governments, international firms, financiers and business purchased into the hype, introducing initiatives to plant, or pledge to plant, countless hectares of jatropha. By 2008, plantations covered some 900,000 hectares (2.2 million acres) in Latin America, Africa and Asia, according to a market research study prepared for WWF.


It didn't take long for the mirage of the amazing biofuel tree to fade.


In 2009, a Friends of the Earth report from Eswatini (still understood at the time as Swaziland) alerted that jatropha's high needs for land would indeed bring it into direct dispute with food crops. By 2011, a worldwide evaluation noted that "cultivation exceeded both clinical understanding of the crop's potential as well as an understanding of how the crop fits into existing rural economies and the degree to which it can thrive on limited lands."


Projections estimated 4.7 million hectares (11.7 million acres) would be planted by 2010, and 12.8 million hectares (31.6 million acres) by 2015. However, just 1.19 million hectares (2.94 million acres) were growing by 2011. Projects and plantations started to fail as anticipated yields refused to emerge. Jatropha might grow on abject lands and tolerate dry spell conditions, as claimed, however yields remained bad.


"In my opinion, this combination of speculative investment, export-oriented capacity, and potential to grow under reasonably poorer conditions, created a very big problem," leading to "underestimated yields that were going to be produced," Gasparatos says.


As jatropha plantations went from boom to bust, they were likewise afflicted by ecological, social and economic problems, say specialists. Accusations of land grabs, the conversion of food crop lands, and clearing of natural areas were reported.


Studies found that land-use change for jatropha in countries such as Brazil, Mexico and Tanzania resulted in a loss of biodiversity. A research study from Mexico discovered the "carbon repayment" of jatropha plantations due to involved forest loss ranged in between two and 14 years, and "in some situations, the carbon financial obligation might never be recuperated." In India, production showed carbon benefits, however the usage of fertilizers led to boosts of soil and water "acidification, ecotoxicity, eutrophication."


"If you look at most of the plantations in Ghana, they claim that the jatropha produced was positioned on limited land, but the concept of marginal land is very elusive," describes Abubakari Ahmed, a speaker at the University for Development Studies, Ghana. He studied the implications of jatropha plantations in the nation over a number of years, and found that a lax meaning of "marginal" meant that presumptions that the land co-opted for jatropha plantations had actually been lying untouched and unused was frequently illusory.


"Marginal to whom?" he asks. "The reality that ... presently nobody is using [land] for farming does not indicate that nobody is using it [for other functions] There are a great deal of nature-based livelihoods on those landscapes that you might not always see from satellite images."


Learning from jatropha


There are essential lessons to be discovered from the experience with jatropha, say analysts, which need to be heeded when thinking about other advantageous second-generation biofuels.


"There was a boom [in investment], but regrettably not of research study, and action was taken based on alleged advantages of jatropha curcas," says Bart Muys, a teacher in the Division of Forest, Nature and Landscape at the University of Leuven, Belgium. In 2014, as the jatropha buzz was unwinding, Muys and colleagues released a paper citing crucial lessons.


Fundamentally, he discusses, there was a lack of understanding about the plant itself and its requirements. This vital requirement for in advance research study might be used to other possible biofuel crops, he states. Last year, for instance, his group launched a paper examining the yields of pongamia (Millettia pinnata), a "fast-growing, leguminous and multipurpose tree types" with biofuel promise.


Like jatropha, pongamia can be grown on degraded and minimal land. But Muys's research study showed yields to be extremely variable, contrary to other reports. The group concluded that "pongamia still can not be thought about a considerable and stable source of biofuel feedstock due to continuing knowledge spaces." Use of such cautionary data could avoid wasteful monetary speculation and reckless land conversion for new biofuels.


"There are other really appealing trees or plants that could function as a fuel or a biomass producer," Muys says. "We wished to avoid [them going] in the same direction of early hype and stop working, like jatropha."


Gasparatos highlights important requirements that must be fulfilled before continuing with brand-new biofuel plantations: high yields need to be unlocked, inputs to reach those yields understood, and an all set market should be readily available.


"Basically, the crop needs to be domesticated, or [clinical understanding] at a level that we know how it is grown," Gasparatos states. Jatropha "was practically undomesticated when it was promoted, which was so unusual."


How biofuel lands are acquired is likewise essential, says Ahmed. Based on experiences in Ghana where communally used lands were bought for production, authorities should make sure that "guidelines are put in location to inspect how massive land acquisitions will be done and recorded in order to reduce some of the problems we observed."


A jatropha return?


Despite all these challenges, some researchers still think that under the best conditions, jatropha might be a valuable biofuel solution - especially for the difficult-to-decarbonize transport sector "responsible for roughly one quarter of greenhouse gas emissions."


"I believe jatropha has some possible, however it needs to be the ideal product, grown in the ideal location, and so on," Muys said.


Mohammad Alherbawi, a postdoctoral research study fellow at Qatar's Hamad Bin Khalifa University, continues holding out hope for jatropha. He sees it as a manner in which Qatar may decrease airline company carbon emissions. According to his quotes, its usage as a jet fuel might result in about a 40% reduction of "cradle to grave" emissions.


Alherbawi's team is conducting continuous field research studies to enhance jatropha yields by fertilizing crops with sewage sludge. As an added benefit, he imagines a jatropha green belt covering 20,000 hectares (nearly 50,000 acres) in Qatar. "The application of the green belt can truly enhance the soil and agricultural lands, and secure them versus any further degeneration triggered by dust storms," he states.


But the Qatar project's success still hinges on many elements, not least the ability to obtain quality yields from the tree. Another essential action, Alherbawi discusses, is scaling up production technology that utilizes the entirety of the jatropha fruit to increase processing performance.


Back in Ghana, jOil is presently managing more than 1,300 hectares (1,830 acres) of jatropha, and growing a pilot plot on 300 hectares (740 acres) dealing with more than 400 farmers. Subramanian discusses that years of research and development have resulted in varieties of jatropha that can now achieve the high yields that were doing not have more than a decade back.


"We were able to hasten the yield cycle, improve the yield variety and boost the fruit-bearing capacity of the tree," Subramanian says. In essence, he specifies, the tree is now domesticated. "Our very first job is to broaden our jatropha plantation to 20,000 hectares."


Biofuels aren't the only application JOil is taking a look at. The fruit and its by-products could be a source of fertilizer, bio-candle wax, a charcoal substitute (important in Africa where much wood is still burned for cooking), and even bioplastics.


But it is the transportation sector that still beckons as the perfect biofuels application, according to Subramanian. "The biofuels story has actually as soon as again resumed with the energy shift drive for oil business and bio-refiners - [driven by] the search for alternative fuels that would be emission friendly."


A complete jatropha life-cycle evaluation has yet to be completed, but he thinks that cradle-to-grave greenhouse gas emissions connected to the oily plant will be "competitive ... These 2 aspects - that it is technically appropriate, and the carbon sequestration - makes it a really strong prospect for adoption for ... sustainable aviation," he says. "Our company believe any such expansion will happen, [by clarifying] the meaning of degraded land, [allowing] no competitors with food crops, nor in any method threatening food security of any country."


Where next for jatropha?


Whether jatropha can genuinely be carbon neutral, environment-friendly and socially accountable depends upon intricate aspects, including where and how it's grown - whether, for instance, its production design is based in smallholder farms versus industrial-scale plantations, say specialists. Then there's the unpleasant problem of achieving high yields.


Earlier this year, the Bolivian government revealed its intent to pursue jatropha plantations in the Gran Chaco biome, part of a national biofuels push that has actually stirred debate over potential repercussions. The Gran Chaco's dry forest biome is currently in deep trouble, having been heavily deforested by aggressive agribusiness practices.


Many previous plantations in Ghana, alerts Ahmed, transformed dry savanna woodland, which became bothersome for carbon accounting. "The net carbon was frequently negative in most of the jatropha sites, since the carbon sequestration of jatropha can not be compared to that of a shea tree," he describes.


Other scientists chronicle the "potential of Jatropha curcas as an environmentally benign biodiesel feedstock" in Malaysia, Indonesia and India. But still other scientists stay doubtful of the ecological viability of second-generation biofuels. "If Mexico promotes biofuels, such as the exploitation of jatropha curcas, the rebound is that it potentially becomes so successful, that we will have a lot of associated land-use change," states Daniel Itzamna Avila-Ortega, co-founder of the Mexican Center of Industrial Ecology and a Ph.D. trainee with the Stockholm Resilience Centre; he has actually carried out research study on the possibilities of jatropha contributing to a circular economy in Mexico.


Avila-Ortega points out past land-use issues related to growth of various crops, including oil palm, sugarcane and avocado: "Our police is so weak that it can not handle the personal sector doing whatever they want, in regards to developing environmental problems."


Researchers in Mexico are currently checking out jatropha-based livestock feed as an affordable and sustainable replacement for grain. Such uses may be well fit to local contexts, Avila-Ortega agrees, though he stays worried about possible environmental expenses.


He recommends limiting jatropha growth in Mexico to make it a "crop that dominates land," growing it only in truly poor soils in requirement of restoration. "Jatropha might be among those plants that can grow in extremely sterile wastelands," he describes. "That's the only method I would ever promote it in Mexico - as part of a forest healing method for wastelands. Otherwise, the involved issues are higher than the potential advantages."


Jatropha's worldwide future stays uncertain. And its prospective as a tool in the fight versus climate change can just be unlocked, say lots of specialists, by avoiding the list of troubles associated with its first boom.


Will jatropha tasks that sputtered to a stop in the early 2000s be fired back up once again? Subramanian thinks its function as a sustainable biofuel is "imminent" and that the resurgence is on. "We have strong interest from the energy market now," he states, "to collaborate with us to develop and expand the supply chain of jatropha."


Banner image: Jatropha curcas trees in Hawai'i. Image by Forest and Kim Starr via Flickr (CC BY 2.0).


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