Jatropha: The Biofuel That Bombed Seeks A Path To Redemption

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

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

Today, some researchers continue pursuing the incredibly elusive promise of high-yielding jatropha. A resurgence, they say, is reliant on splitting the yield problem and addressing the hazardous land-use issues intertwined with its initial failure.

The sole remaining large jatropha plantation is in Ghana. The plantation owner claims high-yield domesticated ranges have actually been accomplished and a new boom is at hand. But even if this comeback fails, the world's experience of jatropha holds essential lessons for any appealing up-and-coming biofuel.


At the start of the 21st century, Jatropha curcas, an unassuming 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 could be grown on deteriorated, unfertile lands so as not to displace food crops. But inflated claims of high yields failed.


Now, after years of research study and development, the sole remaining large plantation focused on growing jatropha remains in Ghana. And Singapore-based jOil, which owns that plantation, declares the jatropha return is on.


"All those companies that stopped working, embraced a plug-and-play model of hunting for the wild varieties of jatropha. But to advertise it, you need to domesticate it. This is a part of the process 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 past failures, he says the oily plant could yet play a key role as a liquid biofuel feedstock, minimizing transport carbon emissions at the international level. A new boom could bring fringe benefits, with jatropha also a possible source of fertilizers and even bioplastics.


But some scientists are skeptical, keeping in mind that jatropha has actually already gone through one hype-and-fizzle cycle. They warn that if the plant is to reach complete potential, then it is important to gain from past mistakes. During the very first boom, jatropha plantations were obstructed not just by bad yields, however by land grabbing, deforestation, and social issues in nations where it was planted, consisting of Ghana, where jOil runs.


Experts likewise suggest that jatropha's tale uses lessons for researchers and entrepreneurs exploring promising new sources for liquid biofuels - which exist aplenty.


Miracle shrub, significant bust


Jatropha's early 21st-century appeal stemmed from its promise as a "second-generation" biofuel, which are sourced from grasses, trees and other plants not stemmed from edible crops such as maize, soy or oil palm. Among its numerous supposed virtues was a capability to grow on abject or "limited" lands; hence, it was claimed it would never ever compete with food crops, so the theory went.


Back then, jatropha ticked all packages, states Alexandros Gasparatos, now at the University of Tokyo's Institute for Future Initiatives. "We had a crop that appeared amazing; that can grow without too much fertilizer, too lots of pesticides, or too much demand for water, that can be exported [as fuel] abroad, and does not complete with food due to the fact that it is harmful."


Governments, international firms, financiers and business purchased into the hype, releasing 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 got ready for WWF.


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


In 2009, a Pals of the Earth report from Eswatini (still understood at the time as Swaziland) warned that jatropha's high needs for land would indeed bring it into direct conflict with food crops. By 2011, a worldwide review kept in mind that "cultivation outpaced both scientific understanding of the crop's capacity as well as an understanding of how the crop suits existing rural economies and the degree to which it can prosper on marginal lands."


Projections approximated 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 began to fail as expected yields refused to materialize. Jatropha might grow on degraded lands and tolerate dry spell conditions, as declared, but yields remained bad.


"In my viewpoint, this mix of speculative financial investment, export-oriented capacity, and prospective to grow under reasonably poorer conditions, developed an extremely huge issue," leading to "ignored yields that were going to be produced," Gasparatos states.


As jatropha plantations went from boom to bust, they were also plagued by environmental, social and economic troubles, say specialists. Accusations of land grabs, the conversion of food crop lands, and cleaning of natural areas were reported.


Studies found that land-use change for jatropha in countries such as Brazil, Mexico and Tanzania led to a loss of biodiversity. A study from Mexico found the "carbon repayment" of jatropha plantations due to involved forest loss varied between 2 and 14 years, and "in some situations, the carbon financial obligation may never be recuperated." In India, production revealed carbon benefits, however using fertilizers resulted in boosts of soil and water "acidification, ecotoxicity, eutrophication."


"If you look at most of the plantations in Ghana, they declare that the jatropha produced was positioned on minimal land, however the concept of minimal land is extremely evasive," describes Abubakari Ahmed, a speaker at the University for Development Studies, Ghana. He studied the ramifications of jatropha plantations in the country over a number of years, and discovered that a lax meaning of "limited" suggested that assumptions that the land co-opted for jatropha plantations had actually been lying untouched and unused was typically illusory.


"Marginal to whom?" he asks. "The fact that ... presently no one is utilizing [land] for farming does not mean that nobody is utilizing it [for other functions] There are a great deal of nature-based incomes on those landscapes that you may not always see from satellite images."


Learning from jatropha


There are key lessons to be discovered from the experience with jatropha, say analysts, which should be observed when considering other auspicious second-generation biofuels.


"There was a boom [in financial investment], however regrettably not of research, and action was taken based upon supposed benefits of jatropha," 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 published a paper mentioning key lessons.


Fundamentally, he describes, there was a lack of understanding about the plant itself and its needs. This important requirement for in advance research could be used to other prospective biofuel crops, he states. Last year, for instance, his team released a paper evaluating the yields of pongamia (Millettia pinnata), a "fast-growing, leguminous and multipurpose tree species" with biofuel pledge.


Like jatropha, pongamia can be grown on degraded and marginal land. But Muys's research showed yields to be extremely variable, contrary to other reports. The team concluded that "pongamia still can not be considered a significant and steady source of biofuel feedstock due to persisting understanding spaces." Use of such cautionary data might avoid inefficient financial speculation and negligent land conversion for new biofuels.


"There are other very promising trees or plants that could serve as a fuel or a biomass manufacturer," Muys says. "We desired to avoid [them going] in the exact same direction of premature hype and fail, like jatropha."


Gasparatos highlights vital requirements that need to be satisfied before moving ahead with brand-new biofuel plantations: high yields need to be opened, inputs to reach those yields understood, and an all set market should be readily available.


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


How biofuel lands are acquired is also crucial, says Ahmed. Based on experiences in Ghana where communally used lands were bought for production, authorities should guarantee that "guidelines are put in place to examine how massive land acquisitions will be done and recorded in order to reduce a few of the issues we observed."


A jatropha return?


Despite all these difficulties, some scientists still think that under the best conditions, jatropha might be a valuable biofuel solution - particularly for the difficult-to-decarbonize transportation sector "responsible for around one quarter of greenhouse gas emissions."


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


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 lower airline company carbon emissions. According to his price quotes, its usage as a jet fuel might result in about a 40% reduction of "cradle to tomb" emissions.


Alherbawi's team is conducting ongoing field studies to boost jatropha yields by fertilizing crops with sewage sludge. As an added advantage, he imagines a jatropha green belt spanning 20,000 hectares (nearly 50,000 acres) in Qatar. "The execution of the green belt can actually boost the soil and agricultural lands, and secure them against any further wear and tear triggered by dust storms," he says.


But the Qatar job's success still hinges on lots of elements, not least the ability to get quality yields from the tree. Another important action, Alherbawi describes, is scaling up production innovation that utilizes the totality of the jatropha fruit to increase processing performance.


Back in Ghana, jOil is presently handling 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 study and development have actually led to ranges of jatropha that can now accomplish the high yields that were lacking more than a years ago.


"We had the ability to quicken the yield cycle, enhance the yield variety and enhance the fruit-bearing capacity of the tree," Subramanian states. In essence, he states, the tree is now domesticated. "Our first task is to expand 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 alternative (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 ideal biofuels application, according to Subramanian. "The biofuels story has actually when again resumed with the energy transition drive for oil companies and bio-refiners - [driven by] the look for alternative fuels that would be emission friendly."


A complete jatropha life-cycle evaluation has yet to be finished, but he believes that cradle-to-grave greenhouse gas emissions associated with the oily plant will be "competitive ... These two aspects - that it is technically ideal, and the carbon sequestration - makes it an extremely strong prospect for adoption for ... sustainable air travel," he states. "We think any such expansion will take location, [by clarifying] the definition of degraded land, [enabling] no competition with food crops, nor in any way endangering food security of any country."


Where next for jatropha?


Whether jatropha can genuinely be carbon neutral, environmentally friendly and socially accountable depends upon complicated elements, including where and how it's grown - whether, for example, its production model is based in smallholder farms versus industrial-scale plantations, state experts. Then there's the bothersome problem of accomplishing high yields.


Earlier this year, the Bolivian federal government announced its intention to pursue jatropha plantations in the Gran Chaco biome, part of a national biofuels press that has stirred argument over potential consequences. The Gran Chaco's dry forest biome is already in deep problem, having been greatly deforested by aggressive agribusiness practices.


Many previous plantations in Ghana, alerts Ahmed, transformed dry savanna forest, which became troublesome for carbon accounting. "The net carbon was typically negative in the majority of the jatropha sites, due to the fact that 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 ecologically benign biodiesel feedstock" in Malaysia, Indonesia and India. But still other scientists stay skeptical of the environmental viability of second-generation biofuels. "If Mexico promotes biofuels, such as the exploitation of jatropha, the rebound is that it perhaps becomes so effective, that we will have a lot of associated land-use change," says 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 carried out research study on the possibilities of jatropha contributing to a circular economy in Mexico.


Avila-Ortega mentions past land-use issues related to expansion of numerous crops, consisting of oil palm, sugarcane and avocado: "Our law enforcement is so weak that it can not manage the personal sector doing whatever they desire, in terms of creating ecological problems."


Researchers in Mexico are currently checking out jatropha curcas-based livestock feed as a low-cost and sustainable replacement for grain. Such uses may be well fit to local contexts, Avila-Ortega agrees, though he remains concerned about potential ecological expenses.


He suggests restricting jatropha growth in Mexico to make it a "crop that dominates land," growing it only in truly bad soils in need of restoration. "Jatropha might be one of those plants that can grow in very sterile wastelands," he describes. "That's the only way I would ever promote it in Mexico - as part of a forest healing technique for wastelands. Otherwise, the involved problems are greater than the potential advantages."


Jatropha's global future remains unpredictable. And its prospective as a tool in the battle against environment modification can only be opened, state many experts, by avoiding the list of problems associated with its first boom.


Will jatropha jobs that sputtered to a halt in the early 2000s be fired back up once again? Subramanian believes its function as a sustainable biofuel is "imminent" which the comeback is on. "We have strong interest from the energy market now," he says, "to work together 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 through Flickr (CC BY 2.0).


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