If you liked this story, share it with other individuals.
Earlier this century, jatropha was hailed as a "wonder" biofuel. A simple shrubby tree native to Central America, it was wildly promoted as a high-yielding, drought-tolerant biofuel feedstock that might grow on abject lands across Latin America, Africa and Asia.
A jatropha rush ensued, with more than 900,000 hectares (2.2 million acres) planted by 2008. But the bubble burst. Low yields caused plantation failures nearly everywhere. The aftermath of the jatropha crash was tainted by accusations of land grabbing, mismanagement, and overblown carbon reduction claims.
Today, some researchers continue pursuing the evasive pledge of high-yielding jatropha. A comeback, they say, depends on breaking the yield problem and resolving the harmful land-use issues linked with its initial failure.
The sole remaining large jatropha plantation remains in Ghana. The plantation owner claims high-yield domesticated ranges have actually been achieved and a new boom is at hand. But even if this return falters, the world's experience of jatropha holds essential lessons for any appealing up-and-coming biofuel.
At the beginning of the 21st century, Jatropha curcas, an unassuming shrub-like tree native to Central America, was planted across the world. The rush to jatropha was driven by its promise 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 staying big plantation focused on growing jatropha is in Ghana. And Singapore-based jOil, which owns that plantation, claims the jatropha comeback is on.
"All those companies that stopped working, adopted a plug-and-play model of scouting for the wild varieties of jatropha. But to commercialize it, you require to domesticate it. This is a part of the process that was missed out on [during the boom]," jOil CEO Vasanth Subramanian informed Mongabay in an interview.
Having gained from the mistakes of jatropha's past failures, he states the oily plant might yet play a crucial role as a liquid biofuel feedstock, decreasing transport carbon emissions at the global level. A new boom might bring extra benefits, with jatropha also a prospective source of fertilizers and even bioplastics.
But some scientists are skeptical, keeping in mind that jatropha has currently gone through one hype-and-fizzle cycle. They caution that if the plant is to reach full potential, then it is necessary to gain from previous mistakes. During the very first boom, jatropha plantations were obstructed not only by bad yields, however by land grabbing, deforestation, and social issues in nations where it was planted, including Ghana, where jOil runs.
Experts also suggest that jatropha's tale uses lessons for researchers and entrepreneurs checking out promising new sources for liquid biofuels - which exist aplenty.
Miracle shrub, significant bust
Jatropha's early 21st-century appeal originated from its guarantee as a "second-generation" biofuel, which are sourced from lawns, trees and other plants not originated from edible crops such as maize, soy or oil palm. Among its multiple supposed virtues was a capability to thrive on degraded or "minimal" lands; hence, it was claimed it would never ever take on food crops, so the theory went.
Back then, jatropha ticked all the boxes, 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 excessive fertilizer, too many pesticides, or too much demand for water, that can be exported [as fuel] abroad, and does not compete with food due to the fact that it is toxic."
Governments, international agencies, investors and business purchased into the buzz, launching efforts 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 wish for the mirage of the incredible biofuel tree to fade.
In 2009, a Friends of the Earth report from Eswatini (still understood at the time as Swaziland) warned that jatropha's high demands for land would indeed bring it into direct conflict with food crops. By 2011, an international review kept in mind that "cultivation surpassed both clinical understanding of the crop's potential as well as an understanding of how the crop suits existing rural economies and the degree to which it can grow 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, only 1.19 million hectares (2.94 million acres) were growing by 2011. Projects and plantations started to stop working as anticipated yields refused to materialize. Jatropha might grow on degraded lands and tolerate dry spell conditions, as claimed, however yields stayed poor.
"In my viewpoint, this combination of speculative investment, export-oriented potential, and prospective to grow under reasonably poorer conditions, developed a huge issue," leading to "undervalued yields that were going to be produced," Gasparatos says.
As jatropha plantations went from boom to bust, they were also afflicted by ecological, social and financial problems, state specialists. Accusations of land grabs, the conversion of food crop lands, and cleaning of natural areas were reported.
Studies discovered that land-use modification for jatropha in nations such as Brazil, Mexico and Tanzania caused a loss of biodiversity. A research study from Mexico found the "carbon payback" of jatropha plantations due to associated forest loss ranged between two and 14 years, and "in some circumstances, the carbon debt might never be recuperated." In India, production revealed carbon benefits, but using fertilizers resulted in increases of soil and water "acidification, ecotoxicity, eutrophication."
"If you take a look at most of the plantations in Ghana, they claim that the jatropha produced was positioned on limited land, but the concept of limited land is very elusive," explains Abubakari Ahmed, a speaker at the University for Development Studies, Ghana. He studied the implications of jatropha plantations in the country over a number of years, and discovered that a lax definition of "marginal" indicated that assumptions that the land co-opted for jatropha curcas plantations had been lying untouched and unused was typically illusory.
"Marginal to whom?" he asks. "The fact that ... currently nobody is using [land] for farming doesn't imply that no one is utilizing it [for other purposes] There are a great deal of nature-based incomes on those landscapes that you might not always see from satellite images."
Learning from jatropha
There are key lessons to be discovered from the experience with jatropha curcas, state analysts, which should be heeded when considering other auspicious second-generation biofuels.
"There was a boom [in financial investment], but unfortunately not of research study, and action was taken based upon alleged benefits of jatropha," states 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 winding down, Muys and coworkers released a paper pointing out essential lessons.
Fundamentally, he describes, there was an absence of knowledge about the plant itself and its requirements. This important requirement for upfront research study might be applied to other prospective biofuel crops, he states. Last year, for example, his group launched a paper evaluating the yields of pongamia (Millettia pinnata), a "fast-growing, leguminous and multipurpose tree types" with biofuel pledge.
Like jatropha, pongamia can be grown on degraded and minimal land. But Muys's research study revealed yields to be highly variable, contrary to other reports. The group concluded that "pongamia still can not be thought about a substantial and stable source of biofuel feedstock due to persisting understanding spaces." Use of such cautionary information might prevent wasteful monetary speculation and reckless land conversion for brand-new biofuels.
"There are other very appealing trees or plants that might work as a fuel or a biomass producer," Muys says. "We desired to prevent [them going] in the same instructions of premature hype and fail, like jatropha."
Gasparatos underlines vital requirements that need to be fulfilled before continuing with brand-new biofuel plantations: high yields must be unlocked, inputs to reach those yields understood, and a ready market must be 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 almost undomesticated when it was promoted, which was so weird."
How biofuel lands are obtained is also essential, states Ahmed. Based on experiences in Ghana where communally utilized lands were acquired for production, authorities must guarantee that "guidelines are put in place to examine how large-scale land acquisitions will be done and recorded in order to minimize a few of the problems we observed."
A jatropha return?
Despite all these difficulties, some scientists still believe that under the ideal conditions, jatropha might be a valuable biofuel service - especially for the difficult-to-decarbonize transport sector "responsible for around one quarter of greenhouse gas emissions."
"I think jatropha has some potential, but it needs to be the right material, grown in the best location, and so on," Muys stated.
Mohammad Alherbawi, a postdoctoral research fellow at Qatar's Hamad Bin Khalifa University, continues holding out hope for jatropha. He sees it as a way that Qatar may reduce airline company carbon emissions. According to his estimates, its use as a jet fuel might lead to about a 40% decrease of "cradle to grave" emissions.
Alherbawi's group is carrying out ongoing field studies to boost jatropha yields by fertilizing crops with sewage sludge. As an included benefit, he envisages a jatropha green belt covering 20,000 hectares (nearly 50,000 acres) in Qatar. "The application of the green belt can really boost the soil and farming lands, and secure them versus any further wear and tear brought on by dust storms," he says.
But the Qatar task's success still depends upon numerous factors, not least the capability to obtain quality yields from the tree. Another vital step, Alherbawi explains, is scaling up production technology that uses the totality of the jatropha fruit to increase processing efficiency.
Back in Ghana, jOil is currently managing more than 1,300 hectares (1,830 acres) of jatropha, and growing a pilot plot on 300 hectares (740 acres) working with more than 400 farmers. Subramanian explains that years of research study and advancement have actually resulted in ranges of jatropha that can now attain the high yields that were doing not have more than a decade earlier.
"We had the ability to speed up the yield cycle, improve the yield variety and enhance the fruit-bearing capability of the tree," Subramanian states. In essence, he mentions, the tree is now domesticated. "Our very first project is to expand our jatropha plantation to 20,000 hectares."
Biofuels aren't the only application JOil is looking at. The fruit and its by-products could be a source of fertilizer, bio-candle wax, a charcoal replacement (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 reopened with the energy shift 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, however he believes that cradle-to-grave greenhouse gas emissions related to the oily plant will be "competitive ... These two aspects - that it is technically suitable, and the carbon sequestration - makes it a very strong prospect for adoption for ... sustainable aviation," he states. "We think any such expansion will happen, [by clarifying] the meaning of abject land, [enabling] no competition with food crops, nor in any way endangering food security of any nation."
Where next for jatropha?
Whether jatropha can really be carbon neutral, eco-friendly and socially accountable depends upon intricate factors, including where and how it's grown - whether, for example, its production design is based in smallholder farms versus industrial-scale plantations, say specialists. Then there's the bothersome problem of attaining high yields.
Earlier this year, the Bolivian federal government announced its intent to pursue jatropha plantations in the Gran Chaco biome, part of a national biofuels push that has stirred dispute over possible consequences. The Gran Chaco's dry forest biome is currently in deep problem, having been greatly deforested by aggressive agribusiness practices.
Many previous plantations in Ghana, alerts Ahmed, transformed dry savanna woodland, which became problematic for carbon accounting. "The net carbon was often unfavorable in the majority of the jatropha websites, since the carbon sequestration of jatropha can not be compared to that of a shea tree," he explains.
Other researchers chronicle the "potential of Jatropha curcas as an ecologically benign biodiesel feedstock" in Malaysia, Indonesia and India. But still other scientists remain skeptical of the ecological viability of second-generation biofuels. "If Mexico promotes biofuels, such as the exploitation of jatropha, the rebound is that it perhaps ends up being so effective, that we will have a lot of associated land-use modification," 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 actually carried out research study on the possibilities of jatropha adding to a circular economy in Mexico.
Avila-Ortega points out past land-use problems related to expansion of different crops, consisting of oil palm, sugarcane and avocado: "Our police is so weak that it can not handle the personal sector doing whatever they desire, in regards to creating 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 matched to regional contexts, Avila-Ortega concurs, though he remains worried about potential ecological expenses.
He suggests limiting jatropha expansion in Mexico to make it a "crop that dominates land," growing it only in really poor soils in requirement of restoration. "Jatropha could be one of those plants that can grow in really sterile wastelands," he discusses. "That's the only method I would ever promote it in Mexico - as part of a forest healing strategy for wastelands. Otherwise, the involved issues are greater than the possible advantages."
Jatropha's global future remains uncertain. And its possible as a tool in the battle against climate change can just be opened, say lots of professionals, by preventing the list of problems connected with its very first boom.
Will jatropha jobs that sputtered to a stop in the early 2000s be fired back up once again? Subramanian believes its role as a sustainable biofuel is "imminent" which the comeback is on. "We have strong interest from the energy industry 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).
A liquid biofuels primer: Carbon-cutting hopes vs. real-world effects
Citations:
Wahl, N., Hildebrandt, T., Moser, C., Lüdeke-Freund, F., Averdunk, K., Bailis, R., ... Zelt, T. (2012 ). Insights into jatropha projects around the world - Key realities & figures from an international survey. Centre for Sustainability Management (CSM), Leuphana Universität Lüneburg. doi:10.2139/ ssrn.2254823
Romijn, H., Heijnen, S., Colthoff, J. R., De Jong, B., & Van Eijck, J. (2014 ). Economic and social sustainability performance of jatropha projects: Results from field surveys in Mozambique, Tanzania and Mali. Sustainability, 6( 9 ), 6203-6235. doi:10.3390/ su6096203
Trebbin, A. (2021 ). Land grabbing and jatropha in India: An analysis of 'hyped' discourse on the subject. Land, 10( 10 ), 1063. doi:10.3390/ land10101063
Van Eijck, J., Romijn, H., Balkema, A., & Faaij, A. (2014 ). Global experience with jatropha growing for bioenergy: An evaluation of socio-economic and ecological elements. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 32, 869-889. doi:10.1016/ j.rser.2014.01.028
Skutsch, M., De los Rios, E., Solis, S., Riegelhaupt, E., Hinojosa, D., Gerfert, S., ... Masera, O. (2011 ). Jatropha in Mexico: environmental and social impacts of an incipient biofuel program. Ecology and Society, 16( 4 ). doi:10.5751/ ES-04448-160411
Gmünder, S., Singh, R., Pfister, S., Adheloya, A., & Zah, R. (2012 ). Environmental impacts of Jatropha curcas biodiesel in India. Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology, 2012. doi:10.1155/ 2012/623070
Ahmed, A., Jarzebski, M. P., & Gasparatos, A. (2018 ). Using the ecosystem service approach to determine whether jatropha projects were located in minimal lands in Ghana: Implications for website choice. Biomass and Bioenergy, 114, 112-124. doi:10.1016/ j.biombioe.2017.07.020
Achten, W. M., Sharma, N., Muys, B., Mathijs, E., & Vantomme, P. (2014 ). Opportunities and constraints of promoting new tree crops - Lessons gained from jatropha. Sustainability, 6( 6 ), 3213-3231. doi:10.3390/ su6063213
Alherbawi, M., McKay, G., Govindan, R., Haji, M., & Al-Ansari, T. (2022 ). An unique method on the delineation of a multipurpose energy-greenbelt to produce biofuel and battle desertification in deserts. Journal of Environmental Management, 323, 116223. doi:10.1016/ j.jenvman.2022.116223
Riayatsyah, T. M. I., Sebayang, A. H., Silitonga, A. S., Padli, Y., Fattah, I. M. R., Kusumo, F., ... Mahlia, T. M. I. (2022 ). Current development of Jatropha curcas commoditisation as biodiesel feedstock: A detailed evaluation. Frontiers in Energy Research, 9, 1019. doi:10.3389/ fenrg.2021.815416
Mokhtar, E. S., Akhir, N. M., Zaki, N. A. M., Muharam, F. M., Pradhan, B., & Lay, U. S. (2021 ). Land viability for prospective jatropha plantation in Malaysia. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 620( 1 ), 012002. doi:10.1088/ 1755-1315/620/ 1/012002
Chamola, R., Kumar, N., & Jain, S. (2022 ). jatropha curcas: A sustainable source of transport fuel in India. In Advancement in Materials, Manufacturing and Energy Engineering, Vol. II: Select Proceedings of ICAMME 2021 (pp. 395-408). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore. doi:10.1007/ 978-981-16-8341-1_32
Peralta, H., Avila-Ortega, D. I., & García-Flores, J. C. (2022 ). Jatropha farm: A circular economy proposition for the non-toxic physic nut crop in Mexico. Environmental Sciences Proceedings, 15( 1 ), 10. doi:10.3390/ environsciproc2022015010
Hao, M., Qian, Y., Xie, X., Chen, S., Ding, F., & Ma, T. (2022 ). Global minimal land schedule of Jatropha curcas L.-based biodiesel advancement. Journal of Cleaner Production, 364, 132655. doi:10.1016/ j.jclepro.2022.132655
FEEDBACK: Use this form to send out a message to the author of this post. If you desire to post a public remark, you can do that at the bottom of the page.
