Jatropha: The Biofuel That Bombed Seeks A Path To Redemption
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Earlier this century, jatropha was hailed as a "wonder" biofuel. An unassuming shrubby tree belonging to Central America, it was hugely promoted as a high-yielding, drought-tolerant biofuel feedstock that might 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 resulted in plantation failures nearly everywhere. The consequences of the jatropha crash was tainted by accusations of land grabbing, mismanagement, and overblown carbon decrease claims.
Today, some researchers continue pursuing the incredibly elusive guarantee of high-yielding jatropha. A resurgence, they state, is reliant on breaking the yield problem and resolving the hazardous land-use problems linked with its original failure.
The sole staying big jatropha plantation remains in Ghana. The plantation owner declares high-yield domesticated varieties have been attained and a new boom is at hand. But even if this comeback fails, the world's experience of jatropha holds crucial lessons for any promising up-and-coming biofuel.
At the beginning of the 21st century, Jatropha curcas, an unassuming shrub-like tree belonging to Central America, was planted across 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 development, the sole remaining big plantation concentrated on growing jatropha remains in Ghana. And Singapore-based jOil, which owns that plantation, claims the jatropha resurgence is on.
"All those companies that stopped working, embraced a plug-and-play design of scouting for the wild varieties of jatropha. But to commercialize it, you require to domesticate it. This belongs of the process that was missed [throughout the boom]," jOil CEO Vasanth Subramanian informed Mongabay in an interview.
Having gained from the errors of jatropha's previous failures, he says the oily plant might yet play an essential function as a liquid biofuel feedstock, lowering transport carbon emissions at the worldwide level. A brand-new boom might bring extra benefits, with jatropha likewise a prospective source of fertilizers and even bioplastics.
But some researchers are skeptical, noting that jatropha has actually already gone through one hype-and-fizzle cycle. They caution that if the plant is to reach complete capacity, then it is essential to gain from past errors. During the first boom, jatropha plantations were obstructed not only by bad yields, but by land grabbing, logging, and social issues in countries where it was planted, including Ghana, where jOil runs.
Experts likewise suggest that jatropha's tale offers lessons for scientists and business owners exploring promising brand-new sources for liquid biofuels - which exist aplenty.
Miracle shrub, major bust
Jatropha's early 21st-century appeal originated from its pledge as a "second-generation" biofuel, which are sourced from grasses, trees and other plants not originated from edible crops such as maize, soy or oil palm. Among its multiple purported virtues was a capability to grow on degraded or "minimal" lands; hence, it was declared it would never compete with food crops, so the theory went.
At that time, 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, a lot of pesticides, or excessive demand for water, that can be exported [as fuel] abroad, and does not take on food due to the fact that it is harmful."
Governments, international firms, investors and companies purchased into the hype, releasing efforts to plant, or promise 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 wish for the mirage of the miraculous biofuel tree to fade.
In 2009, a Buddies 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 dispute with food crops. By 2011, an international evaluation kept in mind that "cultivation surpassed both clinical understanding of the crop's potential in addition to an understanding of how the crop fits into existing rural economies and the degree to which it can prosper on minimal 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 began to stop working as anticipated yields refused to materialize. Jatropha could grow on abject lands and endure dry spell conditions, as claimed, however yields stayed bad.
"In my viewpoint, this mix of speculative financial investment, export-oriented capacity, and possible to grow under fairly poorer conditions, created a huge problem," leading to "undervalued yields that were going to be produced," Gasparatos says.
As jatropha plantations went from boom to bust, they were also pestered by environmental, social and economic difficulties, say experts. Accusations of land grabs, the conversion of food crop lands, and clearing of natural locations were reported.
Studies found that land-use modification for jatropha in nations such as Brazil, Mexico and Tanzania resulted in a loss of biodiversity. A research study from Mexico found the "carbon repayment" of jatropha plantations due to associated forest loss varied between 2 and 14 years, and "in some situations, the carbon debt might never be recovered." In India, production revealed carbon benefits, however the use of fertilizers resulted in boosts 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 located on limited land, however the concept of marginal land is extremely elusive," discusses Abubakari Ahmed, a speaker at the University for Development Studies, Ghana. He studied the implications of jatropha plantations in the nation over numerous years, and found that a lax meaning of "marginal" implied that presumptions that the land co-opted for jatropha plantations had actually been lying unblemished and unused was frequently illusory.
"Marginal to whom?" he asks. "The reality that ... currently no one is utilizing [land] for farming does not imply that no one is using it [for other purposes] There are a great deal of nature-based incomes on those landscapes that you might not necessarily see from satellite images."
Learning from jatropha
There are crucial lessons to be gained from the experience with jatropha, say analysts, which must be followed when considering other auspicious second-generation biofuels.
"There was a boom [in investment], however sadly not of research study, and action was taken based on 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 was winding down, Muys and associates published a paper citing crucial lessons.
Fundamentally, he discusses, there was a lack of knowledge about the plant itself and its requirements. This essential requirement for upfront research study might be used to other potential biofuel crops, he states. Last year, for example, his team launched a paper examining the yields of pongamia (Millettia pinnata), a "fast-growing, leguminous and multipurpose tree species" with biofuel guarantee.
Like jatropha, pongamia can be grown on degraded and marginal 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 considered a substantial and stable source of biofuel feedstock due to persisting understanding gaps." Use of such cautionary information might avoid inefficient monetary speculation and reckless land conversion for brand-new biofuels.
"There are other extremely promising trees or plants that might work as a fuel or a biomass producer," Muys says. "We wished to avoid [them going] in the exact same instructions of early buzz and fail, like jatropha."
Gasparatos highlights crucial requirements that need to be fulfilled before continuing with new biofuel plantations: high yields must be unlocked, inputs to reach those yields understood, and a prepared market needs to be available.
"Basically, the crop needs to be domesticated, or [clinical understanding] at a level that we understand how it is grown," Gasparatos says. Jatropha "was practically undomesticated when it was promoted, which was so odd."
How biofuel lands are acquired is also crucial, says Ahmed. Based upon experiences in Ghana where communally used lands were purchased for production, authorities need to make sure that "guidelines are put in place to examine how massive land acquisitions will be done and documented in order to reduce some of the problems we observed."
A jatropha return?
Despite all these challenges, some scientists still believe that under the best conditions, jatropha might be an important biofuel option - particularly for the difficult-to-decarbonize transport sector "responsible for roughly one quarter of greenhouse gas emissions."
"I believe jatropha has some prospective, however it needs to be the best product, 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 manner in which Qatar may minimize airline carbon emissions. According to his estimates, its usage as a jet fuel might lead to about a 40% reduction of "cradle to tomb" emissions.
Alherbawi's team is conducting ongoing field research studies to improve jatropha yields by fertilizing crops with sewage sludge. As an added advantage, he envisages a jatropha green belt covering 20,000 hectares (almost 50,000 acres) in Qatar. "The application of the green belt can really boost the soil and farming lands, and secure them against any further wear and tear triggered by dust storms," he states.
But the Qatar project's success still depends upon lots of aspects, not least the capability to obtain quality yields from the tree. Another important action, Alherbawi explains, is scaling up production innovation that utilizes the totality of the jatropha fruit to increase processing efficiency.
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 describes that years of research and development have actually led to ranges of jatropha that can now accomplish the high yields that were doing not have more than a years ago.
"We had the ability to accelerate the yield cycle, improve the yield variety and enhance the fruit-bearing capacity of the tree," Subramanian states. In essence, he specifies, 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 (crucial 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 search for alternative fuels that would be emission friendly."
A total jatropha life-cycle evaluation has yet to be finished, but he believes that cradle-to-grave greenhouse gas emissions connected to the oily plant will be "competitive ... These two elements - that it is technically ideal, and the carbon sequestration - makes it a very strong prospect for adoption for ... sustainable air travel," he says. "We think any such growth will occur, [by clarifying] the definition of degraded land, [enabling] no competition with food crops, nor in any method endangering food security of any nation."
Where next for jatropha?
Whether jatropha can truly be carbon neutral, environmentally friendly and socially accountable depends on complicated aspects, consisting of where and how it's grown - whether, for example, its production design is based in smallholder farms versus industrial-scale plantations, say experts. Then there's the unpleasant issue of achieving high yields.
Earlier this year, the Bolivian federal government announced its objective to pursue jatropha plantations in the Gran Chaco biome, part of a nationwide biofuels press that has stirred dispute over potential consequences. The Gran Chaco's dry forest biome is currently in deep difficulty, having been heavily deforested by aggressive agribusiness practices.
Many past plantations in Ghana, warns Ahmed, converted dry savanna forest, which ended up being bothersome for carbon accounting. "The net carbon was often unfavorable in most 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 "capacity of Jatropha curcas as an environmentally benign biodiesel feedstock" in Malaysia, Indonesia and India. But still other scientists remain skeptical of the environmental practicality of second-generation biofuels. "If Mexico promotes biofuels, such as the exploitation of jatropha, the rebound is that it potentially becomes so successful, that we will have a great deal of associated land-use change," says Daniel Itzamna Avila-Ortega, co-founder of the Mexican Center of Industrial Ecology and a Ph.D. student with the Stockholm Resilience Centre; he has actually carried out research on the possibilities of jatropha adding to a circular economy in Mexico.
Avila-Ortega mentions previous land-use problems associated with growth of numerous crops, consisting of oil palm, sugarcane and avocado: "Our law enforcement is so weak that it can not manage the economic sector doing whatever they want, in regards to producing environmental problems."
Researchers in Mexico are presently checking out jatropha-based livestock feed as an inexpensive and sustainable replacement for grain. Such uses might be well fit to regional contexts, Avila-Ortega concurs, though he remains concerned about prospective ecological expenses.
He suggests restricting jatropha growth in Mexico to make it a "crop that conquers land," growing it only in really poor soils in need of repair. "Jatropha might be one of those plants that can grow in extremely sterile wastelands," he explains. "That's the only way I would ever promote it in Mexico - as part of a forest healing technique for wastelands. Otherwise, the associated issues are greater than the prospective benefits."
Jatropha's international future stays unpredictable. And its potential as a tool in the battle versus environment modification can just be opened, say lots of specialists, by avoiding the list of troubles connected with its very first boom.
Will jatropha tasks that sputtered to a halt in the early 2000s be fired back up again? Subramanian believes its function as a sustainable biofuel is "impending" and that 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 by means of Flickr (CC BY 2.0).
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