If you liked this story, share it with other people.
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 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 resulted in plantation failures nearly everywhere. The aftermath of the jatropha crash was tainted by allegations of land grabbing, mismanagement, and overblown carbon reduction claims.
Today, some researchers continue pursuing the evasive promise of high-yielding jatropha. A comeback, they state, depends on breaking the yield problem and resolving the harmful land-use problems intertwined with its original failure.
The sole staying large jatropha plantation is in Ghana. The plantation owner claims high-yield domesticated ranges have been attained and a brand-new boom is at hand. But even if this return fails, 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, a simple 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 fell flat.
Now, after years of research study and advancement, the sole remaining big plantation concentrated on growing jatropha remains 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 is a part of the process that was missed [during the boom]," jOil CEO Vasanth Subramanian informed Mongabay in an interview.
Having gained from the errors of jatropha's past failures, he states the oily plant might yet play a key role as a liquid biofuel feedstock, decreasing transport carbon emissions at the global level. A new boom might bring fringe benefits, with jatropha likewise a potential source of fertilizers and even bioplastics.
But some scientists are doubtful, noting that jatropha has already gone through one hype-and-fizzle cycle. They caution that if the plant is to reach complete capacity, then it is necessary to learn from previous mistakes. During the very first boom, jatropha plantations were hampered not only by poor yields, however by land grabbing, deforestation, and social problems in nations where it was planted, consisting of Ghana, where jOil runs.
Experts also suggest that jatropha's tale offers lessons for researchers and business owners checking out promising 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 lawns, trees and other plants not derived from edible crops such as maize, soy or oil palm. Among its several supposed virtues was a capability to flourish on abject or "minimal" lands; hence, it was claimed it would never ever take on food crops, so the theory went.
At that time, jatropha ticked all the boxes, says 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, a lot of pesticides, or too much demand for water, that can be exported [as fuel] abroad, and does not complete with food because it is harmful."
Governments, global firms, investors and companies purchased into the hype, launching efforts to plant, or guarantee 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 study prepared for WWF.
It didn't take wish for the mirage of the amazing biofuel tree to fade.
In 2009, a Buddies of the Earth report from Eswatini (still known at the time as Swaziland) cautioned that jatropha's high needs for land would undoubtedly bring it into direct dispute with food crops. By 2011, an international evaluation kept in mind that "cultivation outpaced both clinical 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 grow on limited 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 declined to emerge. Jatropha could grow on abject lands and endure drought conditions, as claimed, but yields stayed poor.
"In my viewpoint, this mix of speculative financial investment, export-oriented capacity, and possible to grow under reasonably poorer conditions, created a really huge problem," leading to "undervalued yields that were going to be produced," Gasparatos states.
As jatropha plantations went from boom to bust, they were also afflicted by environmental, social and economic troubles, say experts. Accusations of land grabs, the conversion of food crop lands, and clearing of natural locations were reported.
Studies discovered that land-use modification for jatropha in nations such as Brazil, Mexico and Tanzania caused a loss of biodiversity. A study from Mexico found the "carbon payback" of jatropha plantations due to involved forest loss ranged between two and 14 years, and "in some situations, the carbon debt may never ever be recovered." In India, production revealed carbon benefits, however using fertilizers resulted in increases of soil and water "acidification, ecotoxicity, eutrophication."
"If you look at many of the plantations in Ghana, they claim that the jatropha produced was located on limited land, but the concept of limited land is very elusive," explains Abubakari Ahmed, a lecturer at the University for Development Studies, Ghana. He studied the implications of jatropha plantations in the nation over several years, and found that a lax definition of "limited" suggested that assumptions that the land co-opted for jatropha plantations had been lying unblemished and unused was typically illusory.
"Marginal to whom?" he asks. "The reality that ... presently no one is utilizing [land] for farming does not mean that nobody is using it [for other purposes] There are a lot 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, state experts, which must be hearkened when thinking about other auspicious second-generation biofuels.
"There was a boom [in investment], but sadly not of research, and action was taken based on supposed advantages of jatropha," states Bart Muys, a professor 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 colleagues released a paper citing essential lessons.
Fundamentally, he describes, there was a lack of understanding about the plant itself and its requirements. This important requirement for in advance research could be used to other potential biofuel crops, he says. Last year, for example, his group released a paper analyzing the yields of pongamia (Millettia pinnata), a "fast-growing, leguminous and multipurpose tree types" with biofuel promise.
Like jatropha, pongamia can be grown on abject and marginal land. But Muys's research showed yields to be highly variable, contrary to other reports. The group concluded that "pongamia still can not be considered a considerable and stable source of biofuel feedstock due to continuing knowledge spaces." Use of such cautionary data could prevent inefficient monetary speculation and reckless land conversion for brand-new biofuels.
"There are other extremely promising trees or plants that might function as a fuel or a biomass producer," Muys states. "We wanted to prevent [them going] in the exact same direction of early buzz and fail, like jatropha."
Gasparatos underlines important requirements that should be satisfied before continuing with 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 requires to be domesticated, or [scientific understanding] at a level that we know how it is grown," Gasparatos says. Jatropha "was virtually undomesticated when it was promoted, which was so odd."
How biofuel lands are obtained is likewise crucial, states Ahmed. Based upon experiences in Ghana where communally utilized lands were purchased for production, authorities should guarantee that "standards are put in location to check how large-scale land acquisitions will be done and recorded in order to reduce some of the issues we observed."
A jatropha resurgence?
Despite all these challenges, some researchers still believe that under the ideal conditions, jatropha could be a valuable biofuel option - particularly for the difficult-to-decarbonize transportation sector "responsible for roughly one quarter of greenhouse gas emissions."
"I think jatropha has some potential, however it requires to be the ideal material, grown in the best place, 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 method that Qatar may reduce airline carbon emissions. According to his estimates, its usage as a jet fuel could lead to about a 40% decrease of "cradle to tomb" emissions.
Alherbawi's group is performing ongoing field research studies to increase jatropha yields by fertilizing crops with sewage sludge. As an included benefit, he envisages a jatropha green belt covering 20,000 hectares (almost 50,000 acres) in Qatar. "The application of the green belt can truly improve the soil and farming lands, and protect them versus any further degeneration triggered by dust storms," he says.
But the Qatar job's success still hinges on many aspects, not least the capability to obtain quality yields from the tree. Another important step, Alherbawi describes, is scaling up production innovation 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 development have resulted in varieties of jatropha that can now achieve 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 boost the fruit-bearing capacity of the tree," Subramanian states. In essence, he specifies, the tree is now domesticated. "Our 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 byproducts might be a source of fertilizer, bio-candle wax, a charcoal substitute (essential 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 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 total jatropha life-cycle evaluation has yet to be finished, however he thinks that cradle-to-grave greenhouse gas emissions related to the oily plant will be "competitive ... These 2 elements - that it is technically appropriate, and the carbon sequestration - makes it a really strong candidate for adoption for ... sustainable aviation," he states. "We think any such growth will happen, [by clarifying] the definition of abject land, [allowing] no competitors with food crops, nor in any method threatening food security of any country."
Where next for jatropha?
Whether jatropha can truly be carbon neutral, eco-friendly and socially accountable depends on complicated aspects, including where and how it's grown - whether, for example, its production model is based in smallholder farms versus industrial-scale plantations, state professionals. Then there's the nagging issue of accomplishing high yields.
Earlier this year, the Bolivian federal government announced its intent to pursue jatropha plantations in the Gran Chaco biome, part of a nationwide biofuels press that has stirred debate over possible consequences. The Gran Chaco's dry forest biome is currently in deep problem, having actually been greatly deforested by aggressive agribusiness practices.
Many past plantations in Ghana, warns Ahmed, converted dry savanna woodland, which became bothersome for carbon accounting. "The net carbon was frequently negative in the majority of the jatropha sites, 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 environmentally benign biodiesel feedstock" in Malaysia, Indonesia and India. But still other scientists stay doubtful 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 performed research study on the possibilities of jatropha adding to a circular economy in Mexico.
Avila-Ortega points out past land-use issues associated with growth of various crops, consisting of oil palm, sugarcane and avocado: "Our police is so weak that it can not handle the economic sector doing whatever they desire, in regards to developing environmental problems."
Researchers in Mexico are presently checking out jatropha-based livestock feed as an inexpensive and sustainable replacement for grain. Such usages may be well fit to local contexts, Avila-Ortega agrees, though he remains worried about potential ecological costs.
He suggests restricting jatropha growth in Mexico to make it a "crop that conquers land," growing it just in genuinely poor soils in requirement of restoration. "Jatropha could be one of those plants that can grow in really sterilized wastelands," he discusses. "That's the only way I would ever promote it in Mexico - as part of a forest healing technique for wastelands. Otherwise, the associated problems are greater than the potential benefits."
Jatropha's worldwide future stays unpredictable. And its potential as a tool in the battle versus environment change can only be opened, say many professionals, by avoiding the list of troubles connected with its very first boom.
Will jatropha projects that sputtered to a halt in the early 2000s be fired back up again? Subramanian thinks its role as a sustainable biofuel is "imminent" and that the resurgence is on. "We have strong interest from the energy industry now," he states, "to work together with us to establish 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).
A liquid biofuels guide: 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 tasks around the world - Key truths & 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 efficiency of jatropha tasks: Results from field surveys in Mozambique, Tanzania and Mali. Sustainability, 6( 9 ), 6203-6235. doi:10.3390/ su6096203
Trebbin, A. (2021 ). Land getting and jatropha in India: An analysis of 'hyped' discourse on the topic. Land, 10( 10 ), 1063. doi:10.3390/ land10101063
Van Eijck, J., Romijn, H., Balkema, A., & Faaij, A. (2014 ). Global experience with jatropha cultivation for bioenergy: An evaluation of socio-economic and ecological aspects. 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 effects 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 community service technique to determine whether jatropha jobs were found in marginal lands in Ghana: Implications for website selection. 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 restraints of promoting new tree crops - Lessons learned from jatropha. Sustainability, 6( 6 ), 3213-3231. doi:10.3390/ su6063213
Alherbawi, M., McKay, G., Govindan, R., Haji, M., & Al-Ansari, T. (2022 ). A novel method on the delineation of a multipurpose energy-greenbelt to produce biofuel and combat desertification in arid regions. 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 progress of Jatropha curcas commoditisation as biodiesel feedstock: A comprehensive review. 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 suitability for possible 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: 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 marginal land accessibility of Jatropha curcas L.-based biodiesel development. Journal of Cleaner Production, 364, 132655. doi:10.1016/ j.jclepro.2022.132655
FEEDBACK: Use this form to send a message to the author of this post. If you wish to post a public comment, you can do that at the bottom of the page.
