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 extremely 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 caused plantation failures nearly everywhere. The consequences of the jatropha crash was polluted by accusations of land grabbing, mismanagement, and overblown carbon decrease claims.
Today, some researchers continue pursuing the incredibly elusive promise of high-yielding jatropha. A return, they say, depends on cracking the yield problem and resolving the damaging land-use issues linked with its initial failure.
The sole staying 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 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 pledge as a sustainable source of biofuel that could be grown on broken down, unfertile lands so as not to displace food crops. But inflated claims of high yields fell flat.
Now, after years of research and development, the sole remaining big plantation focused on growing jatropha is in Ghana. And Singapore-based jOil, which owns that plantation, declares the jatropha comeback is on.
"All those companies that failed, adopted a plug-and-play model of hunting for the wild ranges of jatropha. But to commercialize it, you need to domesticate it. This belongs of the process that was missed out on [during the boom]," jOil CEO Vasanth Subramanian told Mongabay in an interview.
Having discovered from the mistakes of jatropha's past failures, he says the oily plant could yet play an essential role as a liquid biofuel feedstock, decreasing transportation carbon emissions at the worldwide level. A brand-new boom might bring additional advantages, with jatropha likewise a potential source of fertilizers and even bioplastics.
But some researchers are doubtful, keeping in mind that jatropha has actually currently gone through one hype-and-fizzle cycle. They caution that if the plant is to reach complete capacity, then it is vital to discover from past mistakes. During the first boom, jatropha plantations were hindered not just by poor yields, but by land grabbing, logging, and social problems in countries where it was planted, including Ghana, where jOil runs.
Experts also recommend that jatropha's tale offers lessons for researchers and entrepreneurs exploring appealing brand-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 turfs, 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 "limited" lands; therefore, it was claimed it would never contend with food crops, so the theory went.
At that time, jatropha ticked all packages, says Alexandros Gasparatos, now at the University of Tokyo's Institute for Future Initiatives. "We had a crop that appeared incredible; that can grow without too much fertilizer, too numerous pesticides, or too much need for water, that can be exported [as fuel] abroad, and does not take on food because it is toxic."
Governments, international firms, investors and business purchased into the buzz, releasing initiatives to plant, or guarantee to plant, millions of 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 Pals of the Earth report from Eswatini (still known 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, an international review kept in mind that "cultivation surpassed both scientific understanding of the crop's capacity in addition to an understanding of how the crop fits into existing rural economies and the degree to which it can flourish 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 anticipated yields refused to materialize. Jatropha could grow on degraded lands and endure drought conditions, as declared, but yields remained poor.
"In my opinion, this combination of speculative financial investment, export-oriented potential, and potential to grow under fairly poorer conditions, produced a huge problem," resulting in "undervalued yields that were going to be produced," Gasparatos says.
As jatropha plantations went from boom to bust, they were also afflicted by environmental, social and financial difficulties, state experts. 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 resulted in a loss of biodiversity. A research study from Mexico found the "carbon repayment" of jatropha plantations due to involved forest loss ranged in between two and 14 years, and "in some scenarios, the carbon financial obligation might never ever be recuperated." In India, production revealed carbon advantages, but the usage of 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 situated on limited land, however the idea 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 several years, and found that a lax definition of "marginal" suggested that assumptions that the land co-opted for jatropha plantations had been lying untouched and unused was frequently illusory.
"Marginal to whom?" he asks. "The reality that ... presently no one is using [land] for farming does not suggest that no one is using it [for other purposes] There are a lot of nature-based livelihoods on those landscapes that you might not necessarily see from satellite images."
Learning from jatropha
There are crucial lessons to be found out from the experience with jatropha, say analysts, which need to be heeded when considering other auspicious second-generation biofuels.
"There was a boom [in investment], however sadly not of research study, and action was taken based upon 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 hype was winding down, Muys and colleagues published a paper mentioning crucial lessons.
Fundamentally, he describes, there was a lack of understanding about the plant itself and its needs. This essential requirement for upfront research could be used to other possible biofuel crops, he states. In 2015, for example, his group 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 revealed yields to be highly variable, contrary to other reports. The group concluded that "pongamia still can not be considered a significant and stable source of biofuel feedstock due to continuing understanding spaces." Use of such cautionary information might avoid inefficient monetary speculation and negligent land conversion for brand-new biofuels.
"There are other extremely appealing trees or plants that could serve as a fuel or a biomass producer," Muys says. "We desired to avoid [them going] in the same direction of premature buzz and stop working, like jatropha."
Gasparatos underlines vital requirements that should be met before continuing with new biofuel plantations: high yields must be opened, inputs to reach those yields comprehended, and an all set market needs to be readily available.
"Basically, the crop needs to be domesticated, or [scientific understanding] at a level that we understand how it is grown," Gasparatos says. Jatropha "was virtually undomesticated when it was promoted, which was so odd."
How biofuel lands are obtained is also essential, says Ahmed. Based on experiences in Ghana where communally used lands were bought for production, authorities need to ensure that "guidelines are put in place to inspect how massive land acquisitions will be done and documented in order to minimize some of the issues we observed."
A jatropha comeback?
Despite all these difficulties, some scientists still believe that under the best conditions, jatropha could be a valuable biofuel solution - particularly for the difficult-to-decarbonize transport sector "accountable for around one quarter of greenhouse gas emissions."
"I think jatropha has some prospective, however it needs to be the best material, grown in the ideal 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 company carbon emissions. According to his estimates, its use as a jet fuel could lead to about a 40% decrease of "cradle to tomb" emissions.
Alherbawi's team is performing ongoing field research studies to improve jatropha yields by fertilizing crops with sewage sludge. As an included benefit, he envisages a jatropha green belt spanning 20,000 hectares (nearly 50,000 acres) in Qatar. "The implementation of the green belt can really improve the soil and agricultural lands, and safeguard them against any more wear and tear brought on by dust storms," he says.
But the Qatar task's success still depends upon many factors, not least the capability to acquire quality yields from the tree. Another important step, Alherbawi describes, is scaling up production innovation that utilizes the whole of the jatropha fruit to increase processing performance.
Back in Ghana, jOil is 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 actually resulted in ranges of jatropha that can now achieve the high yields that were doing not have more than a years back.
"We had the ability to hasten the yield cycle, improve the yield variety and boost the fruit-bearing capability of the tree," Subramanian states. In essence, he mentions, 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 byproducts could be a source of fertilizer, bio-candle wax, a charcoal replacement (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 perfect 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 search for alternative fuels that would be emission friendly."
A total jatropha life-cycle assessment has yet to be finished, however he believes that cradle-to-grave greenhouse gas emissions related to the oily plant will be "competitive ... These 2 aspects - that it is technically ideal, and the carbon sequestration - makes it a very strong candidate for adoption for ... sustainable air travel," he states. "We believe any such growth will happen, [by clarifying] the definition of abject land, [permitting] no competitors with food crops, nor in any method threatening food security of any nation."
Where next for jatropha?
Whether jatropha can truly be carbon neutral, environment-friendly and socially responsible depends upon complex aspects, including where and how it's grown - whether, for instance, its production design is based in smallholder farms versus industrial-scale plantations, say professionals. Then there's the unpleasant issue of attaining high yields.
Earlier this year, the Bolivian federal government revealed 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 already in deep problem, having been greatly deforested by aggressive agribusiness practices.
Many past plantations in Ghana, alerts Ahmed, transformed dry savanna woodland, which became problematic for carbon accounting. "The net carbon was often unfavorable in most of the jatropha sites, because the carbon sequestration of jatropha can not be compared to that of a shea tree," he explains.
Other scientists chronicle the "capacity of Jatropha curcas as an ecologically benign biodiesel feedstock" in Malaysia, Indonesia and India. But still other researchers stay uncertain of the environmental practicality 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 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 study on the possibilities of jatropha adding to a circular economy in Mexico.
Avila-Ortega cites previous land-use problems related to growth of numerous crops, including oil palm, sugarcane and avocado: "Our law enforcement is so weak that it can not manage the private sector doing whatever they want, in terms of creating ecological issues."
Researchers in Mexico are currently exploring jatropha-based livestock feed as a low-priced and sustainable replacement for grain. Such uses might be well fit to local contexts, Avila-Ortega concurs, though he stays concerned about possible environmental expenses.
He suggests restricting jatropha expansion in Mexico to make it a "crop that dominates land," growing it only in really bad soils in need of repair. "Jatropha might be one of those plants that can grow in very 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 associated problems are greater than the possible advantages."
Jatropha's global future remains uncertain. And its prospective as a tool in the fight against environment change can just be opened, state numerous professionals, by avoiding the litany of difficulties connected with its 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 "imminent" which the return is on. "We have strong interest from the energy industry now," he says, "to collaborate with us to develop and broaden 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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