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Earlier this century, jatropha was hailed as a "wonder" biofuel. A simple 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 led to plantation failures nearly everywhere. The after-effects of the jatropha crash was polluted by allegations of land grabbing, mismanagement, and overblown carbon decrease claims.

Today, some researchers continue pursuing the incredibly elusive guarantee of high-yielding jatropha. A return, they state, is reliant on splitting the yield problem and resolving the harmful land-use concerns intertwined with its initial failure.

The sole staying big jatropha plantation remains in Ghana. The plantation owner claims high-yield domesticated varieties have been accomplished and a brand-new boom is at hand. But even if this return falters, the world's experience of jatropha holds crucial lessons for any appealing up-and-coming biofuel.


At the start 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 guarantee as a sustainable source of biofuel that might be grown on broken down, unfertile lands so as not to displace food crops. But inflated claims of high yields failed.

Now, after years of research study and advancement, the sole staying large plantation concentrated on growing jatropha is in Ghana. And Singapore-based jOil, which owns that plantation, declares the jatropha comeback is on.

"All those business that stopped working, embraced a plug-and-play design of searching for the wild varieties of jatropha. But to commercialize it, you need to domesticate it. This is a part of the procedure that was missed [throughout the boom]," jOil CEO Vasanth Subramanian told Mongabay in an interview.

Having found out from the errors of jatropha's previous failures, he states the oily plant might yet play an essential role as a liquid biofuel feedstock, lowering transportation carbon emissions at the international level. A brand-new boom might bring fringe benefits, with jatropha also a potential source of fertilizers and even bioplastics.

But some researchers are doubtful, 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 past errors. During the very first boom, jatropha plantations were hindered not just by bad yields, but by land grabbing, deforestation, and social issues in countries where it was planted, consisting of Ghana, where jOil operates.

Experts likewise 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 came from its guarantee as a "second-generation" biofuel, which are sourced from lawns, trees and other plants not stemmed from edible crops such as maize, soy or oil palm. Among its multiple purported virtues was an ability to prosper 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, a lot of pesticides, or excessive demand for water, that can be exported [as fuel] abroad, and does not complete with food because it is harmful."

Governments, worldwide agencies, investors and companies bought into the buzz, launching initiatives to plant, or promise 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 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 understood at the time as Swaziland) alerted that jatropha's high needs for land would undoubtedly bring it into direct dispute with food crops. By 2011, a worldwide evaluation noted that "growing exceeded both scientific understanding of the crop's potential as well as an understanding of how the crop fits into existing rural economies and the degree to which it can grow on limited lands."

Projections estimated 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 started to stop working as expected yields declined to materialize. Jatropha could grow on degraded lands and endure dry spell conditions, as declared, but yields stayed poor.

"In my viewpoint, this mix of speculative investment, export-oriented capacity, and prospective to grow under reasonably poorer conditions, developed a huge problem," leading to "underestimated yields that were going to be produced," Gasparatos says.

As jatropha plantations went from boom to bust, they were likewise plagued by ecological, social and economic problems, state specialists. Accusations of land grabs, the conversion of food crop lands, and clearing 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 varied between 2 and 14 years, and "in some circumstances, the carbon debt might never ever be recovered." In India, production showed carbon benefits, however the usage of fertilizers led to increases of soil and water "acidification, ecotoxicity, eutrophication."

"If you look at the majority of the plantations in Ghana, they claim that the jatropha produced was positioned on marginal land, but the idea of marginal land is extremely evasive," discusses Abubakari Ahmed, a speaker at the University for Development Studies, Ghana. He studied the ramifications of jatropha plantations in the country over numerous years, and found that a lax meaning of "limited" suggested that presumptions that the land co-opted for jatropha curcas plantations had actually been lying untouched and unused was typically illusory.

"Marginal to whom?" he asks. "The reality that ... presently nobody is utilizing [land] for farming doesn't suggest that nobody is utilizing it [for other functions] There are a great deal of nature-based livelihoods on those landscapes that you might not necessarily see from satellite images."

Learning from jatropha

There are essential lessons to be learned from the experience with jatropha, say experts, which need to be observed when thinking about other advantageous second-generation biofuels.

"There was a boom [in financial investment], however sadly not of research study, and action was taken based on alleged advantages 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 unwinding, Muys and coworkers published a paper pointing out key lessons.

Fundamentally, he explains, there was a lack of understanding about the plant itself and its needs. This vital requirement for in advance research study could be applied to other possible biofuel crops, he states. In 2015, for instance, his team released a paper analyzing 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 limited land. But Muys's research study showed yields to be extremely variable, contrary to other reports. The team concluded that "pongamia still can not be considered a substantial and stable source of biofuel feedstock due to persisting understanding spaces." Use of such cautionary information might prevent inefficient financial speculation and careless land conversion for new biofuels.

"There are other very appealing trees or plants that could serve as a fuel or a biomass manufacturer," Muys states. "We desired to prevent [them going] in the same direction of early buzz and stop working, like jatropha."

Gasparatos underlines vital requirements that should be fulfilled before moving ahead with brand-new biofuel plantations: high yields need to be opened, inputs to reach those yields comprehended, and an all set market should be offered.

"Basically, the crop requires 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 likewise essential, says Ahmed. Based upon experiences in Ghana where communally utilized lands were acquired for production, authorities need to ensure that "guidelines are put in location to examine how large-scale land acquisitions will be done and recorded in order to minimize some of the issues we observed."

A jatropha comeback?

Despite all these challenges, some scientists still believe that under the best conditions, jatropha might be a valuable biofuel service - particularly for the difficult-to-decarbonize transportation sector "accountable for roughly one quarter of greenhouse gas emissions."

"I believe jatropha has some possible, however it needs to be the right product, grown in the right 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 way that Qatar might decrease airline carbon emissions. According to his price quotes, its use as a jet fuel could lead to about a 40% decrease of "cradle to grave" emissions.

Alherbawi's group is conducting continuous field studies to boost jatropha yields by fertilizing crops with sewage sludge. As an added benefit, he imagines a jatropha green belt covering 20,000 hectares (nearly 50,000 acres) in Qatar. "The application of the green belt can truly boost the soil and farming lands, and secure them versus any further wear and tear caused by dust storms," he says.

But the Qatar job's success still hinges on many aspects, not least the ability to get quality yields from the tree. Another crucial step, Alherbawi discusses, is scaling up production innovation that utilizes the entirety of the jatropha fruit to increase processing efficiency.

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) working with more than 400 farmers. Subramanian discusses that years of research study and development have actually led to varieties of jatropha that can now attain the high yields that were doing not have more than a years earlier.

"We were able to accelerate the yield cycle, improve the yield range and boost the fruit-bearing capability of the tree," Subramanian says. In essence, he mentions, the tree is now domesticated. "Our very first project is to broaden our jatropha curcas plantation to 20,000 hectares."

Biofuels aren't the only application JOil is looking at. The fruit and its by-products might 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 ideal biofuels application, according to Subramanian. "The biofuels story has when again resumed with the energy transition drive for oil business 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 completed, but he believes 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 very strong candidate for adoption for ... sustainable aviation," he states. "We believe any such expansion will take place, [by clarifying] the definition of degraded land, [allowing] no competitors with food crops, nor in any way endangering food security of any country."

Where next for jatropha?

Whether jatropha can genuinely be carbon neutral, environment-friendly and socially responsible depends on complicated factors, including where and how it's grown - whether, for instance, its production design is based in smallholder farms versus industrial-scale plantations, state specialists. Then there's the nagging problem of achieving high yields.

Earlier this year, the Bolivian government revealed its intent to pursue jatropha plantations in the Gran Chaco biome, part of a nationwide biofuels press that has actually stirred dispute over possible repercussions. The Gran Chaco's dry forest biome is already in deep trouble, having actually been greatly deforested by aggressive agribusiness practices.

Many previous plantations in Ghana, alerts Ahmed, converted dry savanna woodland, which became problematic for carbon accounting. "The net carbon was frequently negative in the majority of the jatropha websites, because the carbon sequestration of jatropha can not be compared to that of a shea tree," he describes.

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 ecological viability of second-generation biofuels. "If Mexico promotes biofuels, such as the exploitation of jatropha, the rebound is that it possibly ends up being 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 conducted research study on the possibilities of jatropha adding to a circular economy in Mexico.

Avila-Ortega points out past land-use problems connected with growth of various crops, consisting of oil palm, sugarcane and avocado: "Our police is so weak that it can not cope with the private sector doing whatever they want, in regards to developing ecological problems."

Researchers in Mexico are presently exploring jatropha curcas-based livestock feed as a low-priced and sustainable replacement for grain. Such usages might be well matched to local contexts, Avila-Ortega agrees, though he stays concerned about potential ecological expenses.

He recommends limiting jatropha growth in Mexico to make it a "crop that conquers land," growing it only in truly bad soils in need of restoration. "Jatropha might be one of those plants that can grow in very sterilized wastelands," he describes. "That's the only method I would ever promote it in Mexico - as part of a forest recovery method for wastelands. Otherwise, the involved issues are greater than the potential benefits."

Jatropha's global future remains unsure. And its possible as a tool in the battle against environment change can only be unlocked, say many experts, by avoiding the litany of difficulties associated with its first boom.

Will jatropha tasks that sputtered to a halt in the early 2000s be fired back up again? Subramanian thinks its function as a sustainable biofuel is "impending" and that the return is on. "We have strong interest from the energy industry now," he says, "to work together 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).

A liquid biofuels guide: Carbon-cutting hopes vs. real-world impacts

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