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Earlier this century, jatropha was hailed as a "wonder" biofuel. An unassuming shrubby tree native to Central America, it was extremely promoted as a high-yielding, drought-tolerant biofuel feedstock that might grow on degraded 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 led to plantation failures nearly everywhere. The after-effects of the jatropha crash was tainted by accusations of land grabbing, mismanagement, and overblown carbon decrease claims.

Today, some scientists continue pursuing the evasive promise of high-yielding jatropha. A return, they say, depends on splitting the yield problem and dealing with the hazardous land-use problems linked with its initial failure.

The sole staying big jatropha plantation is in Ghana. The plantation owner declares high-yield domesticated ranges have actually been attained and a new boom is at hand. But even if this comeback falters, the world's experience of jatropha curcas 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 degraded, unfertile lands so as not to displace food crops. But inflated claims of high yields fell flat.

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

"All those companies that stopped working, adopted a plug-and-play design of hunting for the wild varieties of jatropha. But to advertise it, you require to domesticate it. This belongs of the procedure that was missed out on [during the boom]," jOil CEO Vasanth Subramanian told Mongabay in an interview.

Having learned from the errors of jatropha's previous failures, he says the oily plant could yet play an essential function as a liquid biofuel feedstock, minimizing transportation carbon emissions at the worldwide level. A brand-new boom could 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 already gone through one hype-and-fizzle cycle. They caution that if the plant is to reach complete potential, then it is vital to learn from previous errors. During the very first boom, jatropha plantations were obstructed not only by poor yields, but by land grabbing, logging, and social problems in countries where it was planted, consisting of Ghana, where jOil runs.

Experts also recommend that jatropha's tale uses lessons for researchers and business owners exploring promising brand-new sources for liquid biofuels - which exist aplenty.

Miracle shrub, significant bust

Jatropha's early 21st-century appeal came from its promise as a "second-generation" biofuel, which are sourced from yards, trees and other plants not stemmed from edible crops such as maize, soy or oil palm. Among its multiple purported virtues was a capability to thrive on abject or "marginal" lands; therefore, it was declared it would never 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 seemed 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 compete with food due to the fact that it is dangerous."

Governments, international firms, investors and companies purchased into the hype, introducing 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 research study got ready for WWF.

It didn't take long for the mirage of the amazing 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 demands for land would indeed bring it into direct conflict with food crops. By 2011, an international review noted that "cultivation surpassed both clinical understanding of the crop's potential along with 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 fail as expected yields declined to emerge. Jatropha could grow on degraded lands and endure dry spell conditions, as claimed, however yields remained poor.

"In my opinion, this mix of speculative investment, export-oriented potential, and prospective to grow under fairly poorer conditions, developed an extremely huge problem," leading to "underestimated yields that were going to be produced," Gasparatos states.

As jatropha plantations went from boom to bust, they were also pestered by environmental, social and financial troubles, say professionals. 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 nations such as Brazil, Mexico and Tanzania caused a loss of biodiversity. A research study from Mexico discovered the "carbon payback" of jatropha plantations due to associated forest loss varied between 2 and 14 years, and "in some situations, the carbon debt may never ever be recuperated." In India, production showed carbon advantages, however making use of fertilizers led to increases of soil and water "acidification, ecotoxicity, eutrophication."

"If you look at the majority of the plantations in Ghana, they declare that the jatropha produced was positioned on marginal land, however the concept of limited land is very elusive," explains Abubakari Ahmed, a lecturer at the University for Development Studies, Ghana. He studied the ramifications of jatropha plantations in the country over several years, and discovered that a lax definition of "marginal" indicated 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 truth that ... presently nobody is utilizing [land] for farming does not mean that nobody is using it [for other purposes] There are a lot of nature-based livelihoods on those landscapes that you may not necessarily see from satellite imagery."

Learning from jatropha

There are key lessons to be gained from the experience with jatropha, state analysts, which must be heeded when thinking about other advantageous second-generation biofuels.

"There was a boom [in financial investment], however regrettably not of research study, and action was taken based on 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 hype was winding down, Muys and colleagues published a paper pointing out key lessons.

Fundamentally, he discusses, there was an absence of knowledge about the plant itself and its requirements. This crucial requirement for in advance research might be applied to other potential biofuel crops, he states. Last year, for instance, his group launched a paper examining 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 revealed 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 knowledge spaces." Use of such cautionary data could prevent inefficient monetary speculation and negligent land conversion for new biofuels.

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

Gasparatos highlights essential requirements that must be met before continuing with new biofuel plantations: high yields should be unlocked, inputs to reach those yields understood, and an all set market must be offered.

"Basically, the crop requires to be domesticated, or [clinical understanding] at a level that we understand how it is grown," Gasparatos says. Jatropha "was almost undomesticated when it was promoted, which was so unusual."

How biofuel lands are acquired is also key, says Ahmed. Based on experiences in Ghana where communally used lands were bought for production, authorities need to guarantee that "standards are put in location to inspect how massive land acquisitions will be done and recorded in order to decrease some of the problems we observed."

A jatropha comeback?

Despite all these challenges, some researchers still think that under the ideal conditions, jatropha might be an important biofuel service - particularly for the difficult-to-decarbonize transport sector "accountable for roughly one quarter of greenhouse gas emissions."

"I believe jatropha has some potential, but it requires to be the ideal material, grown in the ideal 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 may decrease airline carbon emissions. According to his price quotes, its usage as a jet fuel might result in about a 40% decrease of "cradle to grave" emissions.

Alherbawi's group is performing ongoing field studies to enhance jatropha yields by fertilizing crops with sewage sludge. As an added advantage, he envisages a jatropha green belt spanning 20,000 hectares (almost 50,000 acres) in Qatar. "The execution of the green belt can truly boost the soil and agricultural lands, and safeguard them versus any additional deterioration triggered by dust storms," he says.

But the Qatar project's success still depends upon lots of aspects, not least the ability to get quality yields from the tree. Another crucial step, Alherbawi explains, is scaling up production technology that utilizes the entirety of the jatropha fruit to increase processing effectiveness.

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) dealing with more than 400 farmers. Subramanian explains that years of research study and development have resulted in ranges of jatropha that can now accomplish the high yields that were doing not have more than a decade ago.

"We were able to accelerate the yield cycle, improve the yield range and enhance the fruit-bearing capability of the tree," Subramanian says. In essence, he specifies, 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 byproducts might be a source of fertilizer, bio-candle wax, a charcoal substitute (crucial in Africa where much wood is still burned for cooking), and even bioplastics.

But it is the transport sector that still beckons as the ideal biofuels application, according to Subramanian. "The biofuels story has actually when again resumed with the energy shift drive for oil business and bio-refiners - [driven by] the look for alternative fuels that would be emission friendly."

A complete jatropha life-cycle assessment has yet to be finished, however he believes that cradle-to-grave greenhouse gas emissions connected to the oily plant will be "competitive ... These 2 elements - that it is technically appropriate, and the carbon sequestration - makes it an extremely strong candidate for adoption for ... sustainable aviation," he says. "We think any such growth will happen, [by clarifying] the meaning of abject land, [permitting] no competitors with food crops, nor in any way threatening food security of any nation."

Where next for jatropha?

Whether jatropha can truly be carbon neutral, eco-friendly and socially accountable depends on complicated elements, including where and how it's grown - whether, for example, its production model is based in smallholder farms versus industrial-scale plantations, state specialists. Then there's the bothersome 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 push that has actually stirred dispute over prospective repercussions. The Gran Chaco's dry forest biome is currently in deep problem, having actually 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 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 describes.

Other researchers chronicle the "capacity of Jatropha curcas as an ecologically benign biodiesel feedstock" in Malaysia, Indonesia and India. But still other researchers remain 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 lot of associated land-use change," states 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 contributing to a circular economy in Mexico.

Avila-Ortega points out past land-use issues related to growth of numerous crops, consisting of oil palm, sugarcane and avocado: "Our police is so weak that it can not handle the personal sector doing whatever they want, in regards to creating ecological issues."

Researchers in Mexico are presently exploring jatropha-based livestock feed as an affordable and sustainable replacement for grain. Such usages might be well matched to local contexts, Avila-Ortega agrees, though he remains concerned about potential ecological costs.

He suggests restricting jatropha growth in Mexico to make it a "crop that dominates land," growing it only in really bad soils in requirement of restoration. "Jatropha might be one of those plants that can grow in very sterile wastelands," he explains. "That's the only way I would ever promote it in Mexico - as part of a forest recovery strategy for wastelands. Otherwise, the involved problems are higher than the potential advantages."

Jatropha's worldwide future stays unpredictable. And its potential as a tool in the fight versus environment modification can only be unlocked, say many specialists, by preventing the list of problems related to its first boom.

Will jatropha projects that sputtered to a halt in the early 2000s be fired back up again? Subramanian believes its role as a sustainable biofuel is "impending" and that the comeback is on. "We have strong interest from the energy industry now," he says, "to collaborate with us to establish 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 effects

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