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Earlier this century, jatropha was hailed as a "miracle" biofuel. An unassuming shrubby tree native to Central America, it was extremely promoted as a high-yielding, drought-tolerant biofuel feedstock that could grow on abject lands throughout 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 caused plantation failures nearly everywhere. The aftermath of the jatropha crash was polluted by allegations of land grabbing, mismanagement, and overblown carbon reduction claims.

Today, some researchers continue pursuing the incredibly elusive guarantee of high-yielding jatropha. A resurgence, they say, is dependent on cracking the yield issue and dealing with the harmful land-use issues intertwined with its original failure.

The sole staying large jatropha plantation is in Ghana. The plantation owner declares high-yield domesticated varieties have actually been achieved and a new boom is at hand. But even if this return falters, the world's experience of jatropha holds important 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 throughout the world. The rush to jatropha curcas 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 development, the sole remaining big plantation concentrated on growing jatropha is in Ghana. And Singapore-based jOil, which owns that plantation, claims the jatropha return is on.

"All those business that failed, adopted a plug-and-play model of hunting for the wild varieties of jatropha. But to advertise it, you need to domesticate it. This is a part of the process that was missed out on [throughout the boom]," jOil CEO Vasanth Subramanian told Mongabay in an interview.

Having gained from the errors of jatropha's previous failures, he states the oily plant might yet play a crucial function as a liquid biofuel feedstock, reducing transport carbon emissions at the international level. A new boom could bring extra advantages, with jatropha likewise 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 warn that if the plant is to reach complete capacity, then it is vital to find out from previous mistakes. During the first boom, jatropha plantations were hindered not just by poor yields, however by land grabbing, logging, and social problems in countries where it was planted, including Ghana, where jOil runs.

Experts also suggest that jatropha's tale uses lessons for researchers and business owners checking out appealing new sources for liquid biofuels - which exist aplenty.

Miracle shrub, major bust

Jatropha's early 21st-century appeal stemmed from its guarantee as a "second-generation" biofuel, which are sourced from lawns, trees and other plants not obtained from edible crops such as maize, soy or oil palm. Among its numerous purported virtues was a capability to grow on abject or "minimal" lands; hence, it was declared it would never ever complete with food crops, so the theory went.

Back then, jatropha ticked all packages, states Alexandros Gasparatos, now at the University of Tokyo's Institute for Future Initiatives. "We had a crop that seemed incredible; that can grow without excessive fertilizer, a lot of pesticides, or too much demand for water, that can be exported [as fuel] abroad, and does not compete with food since it is harmful."

Governments, worldwide firms, financiers and business bought into the buzz, launching initiatives to plant, or pledge 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 amazing biofuel tree to fade.

In 2009, a Friends of the Earth report from Eswatini (still known at the time as Swaziland) warned that jatropha's high needs for land would indeed bring it into direct conflict with food crops. By 2011, a global evaluation noted that "growing outpaced both scientific understanding of the crop's potential as well as an understanding of how the crop suits existing rural economies and the degree to which it can thrive 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, just 1.19 million hectares (2.94 million acres) were growing by 2011. Projects and plantations began to stop working as expected yields declined to materialize. Jatropha could grow on degraded lands and tolerate drought conditions, as declared, however yields stayed bad.

"In my viewpoint, this combination of speculative financial investment, export-oriented potential, and prospective to grow under reasonably poorer conditions, produced a huge problem," leading to "undervalued yields that were going to be produced," Gasparatos states.

As jatropha plantations went from boom to bust, they were likewise afflicted by ecological, social and financial difficulties, state professionals. Accusations of land grabs, the conversion of food crop lands, and cleaning of natural areas were reported.

Studies found that land-use modification for jatropha in nations such as Brazil, Mexico and Tanzania caused a loss of biodiversity. A research study from Mexico found the "carbon payback" of jatropha plantations due to involved forest loss ranged in between two and 14 years, and "in some scenarios, the carbon debt might never ever be recovered." In India, production showed carbon advantages, but using fertilizers resulted in boosts of soil and water "acidification, ecotoxicity, eutrophication."

"If you take a look at the majority of the plantations in Ghana, they claim that the jatropha produced was situated on limited land, however the concept of limited land is very elusive," describes 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 meaning of "limited" suggested that presumptions that the land co-opted for jatropha plantations had actually been lying unblemished and unused was often illusory.

"Marginal to whom?" he asks. "The fact that ... presently no one is using [land] for farming does not imply that nobody is utilizing it [for other purposes] There are a lot of nature-based incomes on those landscapes that you might not always see from satellite images."

Learning from jatropha

There are essential lessons to be gained from the experience with jatropha, say experts, which ought to be hearkened when considering other auspicious second-generation biofuels.

"There was a boom [in investment], however unfortunately not of research study, and action was taken based upon alleged benefits 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 unwinding, Muys and associates published a paper mentioning crucial lessons.

Fundamentally, he describes, there was a lack of understanding about the plant itself and its requirements. This vital requirement for in advance research might be applied to other potential biofuel crops, he states. Last year, for instance, his team released a paper analyzing the yields of pongamia (Millettia pinnata), a "fast-growing, leguminous and multipurpose tree types" with biofuel guarantee.

Like jatropha, pongamia can be grown on degraded and marginal land. But Muys's research study revealed yields to be extremely variable, contrary to other reports. The group concluded that "pongamia still can not be considered a substantial and steady source of biofuel feedstock due to persisting knowledge gaps." Use of such cautionary information could avoid wasteful financial speculation and reckless land conversion for brand-new biofuels.

"There are other really promising trees or plants that might serve as a fuel or a biomass producer," Muys says. "We wished to avoid [them going] in the exact same direction of premature buzz and stop working, like jatropha."

Gasparatos underlines essential requirements that need to be met before continuing with brand-new biofuel plantations: high yields need to be opened, inputs to reach those yields comprehended, and a ready 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 almost undomesticated when it was promoted, which was so unusual."

How biofuel lands are gotten is also key, says Ahmed. Based on experiences in Ghana where communally utilized lands were acquired for production, authorities must guarantee that "standards are put in location to examine how massive land acquisitions will be done and documented in order to minimize some of the issues we observed."

A jatropha return?

Despite all these obstacles, some scientists still believe that under the ideal conditions, jatropha could be an important biofuel solution - especially for the difficult-to-decarbonize transportation sector "responsible for approximately one quarter of greenhouse gas emissions."

"I think jatropha has some potential, however it requires to be the ideal product, grown in the ideal place, and so on," Muys said.

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 manner in which Qatar may decrease airline carbon emissions. According to his quotes, its usage as a jet fuel might lead to about a 40% decrease of "cradle to tomb" emissions.

Alherbawi's team is carrying out continuous field research studies to increase jatropha yields by fertilizing crops with sewage sludge. As an added advantage, he envisages a jatropha green belt covering 20,000 hectares (nearly 50,000 acres) in Qatar. "The application of the green belt can actually boost the soil and agricultural lands, and protect them against any more degeneration brought on by dust storms," he states.

But the Qatar task's success still depends upon lots of factors, not least the capability to acquire quality yields from the tree. Another important action, Alherbawi explains, is scaling up production innovation that uses the whole 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) dealing with more than 400 farmers. Subramanian explains that years of research study and development have actually resulted in varieties of jatropha that can now achieve the high yields that were lacking more than a years earlier.

"We were able to speed up the yield cycle, improve the yield variety and enhance the fruit-bearing capability of the tree," Subramanian says. 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 might 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 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 search for alternative fuels that would be emission friendly."

A complete jatropha life-cycle assessment has yet to be finished, however he thinks that cradle-to-grave greenhouse gas emissions connected to the oily plant will be "competitive ... These 2 aspects - that it is technically appropriate, and the carbon sequestration - makes it a very strong prospect for adoption for ... sustainable aviation," he says. "Our company believe any such growth will occur, [by clarifying] the meaning of abject land, [allowing] no competitors with food crops, nor in any way endangering food security of any country."

Where next for jatropha?

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

Earlier this year, the Bolivian federal government announced its objective to pursue jatropha plantations in the Gran Chaco biome, part of a national biofuels press that has actually stirred argument over possible effects. The Gran Chaco's dry forest biome is already in deep problem, having been heavily deforested by aggressive agribusiness practices.

Many previous plantations in Ghana, alerts Ahmed, converted dry savanna forest, which ended up being problematic for carbon accounting. "The net carbon was frequently negative in the majority of the jatropha sites, because 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 researchers remain uncertain of the eco-friendly practicality of second-generation biofuels. "If Mexico promotes biofuels, such as the exploitation of jatropha, the rebound is that it potentially becomes so effective, that we will have a great deal of associated land-use modification," 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 conducted research on the possibilities of jatropha contributing to a circular economy in Mexico.

Avila-Ortega cites previous land-use issues related to growth of different crops, including oil palm, sugarcane and avocado: "Our law enforcement is so weak that it can not handle the economic sector doing whatever they desire, in terms of developing environmental issues."

Researchers in Mexico are currently checking out jatropha-based livestock feed as a low-cost and sustainable replacement for grain. Such uses might be well fit to regional contexts, Avila-Ortega agrees, though he remains worried about possible environmental expenses.

He recommends limiting jatropha growth in Mexico to make it a "crop that dominates land," growing it only in truly poor soils in requirement of restoration. "Jatropha could be one of those plants that can grow in very sterile wastelands," he discusses. "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 unsure. And its possible as a tool in the battle versus environment change can just be unlocked, state lots of experts, by avoiding the list of troubles connected with its first boom.

Will jatropha tasks that sputtered to a halt in the early 2000s be fired back up once again? Subramanian thinks its role as a sustainable biofuel is "imminent" and that the comeback 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 by means of Flickr (CC BY 2.0).

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