If you liked this story, share it with other people.

Earlier this century, jatropha was hailed as a "wonder" biofuel. An unassuming shrubby tree native to Central America, it was wildly promoted as a high-yielding, drought-tolerant biofuel feedstock that could grow on abject lands throughout Latin America, Africa and Asia.
A jatropha rush ensued, with more than 900,000 hectares (2.2 million acres) planted by 2008. But the bubble burst. Low yields resulted in plantation failures almost all over. The consequences of the jatropha crash was tainted by accusations of land grabbing, mismanagement, and overblown carbon reduction claims.
Today, some researchers continue pursuing the incredibly elusive promise of high-yielding jatropha. A resurgence, they state, depends on splitting the yield issue and dealing with the harmful land-use problems intertwined with its initial failure.
The sole staying large jatropha plantation remains 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 fails, 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 throughout 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 fell flat.

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

"All those business that stopped working, adopted a plug-and-play model of hunting for the wild ranges of jatropha. But to commercialize it, you require 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 found out from the mistakes of jatropha's previous failures, he says the oily plant could yet play an essential function as a liquid biofuel feedstock, lowering transport carbon emissions at the international level. A new boom might bring additional benefits, with jatropha likewise a prospective source of fertilizers and even bioplastics.

But some scientists 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 gain from past mistakes. During the very first boom, jatropha plantations were obstructed not only by bad yields, however by land grabbing, deforestation, and social problems in countries where it was planted, including Ghana, where jOil runs.

Experts also recommend that jatropha's tale uses lessons for scientists and business owners checking out 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 yards, trees and other plants not stemmed from edible crops such as maize, soy or oil palm. Among its numerous supposed virtues was a capability to prosper on abject or "limited" lands; therefore, it was claimed 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 appeared amazing; that can grow without too much fertilizer, a lot of pesticides, or too much need for water, that can be exported [as fuel] abroad, and does not take on food since it is dangerous."

Governments, international firms, financiers and business bought into the hype, launching 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 study got ready for WWF.

It didn't take long 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 undoubtedly bring it into direct conflict with food crops. By 2011, a worldwide evaluation kept in mind that "growing surpassed both scientific understanding of the crop's capacity along with an understanding of how the crop suits 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 started to fail as expected yields declined to materialize. Jatropha could grow on abject lands and tolerate drought conditions, as declared, however yields remained bad.

"In my viewpoint, this combination of speculative investment, export-oriented potential, and possible to grow under fairly poorer conditions, produced a really big problem," leading to "ignored yields that were going to be produced," Gasparatos states.

As jatropha plantations went from boom to bust, they were likewise pestered 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 discovered that land-use change for jatropha in countries such as Brazil, Mexico and Tanzania resulted in a loss of biodiversity. A study from Mexico found the "carbon repayment" of jatropha plantations due to involved forest loss ranged between 2 and 14 years, and "in some situations, the carbon financial obligation may never ever be recovered." In India, production revealed carbon advantages, however the use of fertilizers led to increases of soil and water "acidification, ecotoxicity, eutrophication."

"If you take a look at many of the plantations in Ghana, they declare that the jatropha produced was positioned on marginal land, but the idea of marginal land is very evasive," describes Abubakari Ahmed, a lecturer at the University for Development Studies, Ghana. He studied the implications of jatropha plantations in the nation over numerous years, and found that a lax definition of "minimal" implied that presumptions that the land co-opted for jatropha plantations had been lying untouched and unused was frequently illusory.

"Marginal to whom?" he asks. "The fact that ... presently no one is utilizing [land] for farming doesn't suggest that nobody is using it [for other purposes] There are a great deal of nature-based livelihoods on those landscapes that you may not necessarily see from satellite images."

Learning from jatropha

There are key lessons to be gained from the experience with jatropha, state experts, which should be when considering other advantageous second-generation biofuels.

"There was a boom [in investment], however unfortunately not of research study, and action was taken based upon alleged 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 associates released a paper citing crucial lessons.

Fundamentally, he explains, there was an absence of knowledge about the plant itself and its requirements. This crucial requirement for upfront research could be applied to other prospective biofuel crops, he says. Last year, for example, his group launched a paper analyzing the yields of pongamia (Millettia pinnata), a "fast-growing, leguminous and multipurpose tree species" with biofuel guarantee.

Like jatropha, pongamia can be grown on degraded and limited land. But Muys's research revealed yields to be highly variable, contrary to other reports. The team concluded that "pongamia still can not be considered a substantial and steady source of biofuel feedstock due to persisting understanding gaps." Use of such cautionary data could prevent inefficient financial speculation and negligent land conversion for new biofuels.

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

Gasparatos highlights crucial requirements that need to be met before continuing with brand-new biofuel plantations: high yields need to be opened, inputs to reach those yields understood, and a prepared market needs to 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 practically undomesticated when it was promoted, which was so unusual."

How biofuel lands are obtained is also essential, says Ahmed. Based on experiences in Ghana where communally utilized lands were bought for production, authorities must ensure that "standards are put in place to examine how large-scale land acquisitions will be done and documented in order to minimize a few of the problems we observed."

A jatropha comeback?

Despite all these difficulties, some scientists still believe that under the right conditions, jatropha could be a valuable biofuel option - particularly for the difficult-to-decarbonize transport sector "responsible for approximately one quarter of greenhouse gas emissions."

"I think jatropha has some prospective, however it requires to be the best product, grown in the right location, 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 might minimize airline carbon emissions. According to his quotes, its usage as a jet fuel could lead to about a 40% decrease of "cradle to grave" emissions.

Alherbawi's team is carrying out ongoing field research studies to boost jatropha yields by fertilizing crops with sewage sludge. As an added benefit, he envisages a jatropha green belt covering 20,000 hectares (almost 50,000 acres) in Qatar. "The implementation of the green belt can truly improve the soil and farming lands, and protect them against any further deterioration triggered by dust storms," he says.

But the Qatar task's success still depends upon lots of aspects, not least the capability to obtain quality yields from the tree. Another vital action, Alherbawi discusses, is scaling up production technology that uses the totality 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 describes that years of research study and advancement have resulted in varieties of jatropha curcas that can now achieve the high yields that were lacking more than a years ago.

"We were able to accelerate the yield cycle, enhance the yield variety and boost the fruit-bearing capability of the tree," Subramanian states. In essence, he mentions, the tree is now domesticated. "Our first task 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 byproducts 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 once again reopened with the energy transition 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 aspects - that it is technically appropriate, and the carbon sequestration - makes it a very strong candidate for adoption for ... sustainable aviation," he states. "Our company believe any such growth will occur, [by clarifying] the definition of abject land, [allowing] no competitors with food crops, nor in any method endangering food security of any country."

Where next for jatropha?

Whether jatropha can genuinely be carbon neutral, eco-friendly and socially responsible depends on complex elements, consisting of where and how it's grown - whether, for instance, its production design is based in smallholder farms versus industrial-scale plantations, say specialists. Then there's the nagging problem 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 national biofuels push that has stirred argument over prospective repercussions. The Gran Chaco's dry forest biome is already in deep trouble, having been heavily deforested by aggressive agribusiness practices.

Many previous plantations in Ghana, warns Ahmed, converted dry savanna woodland, which became troublesome for carbon accounting. "The net carbon was often unfavorable in most of the jatropha sites, due to the fact that 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 ecologically benign biodiesel feedstock" in Malaysia, Indonesia and India. But still other scientists remain uncertain of the ecological practicality 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. trainee with the Stockholm Resilience Centre; he has actually performed research on the possibilities of jatropha curcas contributing to a circular economy in Mexico.

Avila-Ortega mentions previous land-use issues connected with growth of different crops, including oil palm, sugarcane and avocado: "Our police is so weak that it can not handle the private sector doing whatever they want, in terms of producing environmental issues."

Researchers in Mexico are currently checking out jatropha-based animals feed as an inexpensive and sustainable replacement for grain. Such usages might be well suited to local contexts, Avila-Ortega agrees, though he remains worried about possible environmental expenses.

He recommends limiting jatropha expansion in Mexico to make it a "crop that conquers land," growing it just in really poor soils in requirement of restoration. "Jatropha might be among those plants that can grow in really sterile wastelands," he explains. "That's the only way I would ever promote it in Mexico - as part of a forest healing technique for wastelands. Otherwise, the associated issues are greater than the possible advantages."

Jatropha's worldwide future stays uncertain. And its possible as a tool in the battle versus climate modification can just be opened, state many professionals, by avoiding the list of problems associated with its first boom.

Will jatropha tasks that sputtered to a stop in the early 2000s be fired back up once again? Subramanian thinks its function as a sustainable biofuel is "impending" which the comeback is on. "We have strong interest from the energy market now," he states, "to work together 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 impacts

Citations:

Wahl, N., Hildebrandt, T., Moser, C., Lüdeke-Freund, F., Averdunk, K., Bailis, R., ... Zelt, T. (2012 ). Insights into jatropha projects worldwide - Key truths & figures from a global 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 performance of jatropha projects: Results from field studies 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 assessment of socio-economic and ecological elements. 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 impacts 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 effects 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 identify whether jatropha projects were found in minimal lands in Ghana: Implications for site 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 constraints 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 ). An unique approach on the delineation of a multipurpose energy-greenbelt to produce biofuel and fight desertification in arid areas. 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 development 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 advancement. Journal of Cleaner Production, 364, 132655. doi:10.1016/ j.jclepro.2022.132655

FEEDBACK: Use this kind to send out a message to the author of this post. If you wish to publish a public comment, you can do that at the bottom of the page.