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Earlier this century, jatropha was hailed as a "miracle" 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 degraded lands across 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 all over. The after-effects of the jatropha crash was tainted by allegations of land grabbing, mismanagement, and overblown carbon reduction claims.
Today, some scientists continue pursuing the incredibly elusive pledge of high-yielding jatropha. A return, they state, is reliant on splitting the yield issue and addressing the harmful land-use problems intertwined with its initial failure.
The sole remaining large jatropha plantation remains in Ghana. The plantation owner declares high-yield domesticated varieties have been attained and a new boom is at hand. But even if this comeback fails, 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, a simple shrub-like tree belonging to Central America, was planted across 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 failed.
Now, after years of research study and development, the sole staying big plantation focused on growing jatropha remains in Ghana. And Singapore-based jOil, which owns that plantation, claims the jatropha comeback is on.
"All those business that stopped working, embraced a plug-and-play design of scouting for the wild varieties of jatropha. But to commercialize it, you need to domesticate it. This is a part of the process that was missed [throughout the boom]," jOil CEO Vasanth Subramanian informed Mongabay in an interview.
Having gained from the errors of jatropha's previous failures, he states the oily plant might yet play an essential role as a liquid biofuel feedstock, minimizing transport carbon emissions at the worldwide level. A new boom might bring fringe benefits, with jatropha likewise a possible 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 caution that if the plant is to reach complete potential, then it is important to gain from past mistakes. During the first boom, jatropha plantations were hindered not just by poor yields, but by land grabbing, logging, and social issues in countries where it was planted, including Ghana, where jOil operates.
Experts also recommend that jatropha's tale offers lessons for scientists and entrepreneurs exploring promising brand-new sources for liquid biofuels - which exist aplenty.
Miracle shrub, significant bust
Jatropha's early 21st-century appeal stemmed from its guarantee as a "second-generation" biofuel, which are sourced from grasses, trees and other plants not stemmed from edible crops such as maize, soy or oil palm. Among its several supposed virtues was a capability to grow on abject or "minimal" lands; thus, it was claimed it would never ever take on 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 amazing; that can grow without excessive fertilizer, a lot of pesticides, or excessive need for water, that can be exported [as fuel] abroad, and does not contend with food because it is dangerous."
Governments, worldwide companies, financiers and business purchased 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 research study got ready for WWF.
It didn't take wish for the mirage of the miraculous biofuel tree to fade.
In 2009, a Buddies of the Earth report from Eswatini (still understood at the time as Swaziland) alerted that jatropha's high demands for land would undoubtedly bring it into direct dispute with food crops. By 2011, an international evaluation noted that "growing exceeded 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 marginal 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, only 1.19 million hectares (2.94 million acres) were growing by 2011. Projects and plantations started to fail as expected yields refused to materialize. Jatropha could grow on abject lands and tolerate drought conditions, as claimed, however yields remained bad.
"In my opinion, this combination of speculative investment, export-oriented capacity, and potential to grow under relatively poorer conditions, created a very huge problem," leading to "undervalued yields that were going to be produced," Gasparatos says.
As jatropha plantations went from boom to bust, they were likewise afflicted by ecological, social and economic problems, state professionals. Accusations of land grabs, the conversion of food crop lands, and cleaning of natural locations were reported.
Studies discovered that land-use modification for jatropha in nations such as Brazil, Mexico and Tanzania caused a loss of biodiversity. A study from Mexico found the "carbon payback" of jatropha plantations due to involved forest loss varied between 2 and 14 years, and "in some circumstances, the carbon financial obligation might never be recuperated." In India, production showed carbon advantages, 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 declare that the jatropha produced was situated on minimal land, however the concept of limited land is extremely elusive," discusses 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 "marginal" implied 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 truth that ... currently nobody is utilizing [land] for farming does not imply that no one is utilizing it [for other functions] 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 key lessons to be gained from the experience with jatropha, say analysts, which should be observed when considering other advantageous second-generation biofuels.
"There was a boom [in investment], but sadly not of research study, and action was taken based upon supposed advantages of jatropha," says 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 winding down, Muys and coworkers released a paper pointing out essential lessons.
Fundamentally, he describes, there was an absence of knowledge about the plant itself and its requirements. This crucial requirement for in advance research could be used to other potential biofuel crops, he states. In 2015, for instance, his team launched a paper evaluating the yields of pongamia (Millettia pinnata), a "fast-growing, leguminous and multipurpose tree types" with biofuel promise.
Like jatropha, pongamia can be grown on degraded and marginal land. But Muys's research showed yields to be extremely variable, contrary to other reports. The team concluded that "pongamia still can not be thought about a substantial and stable source of biofuel feedstock due to persisting understanding gaps." Use of such cautionary data could avoid wasteful financial speculation and reckless land conversion for brand-new biofuels.
"There are other really appealing trees or plants that might function as a fuel or a biomass manufacturer," Muys says. "We wanted to prevent [them going] in the same instructions of early hype and stop working, like jatropha."
Gasparatos underlines important requirements that need to be satisfied before moving ahead with new biofuel plantations: high yields must be opened, inputs to reach those yields comprehended, and an all set market must be offered.
"Basically, the crop requires to be domesticated, or [scientific understanding] at a level that we understand how it is grown," Gasparatos states. Jatropha "was virtually undomesticated when it was promoted, which was so weird."
How biofuel lands are gotten is likewise crucial, says Ahmed. Based on experiences in Ghana where communally used lands were acquired for production, authorities should make sure that "standards are put in location to inspect how large-scale land acquisitions will be done and documented in order to reduce some of the problems we observed."
A jatropha resurgence?
Despite all these difficulties, some researchers still think that under the best conditions, jatropha could be an important biofuel option - particularly for the difficult-to-decarbonize transportation sector "accountable for approximately one quarter of greenhouse gas emissions."
"I believe jatropha has some potential, but it needs to be the right material, 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 may lower airline company carbon emissions. According to his estimates, its usage as a jet fuel could lead to about a 40% decrease of "cradle to tomb" emissions.
Alherbawi's team is carrying out continuous field research studies to boost jatropha yields by fertilizing crops with sewage sludge. As an included advantage, he envisages a jatropha green belt covering 20,000 hectares (almost 50,000 acres) in Qatar. "The application of the green belt can really improve the soil and agricultural lands, and secure them against any further deterioration triggered by dust storms," he states.
But the Qatar project's success still hinges on many elements, not least the ability to obtain quality yields from the tree. Another important step, Alherbawi explains, is scaling up production innovation that uses the totality of the jatropha fruit to increase processing performance.
Back in Ghana, jOil is presently 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 and development have led to ranges of jatropha that can now attain the high yields that were doing not have more than a years ago.
"We had the ability to quicken the yield cycle, enhance the yield range and enhance the fruit-bearing capacity of the tree," Subramanian says. In essence, he mentions, the tree is now domesticated. "Our first project 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 by-products could be a source of fertilizer, bio-candle wax, a charcoal alternative (important 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 once 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 evaluation has yet to be finished, however he thinks that cradle-to-grave greenhouse gas emissions associated with the oily plant will be "competitive ... These 2 aspects - that it is technically ideal, and the carbon sequestration - makes it a really strong candidate for adoption for ... sustainable aviation," he states. "Our company believe any such growth will take location, [by clarifying] the definition of degraded land, [allowing] no competition with food crops, nor in any method threatening food security of any nation."
Where next for jatropha?
Whether jatropha can genuinely be carbon neutral, environmentally friendly and socially responsible depends on intricate aspects, including where and how it's grown - whether, for instance, its production model is based in smallholder farms versus industrial-scale plantations, state experts. Then there's the bothersome issue 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 push that has actually stirred debate over possible repercussions. The Gran Chaco's dry forest biome is currently in deep difficulty, having actually been greatly deforested by aggressive agribusiness practices.
Many past plantations in Ghana, alerts Ahmed, converted dry savanna woodland, which became troublesome for carbon accounting. "The net carbon was typically unfavorable in the majority of the jatropha sites, since the carbon sequestration of jatropha can not be compared to that of a shea tree," he discusses.
Other scientists chronicle the "potential of Jatropha curcas as an environmentally benign biodiesel feedstock" in Malaysia, Indonesia and India. But still other researchers remain doubtful 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 ends up being so effective, that we will have a great deal 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 performed research on the possibilities of jatropha adding to a circular economy in Mexico.
Avila-Ortega points out previous land-use problems associated with expansion of numerous crops, including oil palm, sugarcane and avocado: "Our law enforcement is so weak that it can not manage the personal sector doing whatever they desire, in terms of developing ecological issues."
Researchers in Mexico are presently exploring jatropha-based animals feed as a low-priced and sustainable replacement for grain. Such usages may be well fit to regional contexts, Avila-Ortega concurs, though he remains worried about prospective ecological expenses.
He recommends limiting jatropha expansion in Mexico to make it a "crop that dominates land," growing it just in truly bad soils in requirement of repair. "Jatropha could be one of those plants that can grow in really sterile wastelands," he describes. "That's the only way I would ever promote it in Mexico - as part of a forest healing strategy for wastelands. Otherwise, the associated problems are greater than the potential benefits."
Jatropha's international future remains uncertain. And its prospective as a tool in the fight versus climate change can just be unlocked, say many experts, by avoiding the list of difficulties connected with its very first boom.
Will jatropha tasks 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 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 by means of Flickr (CC BY 2.0).
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