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Earlier this century, jatropha was hailed as a "wonder" 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 abject 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 resulted in plantation failures almost all over. The after-effects of the jatropha crash was polluted by accusations of land grabbing, mismanagement, and overblown carbon reduction claims.
Today, some researchers continue pursuing the evasive promise of high-yielding jatropha. A resurgence, they state, depends on splitting the yield problem and dealing with the damaging land-use problems linked with its original failure.
The sole remaining big jatropha plantation remains in Ghana. The plantation owner declares high-yield domesticated ranges have been attained and a brand-new boom is at hand. But even if this resurgence falters, the world's experience of jatropha holds essential lessons for any appealing up-and-coming biofuel.
At the beginning of the 21st century, Jatropha curcas, a simple shrub-like tree belonging to Central America, was planted throughout the world. The rush to jatropha was driven by its pledge as a sustainable source of biofuel that might be grown on degraded, unfertile lands so as not to displace food crops. But inflated claims of high yields failed.

Now, after years of research and development, the sole remaining large plantation concentrated on growing jatropha remains in Ghana. And Singapore-based jOil, which owns that plantation, claims the jatropha comeback is on.

"All those companies that stopped working, embraced a plug-and-play model of scouting for the wild ranges of jatropha. But to advertise it, you require to domesticate it. This is a part of the procedure that was missed out on [throughout the boom]," jOil CEO Vasanth Subramanian informed Mongabay in an interview.

Having discovered from the errors of previous failures, he states the oily plant might yet play a key function as a liquid biofuel feedstock, decreasing transportation carbon emissions at the global level. A brand-new boom could bring fringe benefits, with jatropha also a possible source of fertilizers and even bioplastics.

But some researchers are skeptical, noting that jatropha has currently gone through one hype-and-fizzle cycle. They warn that if the plant is to reach complete potential, then it is important to discover from past mistakes. During the first boom, jatropha plantations were hampered not just by bad yields, however by land grabbing, deforestation, and social problems in nations where it was planted, consisting of Ghana, where jOil runs.

Experts likewise suggest that jatropha's tale uses lessons for scientists and entrepreneurs exploring appealing 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 derived from edible crops such as maize, soy or oil palm. Among its several supposed virtues was a capability to prosper on degraded or "marginal" lands; hence, it was claimed it would never ever take on food crops, so the theory went.

At that time, jatropha ticked all the boxes, states Alexandros Gasparatos, now at the University of Tokyo's Institute for Future Initiatives. "We had a crop that seemed amazing; that can grow without too much fertilizer, a lot of pesticides, or too much demand for water, that can be exported [as fuel] abroad, and does not take on food since it is poisonous."

Governments, worldwide companies, investors and business bought into the buzz, releasing initiatives to plant, or guarantee to plant, countless 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 prepared for WWF.

It didn't take long for the mirage of the amazing biofuel tree to fade.

In 2009, a Buddies of the Earth report from Eswatini (still known at the time as Swaziland) cautioned that jatropha's high needs for land would indeed bring it into direct conflict with food crops. By 2011, a worldwide review kept in mind that "growing exceeded both clinical understanding of the crop's potential in addition to 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, 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 emerge. Jatropha might grow on abject lands and endure drought conditions, as declared, but yields stayed bad.

"In my opinion, this combination of speculative investment, export-oriented capacity, and possible to grow under reasonably poorer conditions, produced a huge problem," resulting in "ignored 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 financial problems, state experts. Accusations of land grabs, the conversion of food crop lands, and cleaning of natural locations were reported.

Studies discovered that land-use change for jatropha in countries 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 involved forest loss varied in between two and 14 years, and "in some circumstances, the carbon debt may never be recuperated." In India, production revealed carbon benefits, however making use of fertilizers led to boosts of soil and water "acidification, ecotoxicity, eutrophication."

"If you take a look at the majority of the plantations in Ghana, they declare that the jatropha curcas produced was situated on limited land, however the concept of limited 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 a number of years, and discovered that a lax meaning of "minimal" indicated that presumptions that the land co-opted for jatropha plantations had actually been lying unblemished and unused was frequently illusory.

"Marginal to whom?" he asks. "The reality that ... presently no one is utilizing [land] for farming does not imply that nobody is utilizing it [for other functions] There are a great deal of nature-based incomes on those landscapes that you may not necessarily see from satellite imagery."

Learning from jatropha

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

"There was a boom [in financial investment], however unfortunately not of research, and action was taken based on supposed benefits of jatropha," says Bart Muys, a professor 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 associates released a paper citing key lessons.

Fundamentally, he describes, there was an absence of understanding about the plant itself and its requirements. This vital requirement for upfront research could be applied to other possible biofuel crops, he states. In 2015, for instance, his group launched a paper evaluating the yields of pongamia (Millettia pinnata), a "fast-growing, leguminous and multipurpose tree types" with biofuel pledge.

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

"There are other very promising trees or plants that could act as a fuel or a biomass producer," Muys states. "We wanted to avoid [them going] in the exact same direction of premature buzz and stop working, like jatropha."

Gasparatos highlights crucial requirements that must be met before moving ahead with brand-new biofuel plantations: high yields should be unlocked, inputs to reach those yields comprehended, and a ready market must be offered.

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

How biofuel lands are obtained is likewise key, says Ahmed. Based upon experiences in Ghana where communally utilized lands were acquired for production, authorities should ensure that "guidelines are put in location to examine how large-scale land acquisitions will be done and documented in order to decrease a few of the problems we observed."

A jatropha resurgence?

Despite all these difficulties, some scientists still believe that under the ideal conditions, jatropha might be a valuable biofuel option - especially for the difficult-to-decarbonize transportation sector "responsible for roughly one quarter of greenhouse gas emissions."

"I believe jatropha has some prospective, but it needs to be the ideal product, grown in the best 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 method that Qatar may lower 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 performing ongoing field research studies to improve jatropha yields by fertilizing crops with sewage sludge. As an included advantage, he envisages 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 protect them versus any more wear and tear brought on by dust storms," he states.

But the Qatar project's success still hinges on numerous aspects, not least the capability to acquire quality yields from the tree. Another vital action, Alherbawi describes, is scaling up production technology 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 discusses that years of research and development have actually resulted in ranges of jatropha that can now attain the high yields that were doing not have more than a years ago.

"We were able to accelerate the yield cycle, improve the yield variety and boost the fruit-bearing capacity of the tree," Subramanian states. In essence, he mentions, the tree is now domesticated. "Our 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 perfect biofuels application, according to Subramanian. "The biofuels story has actually once 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 total jatropha life-cycle evaluation has yet to be completed, however he thinks 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 a really strong prospect for adoption for ... sustainable air travel," he states. "We believe any such growth will happen, [by clarifying] the meaning of abject land, [enabling] no competitors with food crops, nor in any method threatening food security of any nation."

Where next for jatropha?

Whether jatropha can genuinely be carbon neutral, environment-friendly and socially accountable depends upon complicated factors, consisting of 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 irritating problem of attaining high yields.

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

Many previous plantations in Ghana, alerts Ahmed, converted dry savanna forest, which became 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 discusses.

Other scientists chronicle the "potential of Jatropha curcas as an environmentally benign biodiesel feedstock" in Malaysia, Indonesia and India. But still other scientists remain doubtful of the ecological 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 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 performed research study on the possibilities of jatropha adding to a circular economy in Mexico.

Avila-Ortega points out past land-use issues connected with expansion of different crops, including oil palm, sugarcane and avocado: "Our police is so weak that it can not deal with the private sector doing whatever they desire, in terms of creating environmental problems."

Researchers in Mexico are currently checking out jatropha-based animals feed as an affordable and sustainable replacement for grain. Such uses might be well suited to local contexts, Avila-Ortega concurs, though he remains concerned about potential ecological expenses.

He recommends restricting jatropha curcas growth in Mexico to make it a "crop that conquers land," growing it only in genuinely bad soils in need of repair. "Jatropha might be one of those plants that can grow in really sterilized wastelands," he describes. "That's the only method I would ever promote it in Mexico - as part of a forest recovery strategy for wastelands. Otherwise, the associated issues are greater than the prospective advantages."

Jatropha's international future remains unsure. And its potential as a tool in the battle against environment modification can just be opened, say lots of experts, by avoiding the list of difficulties connected with its very 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 "imminent" which the resurgence 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 primer: Carbon-cutting hopes vs. real-world effects

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