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

Earlier this century, jatropha was hailed as a "miracle" biofuel. An unassuming shrubby tree belonging to Central America, it was hugely promoted as a high-yielding, drought-tolerant biofuel feedstock that might grow on abject lands across 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 caused plantation failures almost 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 guarantee of high-yielding jatropha. A resurgence, they state, is reliant on splitting the yield issue and dealing with the damaging land-use problems intertwined with its initial failure.
The sole remaining big jatropha plantation remains in Ghana. The plantation owner claims high-yield domesticated ranges have been achieved and a new boom is at hand. But even if this comeback falters, the world's experience of jatropha holds important lessons for any appealing up-and-coming biofuel.
At the beginning of the 21st century, Jatropha curcas, an unassuming shrub-like tree belonging 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 study and advancement, 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 design of searching for the wild ranges of jatropha. But to commercialize it, you need 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 gained from the mistakes of jatropha's past failures, he says the oily plant might yet play an essential function as a liquid biofuel feedstock, decreasing transport carbon emissions at the worldwide level. A brand-new boom could bring fringe benefits, with jatropha also a potential source of fertilizers and even bioplastics.

But some scientists are doubtful, noting that jatropha has currently gone through one hype-and-fizzle cycle. They caution that if the plant is to reach full potential, then it is important to gain from previous errors. During the very first boom, jatropha plantations were hindered not only by poor yields, however by land grabbing, deforestation, and social issues in countries where it was planted, including Ghana, where jOil runs.

Experts likewise recommend that jatropha's tale provides 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 originated from its pledge 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 numerous supposed virtues was a capability to flourish on abject or "marginal" lands; hence, it was declared it would never ever take on food crops, so the theory went.

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

Governments, worldwide companies, investors and companies purchased into the hype, introducing 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 study prepared for WWF.

It didn't take long for the mirage of the miraculous 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 undoubtedly bring it into direct dispute 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 fits into existing rural economies and the degree to which it can thrive on marginal 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 fail as expected yields declined to emerge. Jatropha could grow on degraded lands and endure dry spell conditions, as claimed, but yields stayed bad.

"In my viewpoint, this combination of speculative investment, export-oriented capacity, and potential to grow under relatively poorer conditions, created a 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 plagued by environmental, social and economic difficulties, state experts. Accusations of land grabs, the conversion of food crop lands, and clearing of natural areas were reported.

Studies found that land-use modification for jatropha in nations 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 associated forest loss ranged between 2 and 14 years, and "in some scenarios, the carbon debt might never be recovered." In India, production revealed carbon benefits, but the usage of fertilizers led to boosts 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 limited land, however the concept of minimal land is really elusive," discusses Abubakari Ahmed, a lecturer at the University for Development Studies, Ghana. He studied the ramifications of jatropha plantations in the country over numerous years, and discovered that a lax meaning of "minimal" implied that presumptions that the land co-opted for jatropha curcas plantations had actually been lying unblemished and unused was typically illusory.

"Marginal to whom?" he asks. "The reality that ... currently no one is using [land] for farming doesn't mean that nobody is utilizing it [for other purposes] There are a lot of nature-based livelihoods on those landscapes that you may not always see from satellite imagery."

Learning from jatropha

There are crucial lessons to be learned from the experience with jatropha, state experts, which must be hearkened when thinking about other advantageous second-generation biofuels.

"There was a boom [in financial investment], but unfortunately not of research study, and action was taken based on alleged benefits 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 unwinding, Muys and coworkers released a paper pointing out key lessons.

Fundamentally, he describes, there was a lack of understanding about the plant itself and its requirements. This crucial requirement for in advance research study could be applied to other potential biofuel crops, he says. Last year, 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 degraded and marginal land. But Muys's research study revealed yields to be extremely variable, contrary to other reports. The that "pongamia still can not be thought about a significant and steady source of biofuel feedstock due to persisting understanding gaps." Use of such cautionary information could avoid wasteful monetary speculation and negligent land conversion for new biofuels.

"There are other extremely appealing trees or plants that might function as a fuel or a biomass producer," Muys states. "We desired to avoid [them going] in the exact same direction of early buzz and fail, like jatropha."

Gasparatos highlights crucial requirements that need to be met before moving ahead with brand-new biofuel plantations: high yields should be opened, inputs to reach those yields comprehended, and an all set market should be readily available.

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

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

A jatropha return?

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

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

Mohammad Alherbawi, a postdoctoral research fellow at Qatar's Hamad Bin Khalifa University, continues holding out hope for jatropha. He sees it as a way that Qatar might reduce airline carbon emissions. According to his price quotes, its use as a jet fuel might result in about a 40% reduction of "cradle to tomb" emissions.

Alherbawi's team is carrying out continuous field studies to improve jatropha yields by fertilizing crops with sewage sludge. As an included advantage, he envisages a jatropha green belt spanning 20,000 hectares (almost 50,000 acres) in Qatar. "The implementation of the green belt can truly enhance the soil and agricultural lands, and secure them against any more wear and tear brought on by dust storms," he says.

But the Qatar task's success still hinges on lots of elements, not least the capability to obtain quality yields from the tree. Another crucial action, Alherbawi discusses, is scaling up production innovation that uses the totality of the jatropha fruit to increase processing performance.

Back in Ghana, jOil is currently handling more than 1,300 hectares (1,830 acres) of jatropha, and growing a pilot plot on 300 hectares (740 acres) working with more than 400 farmers. Subramanian explains that years of research and advancement have actually led to varieties of jatropha that can now achieve the high yields that were doing not have more than a years ago.

"We were able to hasten the yield cycle, enhance the yield range and improve the fruit-bearing capacity of the tree," Subramanian says. In essence, he states, the tree is now domesticated. "Our very first task is to expand 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 (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 perfect biofuels application, according to Subramanian. "The biofuels story has as soon as again reopened 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 thinks that cradle-to-grave greenhouse gas emissions connected to the oily plant will be "competitive ... These 2 aspects - that it is technically ideal, and the carbon sequestration - makes it a very strong prospect for adoption for ... sustainable aviation," he states. "Our company believe any such expansion will happen, [by clarifying] the definition of abject land, [enabling] no competition 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 upon complex elements, 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 irritating problem of attaining high yields.

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

Many past plantations in Ghana, alerts Ahmed, transformed dry savanna woodland, which ended up being troublesome for carbon accounting. "The net carbon was frequently negative in most of the jatropha websites, due to the fact that the carbon sequestration of jatropha can not be compared to that of a shea tree," he describes.

Other scientists chronicle the "potential of Jatropha curcas as an environmentally benign biodiesel feedstock" in Malaysia, Indonesia and India. But still other scientists stay doubtful of the eco-friendly 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," says 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 conducted research on the possibilities of jatropha contributing to a circular economy in Mexico.

Avila-Ortega cites past land-use issues related to expansion of different crops, including oil palm, sugarcane and avocado: "Our law enforcement is so weak that it can not deal with the private sector doing whatever they want, in regards to creating ecological issues."

Researchers in Mexico are currently checking out jatropha-based animals feed as a low-cost and sustainable replacement for grain. Such uses might be well suited to local contexts, Avila-Ortega agrees, though he stays concerned about prospective environmental expenses.

He recommends limiting jatropha growth in Mexico to make it a "crop that dominates land," growing it just in really poor soils in requirement of repair. "Jatropha might be among those plants that can grow in extremely sterilized wastelands," he discusses. "That's the only method I would ever promote it in Mexico - as part of a forest recovery method for wastelands. Otherwise, the associated issues are higher than the possible benefits."

Jatropha's worldwide future stays unsure. And its possible as a tool in the battle against climate modification can only be unlocked, state lots of professionals, by avoiding the list of troubles 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" and that the comeback is on. "We have strong interest from the energy market now," he states, "to collaborate with us to establish and expand the supply chain of jatropha."

Banner image: Jatropha curcas trees in Hawai'i. Image by Forest and Kim Starr through Flickr (CC BY 2.0).

A liquid biofuels guide: Carbon-cutting hopes vs. real-world effects

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 an international study. 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: Arise from field surveys 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 subject. 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 aspects. 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: ecological 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 impacts 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 figure out whether jatropha jobs were located in limited lands in Ghana: Implications for site choice. 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 restrictions of promoting new tree crops - Lessons gained from jatropha. Sustainability, 6( 6 ), 3213-3231. doi:10.3390/ su6063213

Alherbawi, M., McKay, G., Govindan, R., Haji, M., & Al-Ansari, T. (2022 ). A novel approach on the delineation of a multipurpose energy-greenbelt to produce biofuel and combat desertification in deserts. 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 progress 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 viability for potential 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 limited land availability of Jatropha curcas L.-based biodiesel development. Journal of Cleaner Production, 364, 132655. doi:10.1016/ j.jclepro.2022.132655

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