Jatropha

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Jatropha (sometimes spelled "jathropha") is a genus of approximately 175 succulents, shrubs and trees (some are deciduous, like Jatropha curcas L.), from the family Euphorbiaceae. Plants from the genus natively occur in Africa, North America, and the Caribbean and is now found throught the tropics. Jatropha curcas, also called physic nut, is used to produce the non-edible Jatropha oil, for making candles and soap, and as an ingredient in the production of biodiesel. It is a drought-resistant perennial, growing well in marginal/poor soil and has a very high oil yield/hectare. It is easy to establish, grows relatively quickly and lives, producing seeds for 50 years. It has been used for years as a hedge plant to protect food crops from animals and livestock.

  • Since Jatropha can be grown on marginal land and around existing gardens and fields, it does not necessarily compete for cropland, unlike edible-oil [feedstocks] like soy-beans or oil palm. These qualities have made it a prime candidate for a biodiesel feedstock. While large scale jatropha plantations are being created in India, Burma, Nicaragua, Africa and elsewhere, the lack of a history of large-scale commercial cultivation, as opposed to edible-oil plants like soy-beans, means that many questions remain about the efficiency and viability of large-scale jatropha-oil production. (sources: Society for Rural Initiative for Promotion of Herbal (SRIPHL), Wikipedia)
  • Jatropha is a major potential bioenergy crop in Burma/Myanmar, the Philippines, Indonesia, Africa, China and India.
Jatropha Nursery in Kaffrine, Senegal

Contents

History

Sustainability

A "Sustainable Jatropha Initiative" has been proposed, to be modeled on the example of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil.

Jatrophabook Onlus is now working on the constitution of a high profile Scientific Committee, to discuss, evaluate and propose sustainability criteria in collaboration with research centers and universities all over the world. The primary issues related to sustainable best practices are:

For each relevant topic JatrophaBook will create a specific Taskforce to discuss criteria and publish results from selected case studies.

Environmental sustainability

Greenhouse gases

A jatropha tree absorbs around 8 kg. of CO2 every year. 2500 trees can be planted in a hectare, thus, resulting in 20 tonnes of CO2 sequestration per year for the lifetime of 40-50 years. Moreover, each hectare produces an average of 1000 gallons of biodiesel per year and 3500 kg. of biomass. The usage of biodiesel results in the reduction of 3.2 kg. CO2/ liter produced by diesel. At the 78% efficiency, biodiesel will reduce in 2.5 kg. of CO2/per liter or 9.2 tons of CO2 for every hectare of plantation. The biomass produced after the oil extraction will further result in carbon reduction based on the amount of electricity generated from it.

Organic fertilizers such as cow manure can be used as the fertilizer to maximize the GHGs reduction by encouraging farmers to compost cow dung which otherwise will be a source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. More information can be obtained from plantjatropha.

Biodiversity

Pollution

Land degradation

  • Jatropha, as a perennial tree which grows well on marginal or degraded land, can be used to stop land degradation and reverse deforestation. (source: need source)
  • The seed cake, which is produced after oil is pressed from Jatropha seeds is rich in nutrients and can be made into biofertilizer to improve soil qualities.(source: need source)

Social sustainability

Technology/Science

Properties

Technology

Economics/Policy

Jatropha in rural development

  • The "Jatropha System"
  • The Jatropha Energy System: An Integrated Approach To Decentralized And Sustainable Energy Production At The Village Level by Laurens Rademakers and Giovanni Venturini Del Greco, ISF Firenze.
    • Jatropha plantation is labor intensive hence creating jobs for poor indigenous people who otherwise are forced from their ancestral lands and displaced, having to live in extreme poor conditions in city slums. The co-operatives can be be setup with the farmers with small piece of unused/wasteland for the joint plantation. The oilseeds processing can be setup for every small region thereby providing employment locally. The by-products such as seedcake can be utilized locally either to fulfill the energy needs or making high value manure for organic farming. The local diesel vehicles or diesel generators can be modified to use the filtered oil directly to maintain the clean environment conditions. The leftover oil can then be collected from these units to process bio-diesel in a centralized location. (source: plantjatropha)

Reports

Events

2010

2009

2008

News

  • GEM Biofuels commences crude jatropha oil shipment to Australia, East (sic) Germany, 11 January 2010 by BiofuelsDigest: "In Madagascar, GEM Biofuels will commence commercial production and shipment of crude jatropha oil later this month with 60 tons of oil shipping to Australia and East (sic) Germany."
    • "GEM has secured 50 year agreements giving exclusive rights over 452,500 hectares (in excess of 1 million acres) to establish plantations, ranging in size from 6,000 – 125,000 acres with a further 100,000 acres of natural forest containing substantial numbers of mature Jatropha trees." [1]
  • Aviation turns to China for biofuels capacity development, 13 September 2009 by Biofuels Digest: The "global aviation industry, which has set a target of 3 billion gallons of aviation biofuels by 2020, has begun an historic shift in focus to Chinese leadership in biofuels capacity development".
    • "In related news, Boeing confirmed that it has commenced talks with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and 'several Chinese universities' about a potential development of low-carbon aviation biofuels. CCTV is reporting that near-term opportunities for collaboration between Boeing and China’s alternative energy industry could focus on jatropha development in Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. According to Xinhua News Agency, China is projecting '13 million hectares of biofuel plantations by 2020,' primarily to meet increased internal energy needs."[2]
  • African Jatropha Boom Raises Concerns, 8 October 2009 by The New York Times Green Inc. blog: "Once the darling of biofuel enthusiasts, jatropha is raising concerns."
    • "In a report leaked to The East African newspaper last week, Envirocare, an environmental and human rights organization, highlighted the impact of the jatropha trade in Tanzania — including concerns over the displacement of farmers, water consumption, and the substitution of food crops for biofuels."
    • "Indeed, of 13 potential bioenergy crops analyzed...in a study...in the American Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, rapeseed and jatropha were found to be the least water-efficient biofuels."
    • "Mr. Ruud Van Eck, the chief executive of Diligent Energy Systems, a Dutch jatropha developer working in Tanzania, is among business executives who have contested the findings on the water footprint of jatropha."[3]
  • BP Gives up on Jatropha for Biofuel, 17 July 2009 by the Wall Street Journal's blog Environmental Capital: "BP has indeed given up on jatropha, the shrub once touted as the great hope for biofuels, and walked away from its jatropha joint venture for less than $1 million."
    • "Speculation abounded this summer that BP was ready to jettison its participation in the project with British partner partner D1 Oils. The original plan called for the investment of $160 million to turn the jatropha tree into feedstock to make transportation fuel. Now, BP will turn its alternative-fuel efforts toward ethanol in Brazil and the U.S., as well as biobutanol."
    • Jatropha, "the inedible but hardy plant that just a few years ago seemed like it could revolutionize biofuels has turned into a bust. The initial attraction was that it grows on marginal land, so it wouldn’t compete with food crops. But marginal land means marginal yields. And jatropha turned out to be a water hog as well, further darkening its environmental credentials."[4]
  • Biofuels do well as jet fuel, Boeing says, 22 June 2009 by The Oregonian: "Good news for the struggling biofuels industry: The plant-derived fuels perform favorably as jet fuel, a study by Boeing and others in the aviation industry has concluded."
    • "The study also showed the biofuel blends used in the test flight program met or exceeded all technical parameters for commercial jet aviation fuel. Those standards include freezing point, flash point, fuel density and viscosity, among others."
    • "Each of the test flights used a different blend of biofuel sources: An Air New Zealand flight used fuel derived from jatropha; a Continental flight used a blend of jatropha and algae-based fuels; and a Japan Airlines flight used a blend of jatropha, algae and camelina-based fuels."[5]
  • Bioenergy Makes Heavy Demands On Scarce Water Supplies, 4 June 2009 by ScienceDaily: "The 'water footprint' of bioenergy, i.e. the amount of water required to cultivate crops for biomass, is much greater than for other forms of energy. The generation of bioelectricity is significantly more water-efficient in the end, however – by a factor of two – than the production of biofuel. By establishing the water footprint for thirteen crops, researchers at the University of Twente were able to make an informed choice of a specific crop and production region. They published their results in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) of 2 June."
    • "By linking the water consumption to the location and climate data, it is possible to select the optimum production region for each crop. This makes it easier to prevent biomass cultivation from jeopardizing food production in regions where water is already in short supply".
    • "Water that is used for bioenergy – whether it be for a food crop such as maize or a non-food crop such as jatropha – cannot be used for food production, for drinking water or for maintaining natural eco-systems."[6]
  • For Greening Aviation, Are Biofuels The Right Stuff?, 11 June 2009 by environment360: "Preliminary results from an Air New Zealand test flight in December show that burning biofuels — in this case jet fuel refined from jatropha oil — can cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 60 percent compared to conventional fuel. And, as a bonus, about 1.4 metric tons of fuel could be saved on a 12-hour flight using a biofuel blend."
    • "The overwhelming challenge is how to produce enough biofuel to supply even a fraction of the more than 60 billion gallons of jet fuel burned every year by the world’s aircraft....Non-food plant sources, such as jatropha and camelina, are promising, but difficult to produce in large quantities and can end up displacing food crops or lead to deforestation if the price of fuel rises high enough."[7]
  • Korean firms set to invest $475M on biofuel plants, 29 May 2009 by BusinessWorld: Manila, Philippines--local firms sign "an agreement with South Korean companies to put up two biofuel plants costing a combined $475 million."
    • Two agreements signed for bioethanol and biodiesel production.
    • "...bioethanol producer Enviro Plasma, Ltd. and Central Luzon Bioenergy Corp. will put up a 500,000-liter per day bioethanol plant worth $300 million in Clark, Pampanga with sugarcane feedstock from 46,000 hectares of plantation..."
    • "South Korean biodiesel producer Eco Solutions Co., Ltd. and partner Eco Global Bio-Oils, Inc. will invest $175 million to put up a biodiesel plant capable of producing 100,000 liters of biodiesel per day...Eco Solutions had committed to invest at least 100,000 hectares to plant jatropha".
  • Why Ghana is attracting investments in biofuels, 31 January 2009 by Ghana Business News: "Ghana has become a major centre of attraction for the cultivation of biofuels in Africa for a number of reasons," including agricultural productivity, political stability and labor costs.
    • "Currently, the country features prominently on the radar of alternative energy interests, especially in the cultivation of the non-food plant jatropha for the production of biofuels."
    • "[C]ompanies from Brazil, Italy, Norway, Israel, China, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium and India" have invested in projects in "the Volta, Brong Ahafo, Ashanti, Eastern and the Northern regions of Ghana," mainly for jatropha.
    • "While its supporters argue that [jatropha] can be grown on semi-arid land and so poses less of a threat to food output than other biofuel feedstocks such as grains and vegetable oils, its opponents argue that investors are taking away productive agriculture land from poor local farmers for the purpose."
    • "Currently, there is an ongoing debate, accusations and counter-accusations of land grabbing between NGOs, Action Aid and FoodSPAN on one hand and Rural Consult, a consultancy firm on biofuels on the other."[8]
  • The Blunder Crop: a Biofuels Digest special report on jatropha biofuels development, 24 March 2009 by Biofuels Digest: SG Biofuels, Mission New Energy and GEM are being successful in developing jatropha projects, but "[w]ell-organized efforts are in the minority. More typical: back-of-the-comic book jatropha seed and seedling marketers that prey on the hopes and fears of cash-strapped farmers; the farcical disaster that has developed in Myanmar’s national biofuels project; and a number of non-profits (some well-organized, some dreamy) running around in Haiti trying to save the country from deforestation with projects as small as one designed to provide heat and power to a local bakery."
    • "Jatropha is realizing less than half its projected yields in most projects, and less than a third of optimistic estimates that led jatropha to be labeled 'the wonder crop'."
    • "The problem? Countries like Myanmar that planned 8 million acres of jatropha and then forgot about harvesting technology, crushers, biodiesel processing or anything approaching a distribution system. The Result? Jatropha seeds rotting in Myanmar’s fields. The cure? Getting back to sound planning, extensive soil testing, and excellence in project management."[9]
    • This article provides detailed information about jatropha-related projects in China, Africa, India, Myanmar, and Haiti.
  • Toxic jatropha shrub fuels Mexico's biodiesel push, 10 March 2009 by Reuters: Jatropha "is a hearty shrub that grows with no special care. Its oil-rich seeds are being eyed as an attractive feed stock for biofuel since the poisonous plant does not compete with food crops."
    • "Now India is planting the bush en masse, converting it into a green energy source used to power trains and buses with less pollution than crude oil. Mexico hopes to follow suit."
    • "President Felipe Calderon signed an agreement with the president of Colombia in January to build a 14.5 million peso ($936,000) experimental biodiesel plant in southern Mexico with a production capacity of 12,000 liters (3,170 gallons) of biofuel a day."
    • "Mexico passed a law last year to push developing biofuels that don't threaten food security and the agriculture ministry has since identified some 2.6 million hectares (6.4 million acres) of land with a high potential to produce jatropha."[10]
  • Continental to Test Flight Powered by Biofuel, 8 December 2008, by MSNBC:
    • "Continental Airlines Inc. said Monday it will test the use of a biofuel blend to power one of its jetliners on a flight that won't carry any passengers."
    • "Airlines are studying the use of alternative fuels to help deal with volatile jet fuel prices that spiked to record highs this summer, and to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases."
    • "Continental said the plane on the Jan. 7 flight in Houston will use a special blend of half conventional fuel and half biofuel with ingredients derived from algae and jatropha plants." [11]
  • Air NZ sees biofuel salvation in jatropha, 6 June 2008 by Carbonpositive: "In the race to develop a viable aviation biofuel, Air New Zealand and Boeing are banking on the jatropha plant to deliver the cost-effective, green alternative they need."..."The airline has announced a goal to supply 10 per cent of its aviation fuel needs from biofuels by 2013."
  • Myanmar biofuel drive deepens food shortage , 13 May 2008 by AFP: "Myanmar is struggling to feed its people in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis -- in part because the regime has been forcing some farmers to stop growing rice in a plan to produce biofuel instead."
    • In 2005 the military government's leader Than Shwe ordered a national drive to plant jatropha, a poisonous nut he hoped would be the cornerstone of a state industry that would capitalise on growing world demand for biofuels.
  • JatrophaWorld 2008 - Global Jatropha Industry Platform for latest Information on Jatropha, Over 350 delegates from 40 countries were at JatrophaWorld 2008 in Jakarta, Indonesia on 23-24 January. A panel of internationally acclaimed experts delivered insightful speeches on Jatropha plantation management, project finance, agronomy, Carbon trading, CDM financing, and applications of Jatropha and Jatropha by products. The second conference in the JatrophaWorld 2008 series will be held in Miami on 10-11 June 2008.
  • India to unveil bio-fuel policy in March , 1 February 2008 by Sify business, reports that India's government plans to issue a policy on biofuels in early March, which could boost plantings of jatropha. Sources say that India has thirty million hectares of unused land that is suitable for jatropha and other crops for biofuels.
  • India plans new biofuel mission, 11 April 2007 from Monstersandcritics.com. India is planning a new biofuel plan with a focus on jatropha and karanj. The first phase would cover 400,000 ha and the second 11.2 million ha of land. There are challenges to implementation, including the reluctance of farmers to invest in a crop like jatropha that doesn't yield seeds until the third year.
  • Philippine's biofuels project gets P$1 billion funding 9 November 2006 from the Manila Standard. "A P1-billion fund has been earmarked for the development of the biofuel industry, using jatropha (tubang bakod) as a fuel source. The Philippine National Oil Company Petrochemicals Corp. and the National Development Co. will each contribute P500 million to the project"
  • Tanzania begins biofuel production November 5, 2006 from Biopact. "Sun Biofuel Tanzania Limited (SBF) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Dar es Salaam and Kisarawe district authorities for the production of bio-fuel" from jatropha curcas (locally known as mkaranga), planted on 18, 000 hectares of land.

Countries

Look here for more detailed information on a specific country's or region's policies, organizations and industry.

External Resources

  • www.jatropha.org - A website on the Jatropha System run by Bagani, a renewable energy consulting service.
  • www.jatrophaworld.org - The Center for Jatropha Promotion is a web-site produced by the Society for Rural Initiatives for Promotion of Herbals (SRIPHL ) based inChuru, Rajasthan, India, "a non profit, non-government organization devoted to improving lives of rural farmers."
  • Terasol LABS - Terasol LABS is a leading global company focused on biodiesel crop science. We are based in Chennai, India with offices in Brazil and the United States.

Companies

References



Jatropha edit
Jatropha in rural development | Sustainable Jatropha Initiative
Multifunctional platform
Bioenergy feedstocks edit

Biodiesel feedstocks:
Currently in use: Animal fat | Castor beans | Coconut oil | Jatropha | Jojoba | Karanj | Palm oil | Rapeseed | Soybeans | Sunflower seed | Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO)
Currently in research and development: Algae | Halophytes (Salt-tolerant plants)

Ethanol feedstocks:
First-generation: Cassava | Corn | Milo | Nypa palm | Sorghum | Sugar beets | Sugar cane | Sugar palm |Sweet potato | Waste citrus peels | Wheat | Whey
Second-generation: For cellulosic technology - Grasses: Miscanthus, Prairie grasses, Switchgrass | Trees: Hybrid poplar, Mesquite, Willow

Charcoal feedstocks: Bamboo | Wood
Waste-to-energy (MSW)

Types of bioenergy edit

Gases: Biopropane | Biogas | Synthetic natural gas | Syngas
Liquids: Biodiesel | Biobutanol | Biogasoline | Biokerosene | Biomass-to-Liquids (BTL) | Dimethyl ether (DME)
ETBE | Ethanol | Methanol | Pure plant oil (PPO) | Pyrolysis oil | Synthetic Natural Gas
Solids: Biomass pellets | Char/Charcoal | Wood


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