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Earlier this century, jatropha was hailed as a "wonder" biofuel. An unassuming shrubby tree belonging to Central America, it was hugely promoted as a high-yielding, drought-tolerant biofuel feedstock that could grow on abject lands throughout Latin America, Africa and Asia.

A jatropha rush occurred, with more than 900,000 hectares (2.2 million acres) planted by 2008. But the bubble burst. Low yields resulted in plantation failures nearly everywhere. The consequences of the jatropha crash was tainted by allegations of land grabbing, mismanagement, and overblown carbon decrease claims.

Today, some scientists continue pursuing the incredibly elusive guarantee of high-yielding jatropha. A comeback, they say, is reliant on breaking the yield problem and resolving the damaging land-use problems linked with its original failure.

The sole staying big jatropha plantation is in Ghana. The plantation owner claims high-yield domesticated ranges have been achieved and a brand-new boom is at hand. But even if this resurgence falters, the world's experience of jatropha holds crucial lessons for any appealing up-and-coming biofuel.


At the beginning of the 21st century, Jatropha curcas, a simple shrub-like tree native to Central America, was planted across the world. The rush to jatropha was driven by its promise as a sustainable source of biofuel that might be grown on deteriorated, 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 large plantation focused on growing jatropha remains in Ghana. And Singapore-based jOil, which owns that plantation, declares the jatropha return is on.

"All those business that failed, embraced a plug-and-play design 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 states the oily plant might yet play a crucial role as a liquid biofuel feedstock, lowering transportation carbon emissions at the worldwide level. A new boom might bring fringe benefits, with jatropha likewise a potential source of fertilizers and even bioplastics.

But some researchers are hesitant, noting that jatropha has already gone through one hype-and-fizzle cycle. They caution that if the plant is to reach full capacity, then it is vital to gain from past errors. During the very first boom, jatropha plantations were obstructed not only by bad yields, however by land grabbing, deforestation, and social issues in countries where it was planted, consisting of Ghana, where jOil operates.

Experts likewise suggest that jatropha's tale uses lessons for researchers and entrepreneurs checking out promising brand-new sources for liquid biofuels - which exist aplenty.

Miracle shrub, significant bust

Jatropha's early 21st-century appeal came from its promise as a "second-generation" biofuel, which are sourced from lawns, trees and other plants not obtained from edible crops such as maize, soy or oil palm. Among its several supposed virtues was a capability to thrive on degraded or "minimal" lands; therefore, it was declared it would never take on food crops, so the theory went.

Back then, jatropha ticked all the boxes, states 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 demand for water, that can be exported [as fuel] abroad, and does not compete with food since it is toxic."

Governments, global firms, financiers and companies purchased into the buzz, releasing efforts 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 long for the mirage of the incredible biofuel tree to fade.

In 2009, a Buddies of the Earth report from Eswatini (still understood 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, an international evaluation kept in mind that "growing outmatched 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 thrive on limited 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 stop working as expected yields declined to emerge. Jatropha might grow on degraded lands and endure dry spell conditions, as claimed, however yields remained bad.

"In my opinion, this mix of speculative investment, export-oriented potential, and potential to grow under relatively poorer conditions, produced a huge issue," resulting in "undervalued 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 economic problems, say specialists. Accusations of land grabs, the conversion of food crop lands, and clearing of natural locations were reported.

Studies discovered that land-use change for jatropha in countries such as Brazil, Mexico and Tanzania led to a loss of biodiversity. A research study from Mexico discovered the "carbon repayment" of jatropha plantations due to associated forest loss ranged between two and 14 years, and "in some situations, the carbon debt may never ever be recovered." In India, production revealed carbon benefits, but using fertilizers resulted in boosts of soil and water "acidification, ecotoxicity, eutrophication."

"If you look at most of the plantations in Ghana, they declare that the jatropha produced was situated on marginal land, however the concept of minimal land is really elusive," describes Abubakari Ahmed, a lecturer at the University for Development Studies, Ghana. He studied the ramifications of jatropha curcas plantations in the nation over a number of years, and found that a lax meaning of "marginal" 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 truth that ... presently no one is utilizing [land] for farming does not imply that no one is using it [for other functions] There are a lot of nature-based livelihoods on those landscapes that you might not necessarily see from satellite images."

Learning from jatropha

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

"There was a boom [in investment], however regrettably not of research study, and action was taken based on supposed 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 hype was winding down, Muys and colleagues released a paper citing essential lessons.

Fundamentally, he describes, there was an absence of knowledge about the plant itself and its needs. This important requirement for upfront research might be used to other possible biofuel crops, he says. In 2015, for example, his group launched a paper examining 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 minimal land. But Muys's research study showed yields to be highly variable, contrary to other reports. The group concluded that "pongamia still can not be considered a significant and steady source of biofuel feedstock due to persisting understanding spaces." Use of such cautionary data might prevent wasteful monetary speculation and reckless land conversion for brand-new biofuels.

"There are other really appealing trees or plants that might serve as a fuel or a biomass manufacturer," Muys says. "We wished to avoid [them going] in the exact same direction of early hype and fail, like jatropha."

Gasparatos highlights essential requirements that should be fulfilled before moving ahead with brand-new biofuel plantations: high yields should be opened, inputs to reach those yields comprehended, and a prepared market should be readily available.

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

How biofuel lands are gotten is also key, states Ahmed. Based upon experiences in Ghana where communally used lands were purchased for production, authorities need to make sure that "guidelines are put in location to inspect how massive land acquisitions will be done and documented in order to decrease some of the issues we observed."

A jatropha comeback?

Despite all these obstacles, some researchers still think that under the right conditions, jatropha might be an important biofuel service - especially for the difficult-to-decarbonize transportation sector "accountable for approximately one quarter of greenhouse gas emissions."

"I think jatropha has some prospective, however it needs to be the right material, grown in the best 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 might minimize airline carbon emissions. According to his estimates, its usage as a jet fuel could lead to about a 40% reduction of "cradle to tomb" emissions.

Alherbawi's group is conducting ongoing field studies to enhance jatropha yields by fertilizing crops with sewage sludge. As an included benefit, he envisages a jatropha green belt covering 20,000 hectares (nearly 50,000 acres) in Qatar. "The application of the green belt can really boost the soil and farming lands, and protect them versus any more deterioration triggered by dust storms," he states.

But the Qatar job's success still depends upon lots of factors, not least the capability to acquire quality yields from the tree. Another vital step, Alherbawi explains, is scaling up production innovation that utilizes the entirety of the jatropha fruit to increase processing efficiency.

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) working with more than 400 farmers. Subramanian discusses that years of research study and advancement have led to varieties of jatropha that can now achieve the high yields that were lacking more than a years back.

"We were able to speed up the yield cycle, improve the yield variety and boost the fruit-bearing capacity of the tree," Subramanian states. In essence, he states, the tree is now domesticated. "Our first task 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 replacement (essential 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 once again reopened with the energy transition drive for oil companies and bio-refiners - [driven by] the look for alternative fuels that would be emission friendly."

A total jatropha curcas life-cycle assessment has yet to be completed, but he thinks that cradle-to-grave greenhouse gas emissions associated with the oily plant will be "competitive ... These two aspects - that it is technically suitable, and the carbon sequestration - makes it an extremely strong prospect for adoption for ... sustainable air travel," he states. "Our company believe any such expansion will happen, [by clarifying] the meaning of abject land, [allowing] no competition with food crops, nor in any way endangering food security of any nation."

Where next for jatropha?

Whether jatropha can genuinely be carbon neutral, eco-friendly and socially accountable depends on intricate elements, including where and how it's grown - whether, for instance, its production model is based in smallholder farms versus industrial-scale plantations, say specialists. Then there's the nagging issue of achieving high yields.

Earlier this year, the Bolivian federal government announced its intention to pursue jatropha plantations in the Gran Chaco biome, part of a nationwide biofuels push that has actually stirred debate over possible consequences. The Gran Chaco's dry forest biome is currently in deep problem, having been heavily deforested by aggressive agribusiness practices.

Many past plantations in Ghana, warns Ahmed, converted dry savanna forest, which became problematic for carbon accounting. "The net carbon was frequently negative in the majority of the jatropha websites, since 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 researchers stay doubtful of the environmental practicality of second-generation biofuels. "If Mexico promotes biofuels, such as the exploitation of jatropha, the rebound is that it perhaps ends up being so effective, that we will have a lot of associated land-use modification," 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 actually conducted research study on the possibilities of jatropha adding to a circular economy in Mexico.

Avila-Ortega mentions previous land-use issues related to growth of numerous crops, including oil palm, sugarcane and avocado: "Our law enforcement is so weak that it can not handle the economic sector doing whatever they want, in regards to producing environmental problems."

Researchers in Mexico are presently exploring jatropha curcas-based animals feed as a low-priced and sustainable replacement for grain. Such uses might be well fit to regional contexts, Avila-Ortega agrees, though he remains concerned about prospective environmental expenses.

He recommends limiting jatropha growth in Mexico to make it a "crop that conquers land," growing it only in genuinely bad soils in need of restoration. "Jatropha could be one of 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 strategy for wastelands. Otherwise, the associated issues are greater than the possible benefits."

Jatropha's international future remains unpredictable. And its potential as a tool in the battle against environment modification can only be unlocked, state lots of experts, by avoiding the list of difficulties connected with its first boom.

Will jatropha jobs that sputtered to a halt in the early 2000s be fired back up once again? Subramanian thinks its function as a sustainable biofuel is "imminent" and that the comeback is on. "We have strong interest from the energy industry now," he states, "to work together 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 by means of Flickr (CC BY 2.0).

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