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Earlier this century, jatropha was hailed as a "miracle" biofuel. A simple shrubby tree native to Central America, it was hugely promoted as a high-yielding, drought-tolerant biofuel feedstock that could 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 caused plantation failures almost all over. The consequences of the jatropha crash was tainted by allegations of land grabbing, mismanagement, and overblown carbon decrease claims.

Today, some researchers continue pursuing the evasive guarantee of high-yielding jatropha. A resurgence, they state, is reliant on cracking the yield problem and dealing with the hazardous land-use issues 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 return falters, the world's experience of jatropha holds essential lessons for any promising up-and-coming biofuel.


At the start 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 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 failed.

Now, after years of research study and advancement, the sole staying large plantation focused 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, adopted a plug-and-play design of scouting for the wild ranges of jatropha. But to commercialize 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 learned from the errors of jatropha's past failures, he says the oily plant might yet play an essential function as a liquid biofuel feedstock, minimizing transportation carbon emissions at the global level. A brand-new boom could bring extra advantages, with jatropha likewise a possible source of fertilizers and even bioplastics.

But some scientists are doubtful, keeping in mind that jatropha has actually already 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 errors. During the very first boom, jatropha plantations were obstructed not only by bad yields, however by land grabbing, logging, and social issues in countries where it was planted, including Ghana, where jOil runs.

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

Miracle shrub, major bust

Jatropha's early 21st-century appeal came from its pledge as a "second-generation" biofuel, which are sourced from yards, 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 prosper on abject or "minimal" lands; hence, it was declared it would never ever contend with 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 incredible; that can grow without excessive fertilizer, too many pesticides, or excessive need for water, that can be exported [as fuel] abroad, and does not compete with food due to the fact that it is harmful."

Governments, global agencies, financiers and companies bought into the hype, introducing 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 study prepared 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) alerted that jatropha's high demands for land would undoubtedly bring it into direct dispute with food crops. By 2011, a worldwide evaluation kept in mind that "growing outpaced both clinical understanding of the crop's potential along with an understanding of how the crop suits existing rural economies and the degree to which it can grow 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 fail as expected yields refused to materialize. Jatropha might grow on abject lands and endure dry spell conditions, as claimed, but yields stayed bad.

"In my viewpoint, this combination of speculative investment, export-oriented potential, and potential to grow under fairly poorer conditions, developed a huge problem," leading to "underestimated yields that were going to be produced," Gasparatos says.

As jatropha plantations went from boom to bust, they were likewise pestered by ecological, social and economic troubles, 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 nations such as Brazil, Mexico and Tanzania resulted in a loss of biodiversity. A study from Mexico discovered the "carbon payback" of jatropha plantations due to involved forest loss varied in between 2 and 14 years, and "in some circumstances, the carbon financial obligation might never ever be recovered." In India, production revealed carbon advantages, however the usage of fertilizers resulted in boosts of soil and water "acidification, ecotoxicity, eutrophication."

"If you look at many of the plantations in Ghana, they declare that the jatropha produced was situated on minimal land, but the concept of minimal land is very elusive," 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" suggested that assumptions that the land co-opted for jatropha plantations had been lying untouched and unused was typically illusory.

"Marginal to whom?" he asks. "The fact that ... currently nobody is utilizing [land] for farming does not suggest that nobody is utilizing it [for other purposes] There are a lot of nature-based incomes on those landscapes that you may not always see from satellite images."

Learning from jatropha

There are essential lessons to be gained from the experience with jatropha, state experts, which ought to 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 upon supposed advantages 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 buzz was winding down, Muys and associates released a paper pointing out essential lessons.

Fundamentally, he describes, there was an absence of understanding about the plant itself and its needs. This crucial requirement for in advance research study could be used to other prospective biofuel crops, he says. Last year, 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 extremely variable, contrary to other reports. The team concluded that "pongamia still can not be considered a substantial and stable source of biofuel feedstock due to persisting knowledge spaces." Use of such cautionary information could avoid inefficient monetary speculation and reckless land conversion for new biofuels.

"There are other extremely promising trees or plants that might function as a fuel or a biomass manufacturer," Muys says. "We desired to prevent [them going] in the same instructions of premature hype and fail, like jatropha."

Gasparatos underlines essential 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 an all set market must be offered.

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

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

A jatropha resurgence?

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

"I think jatropha has some potential, but it requires to be the right product, grown in the right location, 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 company carbon emissions. According to his price quotes, its usage as a jet fuel could lead to about a 40% reduction of "cradle to tomb" emissions.

Alherbawi's group is carrying out ongoing field research studies to improve jatropha yields by fertilizing crops with sewage sludge. As an added 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 enhance the soil and agricultural lands, and safeguard them against any more wear and tear brought on by dust storms," he says.

But the Qatar task's success still hinges on many aspects, not least the ability to acquire quality yields from the tree. Another essential step, Alherbawi explains, is scaling up production technology that uses the whole of the jatropha fruit to increase processing efficiency.

Back in Ghana, jOil is currently 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 describes that years of research and advancement have actually led to varieties of jatropha that can now accomplish the high yields that were doing not have more than a years back.

"We were able to accelerate the yield cycle, improve the yield range and boost the fruit-bearing capability of the tree," Subramanian states. In essence, he states, the tree is now domesticated. "Our 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 by-products might be a source of fertilizer, bio-candle wax, a charcoal replacement (crucial in Africa where much wood is still burned for cooking), and even bioplastics.

But it is the transportation sector that still beckons as the ideal biofuels application, according to Subramanian. "The biofuels story has actually as soon as again reopened with the energy transition drive for oil business and bio-refiners - [driven by] the search for alternative fuels that would be emission friendly."

A total jatropha life-cycle evaluation has yet to be completed, however he believes that cradle-to-grave greenhouse gas emissions connected to the oily plant will be "competitive ... These two aspects - that it is technically suitable, and the carbon sequestration - makes it a really strong prospect for adoption for ... sustainable air travel," he says. "We believe any such expansion will happen, [by clarifying] the definition of degraded land, [enabling] no competition with food crops, nor in any way endangering food security of any country."

Where next for jatropha?

Whether jatropha can really be carbon neutral, eco-friendly and socially accountable depends on complicated factors, including where and how it's grown - whether, for example, its production model is based in smallholder farms versus industrial-scale plantations, say specialists. Then there's the bothersome issue of accomplishing high yields.

Earlier this year, the Bolivian federal government announced its intent to pursue jatropha plantations in the Gran Chaco biome, part of a national biofuels push that has stirred argument over potential repercussions. 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, alerts Ahmed, converted dry savanna forest, which became bothersome for carbon accounting. "The net carbon was typically negative in the majority 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 explains.

Other researchers chronicle the "potential of Jatropha curcas as an environmentally benign biodiesel feedstock" in Malaysia, Indonesia and India. But still other scientists stay uncertain of the environmental viability of second-generation biofuels. "If Mexico promotes biofuels, such as the exploitation of jatropha, the rebound is that it perhaps becomes so effective, that we will have a great deal of associated land-use modification," 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 carried out research on the possibilities of jatropha contributing to a circular economy in Mexico.

Avila-Ortega cites previous land-use issues associated with growth of different crops, including oil palm, sugarcane and avocado: "Our police is so weak that it can not cope with the private sector doing whatever they desire, in regards to developing ecological problems."

Researchers in Mexico are currently exploring 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 costs.

He suggests restricting jatropha growth in Mexico to make it a "crop that dominates land," growing it only in really poor soils in requirement of restoration. "Jatropha could be one of those plants that can grow in very sterilized wastelands," he explains. "That's the only method I would ever promote it in Mexico - as part of a forest healing method for wastelands. Otherwise, the associated problems are higher than the prospective advantages."

Jatropha's worldwide future stays unpredictable. And its potential as a tool in the fight versus environment modification can only be opened, say numerous professionals, by avoiding the list of problems associated with its first boom.

Will jatropha tasks that sputtered to a halt in the early 2000s be fired back up once again? Subramanian thinks its role as a sustainable biofuel is "imminent" and that the return is on. "We have strong interest from the energy market now," he states, "to collaborate 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 via Flickr (CC BY 2.0).

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

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