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June 18, 2008
Source:
Bayer CropScience
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Planting hope, harvesting fuel
A humble desert plant named Jatropha has been receiving much
attention lately, raising high hopes for the future. Offering a
wide range of applications, the hardy shrub’s potential sounds
more than promising: Jatropha can revive barren grounds, create
jobs from virtually nothing, help small farmers in emerging
countries to escape poverty, and it can even provide renewable
energies.
This particular oil well holds a lot of future promise. Jatropha
nuts provide up to 2,270 liters of high-quality biodiesel per
hectare. Boasting 60 octane, it is one of the most effective
bio-oils in the world. Refined Jatropha oil can be used for
diesel motors with just minor modifications to the engine. What
is more, the fuel is clean and environmentally friendly: it
contains no sulphur, offers an outstanding CO2 balance and can
thus contribute to protecting the climate.
Archer Daniels Midland Company, Bayer CropScience and Daimler
to cooperate in Jatropha biodiesel project
Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM), Bayer CropScience AG and
Daimler AG plan to jointly explore the potential for a biodiesel
industry based on Jatropha (Jatropha curcas L.). A respective
Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the companies.
Jatropha, a tropical plant from the Euphorbia family, is seen by
the three cooperating partners as a promising alternative energy
feedstock for the production of biodiesel. Bayer CropScience
plans to develop and register herbicides, soil insecticides and
fungicides for disease and pest control of Jatropha plants.
The Jatropha plant itself is undemanding and tough. While other
potential fuel plants require precious farmland, thus competing
with feed and food plants, Jatropha thrives where nothing else
will survive: on poor or degraded soils, that are unsuitable for
growing maize or other food crops. This type of barren wasteland
is available in abundance in tropical areas. India for example,
has 200 million hectares of wasteland, where hardly anything but
Jatropha will prosper.
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While China and India have already started planting
extensive areas, Africa is planning huge Jatropha
farms as well. Non eatable Jatropha curcas is a
succulent shrub from the Euphorbiaceae family.
Native to South America, it was brought to Africa
and Asia by Portuguese sailors. In contrast to the
oil palm, Jatropha can be grown in a much wider
geographic area along the equator. |
“Food production takes
priority”
Cultivation on poor or degraded soils is in the focus also for
the Chairman of the Board of Bayer CropScience, Friedrich
Berschauer : “Biofuels certainly make a contribution to covering
the increasing global demand for energy while simultaneously
lowering greenhouse gas emissions. However,” he continued “we
would be well advised to also promote research into approaches
that do not lead to competition in food growing”. He believes
that the second generation of biofuels based on biomass and
biomass residue will play an increasingly important role here in
future. Berschauer summarized Bayer CropScience’s guiding
principle as follows: “Food production takes priority”.
How it all started
The pioneer country of the Jatropha campaign is India. This is
where, in 2003, an enterprising project woke the hardy shrub
from centuries of inconspicuous slumber. Agricultural researcher
Professor Dr. Klaus Becker of Hohenheim University in Stuttgart,
Germany initiated the project together with Daimler Chrysler.
Jatropha was cultivated in trial plantations in the Indian state
of Gujarat, refined locally and used in test vehicles in early
2004. In April/May 2004, a modified Mercedes Benz C 220 CDI went
on a 5,900km-tour through India, receiving worldwide publicity.
The Indian government has also come to realize the economic
advantages of the succulent shrub bearing the scientific name of
Jatropha curcas. So far, India imports 70 percent of its oil –
an increasingly costly item in the country’s budget. Reducing
the country’s dependence on fossil energy sources is therefore
high up on the political agenda. By 2011, the government plans
to substitute 20% of the country’s diesel consumption, and
Jatropha is officially rated as the most important alternative
fuel source.
New jobs
The Indian population will benefit from further advantages of
the crop. Farming and processing Jatropha will create jobs where
they are needed most: in the rural areas. The modest shrub
requires little care and even less water. As it is inedible to
animals, it does not need fences for protection. Its nuts cannot
be harvested automatically, resulting in the creation of
long-term jobs and income for the rural population. Professor
Klaus Becker reckons that it takes 1,5 workers per hectare to
grow and harvest Jatropha nuts. What is more, farmers need not
worry about the demand side: the world’s energy hunger is
insatiable.
While China and India have already started planting extensive
areas, Africa is planning huge Jatropha farms as well. A BP and
D1 Oils joint venture plans to process 2 million tons of nuts in
four years time, enough to meet 18% of Europe’s demand for
biodiesel.
Stopping erosion
Inexhaustible oil source, environmentally-friendly energy
supplier, job generator – the plant offers all that and even
more. According to Professor Klaus Becker it is even able to
heal degraded surfaces: “We are planting Jatropha on wasteland
to stop erosion. We hope that in 10-15 years time we might be
able to recuperate these areas.”
Even the crop’s by-products might be useful. Once the oil has
been extracted from the Jatropha nut, the remaining press cake
can be used as animal feed. The quality of the Jatropha flour is
significantly better than soy, Professor Becker explains. “The
only problem we haven’t solved yet is how to extract the poison.
But I’m sure we will work something out.” The poison itself
could also be marketed. Professor Becker wants to use it as a
biological pesticide. “It is a natural product, so biological
farmers could use it for pest control.”
So far, Jatropha is still a wild plant that needs to be
domesticated for cultivation. But researchers, industrialists
and politicians worldwide are increasingly interested in the
energy plant with its promising potential. Used as lubricant,
hydraulic oil, fuel or heating oil, the Jatropha nut has what it
takes to become a serious competitor to the petrochemical
industry in just a couple of years.
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Jatropha - Profile |
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Non eatable Jatropha curcas is a
succulent shrub from the
Euphorbiaceae family. Native to
South America, it was brought to
Africa and Asia by Portuguese
sailors. The plant with its
ivy-like leaves can reach a size
of 3 meters and will only grow
in tropical and sub-tropical
climates. The fruit of the
Jatropha is called physic nut or
purging nut. It contains
toxalbumin curcin, a toxic
substance that healers used to
prescribe as a strong purgative.
A close relative, Jatropha
macrantha, is known in South
America as a particularly strong
aphrodisiac. As the shrub is
inedible to animals, Jatropha
plants were traditionally used
as living fences to prevent
animals from grazing the fields. |
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