Grow your own diesel cheaply and reduce green house gas at the same time

JOil GM Mr Hong with a Jatropha plant, ST 26 Nov 2008

Hi,

I have read about a plant called Jatropha, found as a weed, that some natives of India, Africa and America have been using like a candle. The seeds of this plant are so rich in good quality oil that they just light it up like a candle. It does not even have to be crushed to extract and concentrate the oils before using it with a wick to light up the humble homes of these indigenous people.

Jatropha has been studied by Indian scientists for a long time. Now, Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory (Singapore) has formed a joint venture with Tata Chemicals (India) to grow these plants on a commercial scale.

The new firm, called JOil, will produce new varieties of these plants either by genetic engineering or by selective breeding (The Straits Times article dated 26 Nov 2008 does not say which) to produce plants that have the "advantage of being able to customise planting materials to suit different regions and environments". (emphasis mine)

In the past, palm, soya and other edible oils were used to make biodiesel for diesel cars. Why choose jatropha now? I give 7 reasons below:

1- Jatropha is a very hardy and tough plant which is resistant to pests. It can be grown in scrubland and it needs little attention and irrigation. It is able to grow in dry and land prone to droughts.

2- Because it grows on wasteland or borderline arable land, it addresses the criticism that diversion of arable land that can be used to grow edible oils are being used to grow biofuels. This causes the price of soya beans, corn, palm oil etc to increase causing hardship to the masses. In parts of India, it is grown along the train tracks.

3- Jatropha can be intercropped with other cash crops. Therefore, in more fertile and valuable land, it does not take away land from food crops and is more ecological balanced. Intercropping in general simulates natural biodiversity so that creatures that predate on pests remove the need for toxic pesticides.

4- The plant is high-yielding, 40% of the seed is oil and the oil can be easily processed cheaply into high quality standard biodiesel.

5- The residue after crushing to extract the oil can be used as fuel to power electricity plants.

6- Since Jatropha is pan-tropical (originally from Central America and now widespread in India and Africa), it can be developed into a cash crop in these regions when the plant is ready to be grown on a commercial scale. At present it is undomesticated and the quality and yield is variable. It will provide employment to many people in these countries if they can be taught to grow these domesticated plants on large scales.

7- Biodiesel can become a renewable and sustainable energy source (photosynthesis changes light energy into chemical energy and store it in the form of oils.) As the science is advancing rapidly, the potential to revolutionise biodiesel production is imminent. We will not have to depend on fossil fuels for our diesel needs.

8- The carbon release into the atmosphere from burning biofuels was extracted from the air by the biofuel crops. This forms a virtuous circle as these crops also take up the CO2 once again.

A digression: When I travelled in Australia in the 1980s I was shocked to see that petrol was cheaper than milk. I cannot fathom how something like fossil fuel which took millions of years to form with the aid of geological forces, a limited resource, in imminent danger of running out at the rate we are guzzling it down with abandon, can be cheaper than milk which can be produced within 24 hours, is a renewable resource and limited only by the amount of grass we choose to grow to meet the demand ( unlike petroleum, which ceased being formed underground aeons ago...).

Potential affordable renewable energy is in the making, one of the diversity of sources (like solar, wind, etc.) that we all need right now to replace fossil fuels.

Cheers