Safe drinking water and sanitation are basic to human survival, dignity, and productivity. Sanitation is more important than independence. Without safe drinking water people cannot be productive enough to work or care for their families. Securing a safe water supply is essential not only to an area’s productivity and growth, but also to its survival. Due to the scarcity of water in the dry season, and its abundance and flooding in the rainy season, SORESIN promotes water harvesting as a promising option for water conservation, sustainable use, and land management. Creating dams to harvest rain water assures availability of clean water all year round for company and community use.

6.7.12

Soil Fertility

SORESIN wants to assure that not only are our farms productive, but that com­munity farmland is productive as well. SORESIN monitors soil nutrients to ensure that fertile lands are used by communities, and tests the effectiveness of Jatropha cake fertilizers to help improve soil fertility and boost rural agriculture production at the farm level. This helps to ensure sustainable rural agriculture and enhanced food security.

China’s new 12th 5-Year government plan includes nuclear, wind, solar, and biomass energy, as well as clean coal, smart grid, distributed energy, and new energy sources for vehicles. In addition, aviation biofuel — a $100 billion plus business opportunity — plays an important role, and in Yunnan and Sichuan energy plan­tations are being developed at a grand scale.

China intends to cut its carbon intensity by 17% by 2015, compared with 2010 levels, and cut its energy consumption intensity by 16%, relative to gross domestic product. China also plans to meet 11.4% of its primary energy requirements from non-fossil sources by 2015.

The plan will also pilot the construction of a number of low-carbon development zones and low-carbon residential communities. For instance, a new “eco-city” is under construction close to Tianjin. It is a cooperation project between the gov­ernments of Singapore and China and one of the major contractors is the Sin — gaporian shipping and construction company Keppel. When completed around 2020, the “eco-city” will have an estimated 350 000 residents.

12.4

Green aviation is the study of designing and building aircraft that will burn less jet fuel, emit less greenhouse gas emissions, reduce aircraft noise, reduce "traffic jams” in the sky, and, ideally, fly further.

In the early days of the jet age, speed and luxury were the drivers of inter­continental travel. Today, our engines are at the cutting edge of efficiency. Our aircraft are more aerodynamic and lighter than ever before. We are making huge improvements in our air traffic control efficiency, how we fly our aircraft, and in developing more environmentally friendly operations at airports. However, we are still using the same fuel. That is about to change. The world is turning to gov­ernments and business to reduce the human impact on climate change, and the aviation industry is about to embark on a new journey. Sustainable biofuels are crucial to providing a cleaner, a cheaper, and last but not least a securer source of fuel to power the world’s fleet of aircraft and help the billions of people who travel by air each year to lower the impact of their journey on our planet. Table 15.1 shows the carbon dioxide emissions per airline in tonnes. You can see that some emissions decreased from 2008 to 2009 due to the use of more efficient aircraft. Lufthansa is now the biggest carbon dioxide emitter, overtaking British Airways.

176 | 15 General Aviation and Biofuels

15.6

Some scientists are convinced that Jatropha originates from Mexico and probably from northern Central America. History is repeating itself and Jatropha is now going back to its roots, because the Spanish oil company Repsol is investing $70 million in new Jatropha plantations in Mexico.

Other scientists take a broader view, by stating that Jatropha seems to be native to the whole Central American and Mexican area, where it occurs naturally in the forests of coastal regions. Original material has been collected mostly from Mexico and all Central American countries: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. Collection records also exist for the Caribbean: Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Saint Lucia, Santo Domingo, Saint Croix, Trinidad, and other West Indian countries. However, the real center of origin is still anybody’s best guess!

The Portuguese most probably brought Jatropha to Asia. Perhaps it did not reach Malacca (in Malaysia) until a date when the Dutch were in possession, because the Malays call it by a name meaning "Dutch castor oil.” The Javanese, among other names, call it Chinese castor oil. It is regarded in most countries, in Africa as well as in the East, as the "castor oil plant,” which shows that it was brought in and planted for its oil; further, it is widely known as the "hedge castor oil plant,” showing where it was planted, namely in hedges ([1], p. 15).

In 2009, the CNBC anchorwoman Louisa Bojensen made an interesting doc­umentary in Ghana on climate change, accompanied by Richard Harvey, former CEO of Aviva. They filmed a huge rainforest and the trees were all Jatropha trees (http://www. cnbc. com/id/29425258)! The indigenous people at first did not know that you could produce oil from the Jatropha nut. Now they know that they possess a real gold mine, providing light and energy for the local population.

3.1.5

Properties

Numerous investigations have been carried out to determine the seed oil prop­erties and oil content of Jatropha seeds (Table 3.1).

3.1.6

Driven by climbing crude oil prices and energy costs, the Jatropha industry structure is expected to change dramatically to meet accelerating government and consumer demand for biofuels. According to experts polled by the GEXSI Survey 2008 (www. gexsi. com), support for Jatropha cultivation is growing on a global scale

politically as approximately 50 governments worldwide have announced national biofuel targets. In many countries, specific policies have also served a strategic role to promote Jatropha as a means to secure energy supply, improve the livelihoods of the rural poor, or to protect the environment. Jatropha will see enormous growth, as around 12.8 million hectares will be planted by 2015. Production is typically focused on domestic markets rather than for export, especially in Asia. For many domestic markets, the use of unrefined Jatropha oil is seen to be equally as important as transesterification into biodiesel. However, transport and energy are the most important uses for Jatropha oil.

3.3.10

Whisky is now an excellent biofuel (www. commodityonline. com, 20 August 2010)! Alcohol and automobiles are a deadly mix — except in Scotland. Scottish scientists have developed a biofuel from whisky byproducts that they estimate can provide 30% more output power than ethanol. "This is a more environmentally sustain­able option and potentially offers new revenue on the back of one of Scotland’s biggest industries. We’ve worked with some of the country’s leading whisky producers to develop the process,” said Professor Martin Tangney, director of Edinburgh Napier’s Biofuel Research Center (www. upi. com). To produce the butanol, the process uses two main byproducts of whisky production: pot ale (the leftover liquid from the copper stills) and draff (the spent grains). The researchers say that ordinary cars would not require any modifications to use the fuel. Scotland’s $6.2 billion whisky industry, they say, provides enough byproducts for the fuel to be sold in local gas stations.

4.7

I think that sustainable and renewable agripellets from agricultural residues such as bagasse are one of the richest sources of pure, ecofriendly fuels in the world. Compared to fossil fuels such as oil or gas, agripellets are considered much friendlier to the environment. Here are the arguments:

• Burning agripellets is considered as a carbon dioxide-neutral process. The carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere is the same amount as absorbed by the original sugarcane that the agripellets are made from. This means the overall release of carbon dioxide is zero. Also, the carbon dioxide released can then be reabsorbed by another sugarcane, thus continuing the cycle.

• Manufacturing agripellets is a relatively straightforward process, which involves compressing bagasse into a agripellets. The process uses little energy and emits very little carbon dioxide, especially when compared to something like oil refining.

Agripellet fuel is one of the most inexpensive, sustainable, renewable, and carbon-neutral fuel sources in the world. Agripellets can be consistent in size, which results in a high burning efficiency.

Sustainability benefits include:

• Agripellets are a sustainable resource and require minimal processing for use.

• Agripellets are natural materials (e. g., sugarcane bagasse), reducing our environmental footprint.

• Some of them are straw, grain hull, sugarbeet, pruning, fruit stone, dry fruit, cork, grain, cotton, malt, and tobacco waste, with obviously woody residues. The use of agripellets reduces considerably the investments cost for biomass power (allow for reduced boiler size, better combustion efficiency).

120 | 8 Biomass

8.7

Hainan is the agricultural greenhouse of China. In Mandarin, “Hai” means “sea” and “Nan” means “south.” So the name Hainan means “South in the Sea.” Hainan is a very beautiful island and for me it is the Hawaii of China. It also lies on the same latitude as Hawaii. Hainan, located in the South China Sea separated from Mainland China, has an area of 33 920 km2. It is the center of Chinese submarine activity and has the largest golf course complex in the world under construction with 22 courses, called Mission Hills Hainan. Hainan has beautiful

Figure 12.7 Plantations and plantation projects. Source: CPE — Mother Earth Business Plan,

beaches and first-class hotels, especially in Yalong Bay, close to Sanya in the south. Hainan has a tropical moist monsoonal climate with an annual average tem­perature between 22 and 26°C, with the highest temperatures in July. Hainan’s average annual precipitation is around 2000 mm, with spring and summer being the wettest seasons.

The biggest and best Jatropha nursery in China, and most probably of the world, is an area of 90 hectares in the north of the island close to the capital Haikou. The nursery, in collaboration with the Sichuan University and promoted by the UN Poverty Alleviation Program, focuses on research and development, plant science, breeding, and production of Jatropha seedlings. The nursery center has collected over 200 specimens of Jatropha seeds from all over the world and is becoming one of the biggest Jatropha seed banks in China. The seedlings produced from this nursery in Hainan are used on other plantations.

12.10.6

Biodiesel Refineries

China’s largest offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC has started making diesel from Jatropha in southern Hainan province — the first such project operated by a state-run company. The plant, able to produce 60 000 tonnes of biodiesel per year,
is equipped with refining facilities designed by top oil refiner Sinopec. Using Jatropha as a feedstock, the plant, approved by Beijing in July 2008, is expected to cut 140 000 tonnes of emissions of mostly carbon dioxide every year.

12.10.7

The cost of harvesting and mining commodities is increasing continuously. Mining and oil companies have to drill deeper oil and metals, and in agriculture the prices of water, pesticides, and fertilizers keep on rising. Here is a good example: the world’s largest open-pit copper mine is the Chuquicamata mine in Chile. Unfortunately, this mine will cease to be profitable during the next decade and Codelco is now building a new underground mine underneath, which would be one of the world’s largest, most modern and efficient mining operations. Total exploration costs are an estimated staggering $2.3 billion (Figure 1.5).

A biofuel is energy in liquid form, made from renewable sources like plants, trees, and even waste. Biofuels from renewable sources can be replicated and when harvested on a large scale the price of biofuel per hectare, per acre, or per tonne will keep coming down. We are still at the beginning of the biofuel trajectory. The solar industry is the best example of diminishing costs: the production of solar panels has been scaled up enormously, with China as the main producer. The energy generation and efficiency per solar panel keeps increasing, and the price of solar

►

Time

Figure 1.5 Rising crude oil costs, and increasing biofuel and biomass supplies. Long-term costs of biofuels are decreasing. Source: Mother Earth Investments AG Research.

panels is coming down. Figure 1.6 shows how the photovoltaic costs in the United States have come down from $1 in 1980 to about $0.18 today.

1.7

There are machines available to harvest Jatropha mechanically. It is possible only for rather small Jatropha bushes without too many branches growing on relatively flat terrain. The machine rolls over the bush and shakes out the fruits, very much comparable to harvesting wine grapes. Such a machine can harvest around 1 km of Jatropha bushes standing in one perfect line. In a plantation with big Jatropha bushes with many wide branches and abundant fruits, mechanical harvesting is not possible. You can see mechanical harvesting by going to YouTube and typing “Jatropha mechanical harvesting” in the search engine.

3.1.19