• As of today, large-scale plantations with a big annual crop and a high oil yield do not yet exist. We expect the first big world crop with sizable quantities of crude Jatropha oil to come in 2014. Large-scale plantations do exist in Myanmar and China of 200 000 hectares and more, but they are not managed very well yet.

• Assumptions of high oil yields are often based on measurements of fairly small plantations. Extrapolation of such measurements to larger areas is not entirely correct because it ignores the growth reduction occurring from different soil types, altitude differences, and competition for natural resources, such as solar radiation, water, and nutrients.

• Low soil fertility, low water use or no irrigation at all, low labor inputs, the non­existence of competition with food production, and the influence of pests and diseases are definitely hindering high oil production.

• Jatropha is not domesticated and the observed variation in seed oil content is quite large. If seed size, number of seeds, or number of fruits per tree or per square meter is not accurately accounted for, oil yields per hectare are easily overestimated. Likewise, Jatropha trees that produce large seeds and a high number of seeds or fruits per tree may be low in oil production per hectare if the seed oil content is low. In the ideal situation it is justified to relate high oil

yields with J. curcas when a high number of seeds per plant (or per hectare) in combination with a high oil content can be cultivated. This is what research is aiming for.

• Genetic and environmental factors have a significant impact on oil yield production factors.

• To increase yields, agronomic practices and crop management should be aimed at optimizing the use of natural resources like solar radiation, water, and soil fertility, cultivation of the female flowers that contain the oil, and the prevention of pests and diseases.

• Jatropha cultivation can be labor-intensive, especially in the first year, and labor availability and labor costs must be seriously accounted for. Land must be prepared, nurseries must be set up, and seeds must be planted, irrigated, fertilized, pruned, and harvested. Then the seeds must be processed for oil production. Many Jatropha companies underestimate the investments they have to make during 5 years before they see a return on their investments after the first big crop.

• In plantations, serious problems have been reported with fungi, viruses, and the attack of insects. Observed diseases include "root rot,” "collar rot,” and "leaf spots.”

• It is unverified that superior and well-performing plant species of J. curcas developed in the laboratory will perform successfully when moved to other locations with different environmental circumstances (soil, climate) and man­agement. It cannot be stressed enough that J. curcas is a wild species, and genetic identification of provenances and testing them in different locations and conditions will be a priority research area for the institutions involved.

3.11

Jatropha growers should follow the “Food First" principle, which means that food production must always be given first priority. When cultivating crops for Jatropha, the company should simultaneously invest in food production to assure that local farmers and local communities are positively affected by their work in the plan­tations. By intercropping, the company effectively increases the surface of agri­cultural land available for food production.

We believe that the only way to achieve sustainable profitably is to create a sustainable livelihood for the communities in which we work. We believe in partnering with communities, tribes, and governments to create lasting economic infrastructures and change lives. We believe that investing in safety, healthcare,

and education are not secondary to our corporate mission, but part of the reason we are in business.

We believe that transparent, open dialogue is essential to good corporate gov­ernance and solid fiscal management, and that those tenants translate into bottom­line returns for investors and the people who are directly impacted by our presence in their communities.

Where else can you put your investment dollars where you can feel this good about a great return on investment? I hope you learn from this book how you can actively change the world and realize a substantial return on your investment, provided you have patience and are not looking for the quick buck.

6.5

The European Commission encourages EU nations to set up certification schemes to ensure biofuels help cut emissions and do not threaten biodiversity. This should apply to all types of biofuels, including imported fuel. The commission said the schemes would deliver substantial carbon dioxide reductions and help protect forests and wetlands.

Announcing the measures, Gunther Oettinger said: "In the years to come, biofuels are the main alternative to petrol and diesel used in transport, which produces more than 20% of the greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union.” "We have to ensure that the biofuels used are also sustainable,” he added.

Mr. Oettinger said the scheme was the "most stringent in the world” and would ensure that biofuels used in the EU would "meet the highest environmental standards”.

He suggested that, as the plans also covered imports, it would help protect natural habitats in other parts of the world that were at risk from the expanding global demand for biofuels.

As reported on the BBC News of 6 June 2010, the package announced by the commissioner in Brussels in 2010 contained three measures:

• Sustainable biofuel certificates. Governments, industry, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are encouraged to establish "voluntary schemes.” In order

for the schemes to be recognized by the European Commission, they must be independently audited.

• Protecting untouched nature. The fuels must not be made from raw materials from tropical forests or recently deforested areas, drained peatlands, or wetlands. For example, the commission said the conversion of a forest to a palm oil plantation would not meet its sustainability criteria.

• Promote only those biofuels with high greenhouse gas savings. Biofuels have to deliver savings of at least 35% compared with fossil fuels, rising to 50% in 2017 and to 60% by 2018.

Under the EU Renewable Energy Directive, which was established in 2009, the 27-nation bloc was set the target of ensuring that 20% of its entire energy con­sumption comes from renewable sources by 2020.

The directive also requires nations to ensure that renewables account for 10% of the energy used in the transport sector. In a statement, the commission said that only biofuels that met the new sustainability criteria would count towards the 2020 target.

However, the directive fails to assuage critics who complain that the European Union has still not taken proper account of so-called "indirect land-use changes,” which were less well understood when biofuels were first embraced. Greenpeace said the commission’s criteria fail to address the impact of indirect land-use change. For example, when agricultural land is set aside to grow biofuels, there is pressure to cut down forests in order to grow food.

However, researchers developing new ways to produce biofuels say that advances in technology mean that the non-food crops grown on marginal or non­arable land can be used to meet the growing demand. This is exactly what Jatropha, Camelina, and Pongamia crops can achieve. They meet all the EU criteria.

We think that future generations of biofuels offer almost limitless possibilities. They have the potential to increase our energy supply without harming the environment or taking land away from food production.

This is the way forward and the Commission should be putting far more emphasis on the research, development, and promotion of these technologies.

10.4

The energy balance ratio of a given fuel is the ratio between the energy content in the fuel to the energy spent to produce it. When the entire process is considered, from the planting of sugarcane to the use of ethanol as a motor vehicle fuel in what is known as a well-to-wheel analysis, sugarcane ethanol has an energy balance ratio of

9.3 units of clean, renewable energy for every unit of fossil energy spent in its pro­duction and transportation stages. On the other hand, ethanol produced from other feedstocks has significantly lower energy ratios. Lifecycle studies conducted by the US Argonne National Laboratory have shown that dwindling fossil fuels have a sharply lower energy balance ratio than any biofuel, but especially sugarcane ethanol.

13.12

Sugarcane for Biofuels

Biofuels from sugarcane are “drop-in” fuels, because they can be mixed in any amount with today’s engines, fueling stations, and pipelines. These biofuels will not require engine changes or additional infrastructure. Some examples include:

• Diesel from sugarcane. Perhaps the most successful example of biohydrocarbon production in Brazil is farnesene — a chemical compound that can be used as the basis for a number of renewable chemicals, including diesel fuel. Amyris Biotechnologies, based in California, is one of the pioneers in developing farnesene. In partnership with its Brazilian subsidiary, Sao Martinho Group,

Amyris is producing sugarcane-based diesel that is currently being tested by the city of Sao Paulo in a pilot project involving six municipal buses. These buses currently use a blend containing 10% renewable sugarcane diesel and 90% petroleum-based diesel; eventually, the blends will be changed to increase the renewable content.

• Jetfuelfrom sugarcane. An encouraging sign that biokerosene is here to stay is the collaboration between Brazil and the United States on its progress. In March 2011, these countries signed an expanded Memorandum of Understanding to advance cooperation on biofuels, including a new partnership on sugarcane — based jet fuel. Development is already underway with Brazilian jet manufac­turer Embraer working alongside General Electric and Amyris (www. amyris .com). On June 19, 2012 the first-ever sugarcane-fueled jet flew over Rio de Janeiro. The renewable jet fuel from sugar could in the future reduce green­house gas emissions up to 82% without modifications to the jet engines.

The commercialization of these biofuels serves as an incentive to expand sus­tainable sugarcane cultivation in Brazil and around the world.

13.13

• Grains, palm, and coconut trees that produce oil for energy purposes compete directly for space with grains, palm, and coconut trees used for food produc­tion. We call this the “food-or-fuel” debate. I think that in the future these energy feedstocks could very well push up food prices more. A good example is corn — a third of the US corn crop is converted into ethanol, thus decreasing sub­stantially the supply of animal feed.

• Biofuel plants use large amounts of water.

• They sometimes damage the environment (e. g., the burning of rainforests in Malaysia and Indonesia to make way for palm oil cultivations).

• This biofuel supply is not sufficient to satisfy long-term consumer demand.

The “food-or-fuel” debate should, however, be a bit more refined. Rapeseed, for example, grows on agricultural land and the oil is partly used to refine into bio­diesel. Commercially, however, it is not the oil, but the seedcake (i. e., the residues after pressing) that is the most interesting. The seedcake is very valuable, can be compressed to agripellets, or can be used as animal feed. Thus, it is not all black or white. Sometimes a food and an energy solution are possible simultaneously. I will highlight this further when I discuss cropping methods.

The big general debate is: what should we produce on agricultural land? Should we produce food for human beings and our animals or should we produce biofuels for our cars and planes? Intensive discussions are held all over the world and opinions are very different from country to country. In Brazil, for instance, so much land is available that enough sugar and soybeans can be produced for food and energy purposes simultaneously. Brazil is one of the few industrialized nations that does not have to import oil. Brazil has an immense territorial area.

The entire agribusiness sector contributes approximately 25% of the country’s gross domestic product. Brazil has a total land area of 851 million hectares, of which 264 million hectares (30%) are classified as agriculture. In 2006, approxi­mately 200 million hectares (75%) of the total agricultural area was pasture land and the remaining 64 million hectares (25%) was considered arable land. Soybean covers the largest cropped area in Brazil (22 million hectares), followed by corn (13 million hectares) and sugarcane (7 million hectares). Rice and beans — the staple crops of Brazil — cover approximately 2.6 and 3.2 million hectare, respec­tively (see US Department of Agriculture Grain Reports; www. ers. usda. gov). Thus, around 10% of Brazil’s total agricultural land is planted with sugarcane. About 50% of the sugarcane production goes into ethanol fuels, so not more than 5% of the total agricultural land is used for liquid fuel production. Part of the country’s agricultural success is due to increased yields and area of most crops, especially export crops like soybeans and sugarcane.

With the exception of Brazil and Africa, most countries do not have as large a surplus of land to produce comfortably food and energy at the same time.

In the European Union, political initiatives are being developed to import palm oil only when it is certified — in other words, when palm oil does not originate from palm trees planted on the soil of burnt rain forests. Despite its pollution, China has the most restrictive environmental policy for first-generation biofuels, and is miles ahead of Europe and the United States: the country produces the biggest rapeseed crop in the world along the Yangzi River. However, China’s laws forbid, producing rapeseed oil and converting it into biodiesel.

In general, as shown in Figure 2.1, arable land in our world in absolute numbers is plateauing and not expanding very much. Thus, we must use our agricultural land very carefully for food production.

Figure 2.1 Global agriculture in hectares. Source: Global Agriculture Towards 2050; www. fao. org.

2.4

Jatropha seeds contain over 70% unsaturated fatty acid and the seedcake is an excellent organic fertilizer. The toxin-expelling process has been resolved and the implementation of animal feed made from Jatropha seeds has proven to be safe in China. It is possible to derive around 6 tonnes of organic fertilizer per hectare. Thus, a 1000 hectare plantation can produce 1000 x 6 x $190 = $1140 000 annually only by selling the fertilizer! In my native tongue, which is Dutch, we have an expression that says: "Money is lying on the street.” In this case the money lies in the Jatropha plantations.

3.2.1.3 Insecticides and Pesticides

Organic insecticides and pesticides can be derived from crude Jatropha oil. Bio­pesticide derived from Jatropha has proven to be effective to aphis and other injurious insects.

Characteristics of Jatropha a pesticide include:

• It does not contain toluene and other aromatic solvents, it is nonflammable, and it is a "green” pesticide.

• 1000 tonnes of crude Jatropha oil can produce 50 tonnes of "pesticide raw material.”

• With additional processing 1000 tonnes of crude Jatropha oil can produce 500 tonnes of bio-pesticide.

• Processing costs, including emulsifiers, additives, packaging, water, and electricity, are around $630 per tonne. The selling price of Jatropha pesticide is around $4700 per tonne.

48 | 3 Biofuels Feedstock: Jatropha curcas

3.2.2

Byproducts

The public, too, expects more of companies these days in terms of sustainability. Governments stimulate their citizens to interact with them through social media.

A good example is the US Department of Energy, which offers energy blogs and dedicated sites on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. Companies and governments that do not take the impact of social media seriously will run into big trouble with their customers and citizens.

The palm oil episode provides a good example of how greens can use social media to make consumers aware of what goes into the products they buy. Fearful of losing sales, companies have responded.

It is not only companies that are being pressed. Helped by $1 billion from the government of Norway, Indonesia has taken action. In 2011, the Indonesian president announced a 2-year moratorium on new concessions to clear natural forests and peatlands. Indonesia will also set up its own certification body, a rival to the RSPO, which is expected to impose obligations on producers who are not members of that organization.

The palm oil industry can continue to expand in new areas. Palm oil is only 10% of the palm tree. Fronds contain cellulosic fibers and can be made into ethanol, and all other residues can be pelletized. Today most mills in Malaysia and Indo­nesia already use the palm kernel shells as a green source of energy to press the oil out of the fruits. The biomass of the palm tree represents a huge green energy potential for Asia.

What happens from now on will depend on whether pressure is kept up on all parts of the industry. Clearly, the industry would not have moved so far, so fast, without pressure from green activists. Several companies have learned that they are vulnerable, politically and therefore commercially, when they do not control the distant ends of their supply chains. That applies not only in Southeast Asian palm oil plantations, but in many other places too: in sweatshops employing young children or in Chinese factories where workers take their own lives.

4.3.6

Biofuels look set to save the aviation industry a great deal of money in fuel costs and carbon charges, but is this sustainable? The answer may partly come from certification schemes such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB; www. rsb. epfl. ch), which has developed a sustainability standard for biofuel production.

The RSB is a global initiative coordinated by the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, in which all stakeholders within and outside the supply chain can participate (farmers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), oil companies, airlines, experts, governments, and intergovernmental agencies). All these actors share the concern of the sustainability of biofuel pro­duction and processing. The RSB has developed a third-party certification system based on a biofuel sustainability standard embracing environmental, social, and economic principles and criteria.

The RSB standard looks at greenhouse gas emissions themselves, as well as conservation, water, air, waste management, human rights, social development, food security, and land rights. The objective of the RSB is to provide a credible tool that ensures better biofuels for biofuel buyers, regulators, and the public over the entire supply chain of growing, extracting, refining, and supplying.

Jatropha plantation operators should commit to the RSB Principles & Criteria for Sustainable Biofuel Production, which sets worldwide minimum standards for biofuel sustainability:

• Principle 1: Legality. Biofuel operations shall follow all applicable laws and regulations.

• Principle 2: Planning, monitoring, and continuous improvement. Sustainable biofuel operations shall be planned, implemented, and continuously improved through an open, transparent, and consultative impact assessment and management process and an economic viability analysis.

• Principle 3: Greenhouse gas emissions. Biofuels shall contribute to climate change mitigation by significantly reducing lifecycle greenhouse gas emission as compared to fossil fuels.

• Principle 4: Human and labor rights. Biofuel operations shall not violate human rights or labor rights, and shall promote decent work and the well-being of workers.

Second Generation Biofuels and Biomass: Essential Guide for Investors, Scientists and Decision Makers, First Edition. Roland A. Jansen. r 2013 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.

Published 2013 by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.

• Principle 5: Rural and social development. In regions of poverty, biofuel opera­tions shall contribute to the social and economic development of local, rural, and indigenous people and communities.

• Principle 6: Local food security. Biofuel operations shall ensure the human right to adequate food and improve food security in food insecure regions.

• Principle 7: Conservation. Biofuel operations shall avoid negative impacts on biodiversity, ecosystems, and conservation values.

• Principle 8: Soil. Biofuel operations shall implement practices that seek to reverse soil degradation and/or maintain soil health.

• Principle 9: Water. Biofuel operations shall maintain or enhance the quality and quantity of surface and ground water resources, and respect prior formal or customary water rights.

• Principle 10: Air. Air pollution from biofuel operations shall be minimized along the supply chain.

• Principle 11: Use of technology, inputs, and management of waste. The use of technologies in biofuel operations shall seek to maximize production efficiency and social and environmental performance, and minimize the risk of damages to the environment and people.

The complete text of the Principles can be accessed at http://rsb. epfl. ch/page-

67254-en. html.

8

Biomass

8.1

According to Thomson Reuters (9 August 2010), the new program aims at achieving what President Hu Jintao has coined as “inclusive growth,” which essentially refers to a more balanced approach to growth, according to economic planners. The government will spend more than $739 billion (4 trillion Yuan) in

the 5-year period to provide financial support, including tax cuts and exemptions, to nine key industries (see Section 12.5). The Chinese government will strengthen work on saving energy and reducing emissions, speed up elimination of backward production capacity, promote high technology and industrial upgrading, and encourage companies to improve product quality and create their own brands.

The goal of Hu’s new "inclusive growth” is to spread the wealth generated by economic growth among all, and to achieve balance in economic and social progress.

The International Monetary Fund said the Chinese economy was gearing up to change its growth model from an export-driven economy to one driven by domestic consumption. The new plan targets sustainable and balanced growth at the sacrifice of the speed of growth, economists said.

12.5

The aviation industry has seen huge growth since its beginning. Today, more than 2 billion people enjoy the social and economic benefits of flying each year. Worldwide, the industry provides jobs to some 32 million people and has a global economic benefit of around 7.5% of world gross domestic product. The ability to fly conveniently and efficiently between nations has been a catalyst for the global economy, and has shrunk cultural barriers like no other transport sector. However, this progress comes at a cost.

In 2008, the commercial aviation industry produced 677 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. This is around 2% of the total man-made carbon dioxide emissions of more than 34 billion tonnes. While this amount is small compared with other industry sectors, such as power generation and ground transport, these industries have viable alternative energy sources currently available. For example, the power generation industry can look to wind, hydro, nuclear, and solar technologies to produce electricity without producing much carbon dioxide. Cars and buses can run on hybrid, flexible fuel engines or electricity. Electric-powered trains can replace diesel locomotives.

The aviation industry has identified the development of biofuels as one of the major ways it can reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. Biofuels provide aviation with the capability to partially, and perhaps one day fully, replace carbon-intensive petroleum fuels. They will, over time, enable the industry to reduce its carbon footprint significantly.

15.7