Jatropha stacks up nicely compared with other feedstocks, as soybeans and rape — seed have a relatively low oil yield compared with Jatropha — 375 kg per hectare for soybeans in the United States (280 gallons per acre) and 1000 kg per hectare of rapeseed in Europe (740 gallons per acre) to 3 tonnes of oil per hectare of Jatropha (373 gallons per acre) in India. Good planning, quality planting material, stan­dardized agronomy practices, good crop management, and further research will increase yields substantially.

Prominent research centers in Jatropha are:

1. SG Biofuels, San Diego, California.

2. University of Hohenheim, Germany.

3. University of Wageningen — Plant Research, The Netherlands.

4. University of Sichuan, Chengdu, China.

5. Yunnan University, China (this university has even sent Jatropha seeds up in space — they created an aerospace nursery to change the DNA of Jatropha).

6. Reliance Life Sciences, India.

7. JOil, Singapore (a joint venture of Temasek, Toyota, and Tata).

The present seed yield standard is 6 tonnes per hectare in seeds, which can be pressed into 2 tonnes of crude Jatropha oil. On average there are 10 branches per tree. The yield is much lower if plantations are neglected. With progress in bio­technology the yields will increase substantially, thus making Jatropha plantations very profitable. I think in a few years time we will be able to harvest on a large scale at 12 tonnes of seeds per hectare, which produces 4 tonnes of crude Jatropha oil per hectare coming from 40-50 branches per tree.

3.1.22

4.1

Pongamia pinatta

Pongamia (Millettia Pinnata), a plant producing non-edible oilseeds, has the potential to become one of the cheapest feedstocks that can be produced in most of the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. It can tolerate drought, light frost, water logging, moisture stress, salinity, and poor soil types. Pongamia is a leguminous tree with a 10-meter taproot capable of sourcing water and nutrients in the subsoil. It has a lifespan of 100 years (twice as long as Jatropha bushes), and has low crop maintenance and harvesting requirements.

It thrives in areas having an annual rainfall ranging from 500 to 2500 mm, and a maximum temperature range from 27 to 38°C and a minimum range from 1 to 16°C. Mature trees can withstand high temperatures up to 50°C. Despite all the advantages, Pongamia is still a wild plant — it is not domesticated yet and the process takes years. The existing knowledge and experience with commercial cultivation is still very limited, and few institutes and companies have been working on genetic improvement and agronomic practices. Biodiesel produced from Pongamia fruits offers a compelling case to improve the environment, local economy, agriculture, and living standards of the local farmers. Conventional food crops could be grown between and under the trees, whereby the leaves offer shade against the burning sun. The leftovers after pressing, the biomass called seedcake, can be used as an organic fertilizer or can be burned to produce electricity. Thus, an integrated, low — cost, and sustainable forestry-based farming system can be developed.

Carbon credits from growing the trees, producing biodiesel, and using byproducts to generate electricity could be the icing on the cake and generate additional income.

I have been in dense Pongamia rain forests on West Timor, and its sur­rounding islands called Nusa Tenggara Timur and Sumba — a few of the more then 17 000 islands of the Republic of Indonesia (Figure 4.1). Here, the really "low-hanging fruit” waits to be collected. This is only a matter of hiring 1000 farmers, going into the forests, and harvesting the seeds. You do not have to invest in nurseries, breeding, infrastructure and so on, as required starting a Jatropha plantation. You harvest the seeds, press them into crude oil, and sell the

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.

oil for $1000 a tonne to biodiesel refineries, which are scrambling to refine second-generation biofuels. Untouched gold mines! In addition, we have been digging in the soil below the Pongamia trees and found massive amounts of well — conserved Pongamia fruits. These Pongamia fruits fall off the trees every year when they are ripe and are buried below the natural humus over the years. Amazingly, they do not loose their oil content and they have as much oil as the ripe fruits hanging on the trees. An oil bonus for free!

4.2

Algae

4.2.1

There are a range of principles of socially responsible investing rules in the Jatropha plantation business. Imagine we start a company called SORESIN (an abbreviation of SOcially RESponsible INvesting). The corporate governance of SORESIN should have the following corporate governance rules.

6.7.1

Business

SORESIN believes there is only one way to do business, and that is to invest in the farmers and their families who have given their trust, who have dared to hope that they have not been forgotten in the global economy, that there are businesses who understand that the only way to achieve real success is to measure it in human terms. A well-managed business will undoubtedly turn a good profit and provide a sound return, but a business that goes beyond the balance sheet can have effects that ripple into the future for generations to come.

SORESIN is committed to the social and economic development of the farmers, and have built those principles into the very core of our company.

SORESIN is planting Jatropha trees, because Jatropha removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, helps restore soil fertility, and protects the land from wind

and water erosion. The roots of the Jatropha trees bind with the topsoil to make it less vulnerable to wind and penetrate the soil to allow infiltration of water, thereby reducing land degradation. This makes the crop ideal, especially for marginal soils where land degradation, desertification, and water stress are real problems.

6.7.2

In September 2011 the European Commission agreed to delay implementation of indirect land use change (ILUC) penalties until 2018. Overall existing investments in biofuels have become a $20 Billion + business in the EU. The EU policymakers are unable to agree which feedstocks will be considered acceptable in meeting the EU’s biofuel targets. The EU biodiesel industry currently depends on a mix of primarily palm, soybean and rapeseed. But in general all feedstocks would be in jeopardy under proposed indirect land use change provisions. On one hand the EU wants to be very careful to allow certain feedstocks to be qualified as biofuels. Simultaneously however emission caps aimed at oil refiners, utilities and coal mines are pushing the polluters towards greater use of biofuels.

No matter the challenges, there are strong tailwinds in favor of aviation biofuels made in Brazil, among them:

• There is a hopeful, eager end-user community.

• Instead of a wide variety of competing altenergy technologies — in passenger transport there is all-electric, compressed air, gasoline-electric hybrid, com­pressed natural gas, and biofuels — we have one existing alternative: for commercial aviation today, it is fossil fuels or biofuels.

Brazil is one of the most complex and important aviation markets — as a large country, like China and the United States, it is has an important domestic traffic, as well as extensive international routes to Europe, Africa, and the United States. Brazilian airlines using biofuels will be well positioned to compete on cost, compared to any carrier who does not use aviation biofuels and pays a steep carbon emissions charge to operate to Europe. That may confer an advantage on Brazil in the struggle for hub dominance in the main international corridors.

Not to mention that, although there is a $0.54 per gallon tariff on Brazilian ethanol made from sugarcane, there is no tariff in the United States on renewable jet fuel made from Brazilian sugarcane.

Despite the scale-up challenges, renewable jet fuel is the most promising sector in biofuels today — and Brazil is well positioned to be a key player.

Two main reactions are key to understanding how biomass is converted to bioethanol:

1. Hydrolysis is the chemical reaction that converts the complex polysaccharides in the raw feedstock to simple sugars. In the biomass-to-bioethanol process, acids and enzymes are used to catalyze this reaction.

2. Fermentation is a series of chemical reactions that convert sugars to ethanol. The fermentation reaction is caused by yeast or bacteria, which feed on the sugars. Ethanol and carbon dioxide are produced as the sugar is consumed.

In the biodiesel world the main reaction for converting oil to biodiesel is called transesterification. The transesterification process reacts an alcohol (e. g., methanol) with the triglyceride oils contained in vegetable oils, animal fats, or recycled greases, forming fatty acid alkyl esters (biodiesel) and glycerin. The reaction requires heat and a strong base catalyst, such as sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide.

Feedstocks with more than 4% free fatty acids, which include inedible animal fats and recycled greases, must be pretreated in an acid esterification process. In this step, the feedstock is reacted with an alcohol (like methanol) in the pre­sence of a strong acid catalyst (sulfuric acid), converting the free fatty acids into biodiesel. The remaining triglycerides are converted to biodiesel in the transes­terification reaction.

2.7

Paint can be made out of the Jatropha bark that stops defoliation when applied on the hulls of ships. Jatropha paint also makes submarines invisible on radar screens. This technique is used by the Chinese Navy, which has an important submarine base at the beautiful tropical island Hainan (the Hawaii of China!).

3.2.2.3 Electricity

Jatropha leaves can be collected and used as biomass in a power plant to generate electricity.

3.2.2.4 Carbon Dioxide Collection

One hectare of Jatropha absorbs annually 40 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the air and qualifies for carbon credits. In the fall of 2011, a tonne of carbon dioxide traded around $10. Thus, a 10 000 hectare mature plantation can collect: 40 x 1000 x $10 = $400 000 per annum. Mature 5-year-old plantations do not qualify for carbon credits. Only plantation projects that have gone through a due-diligence pro­cess can qualify for carbon credits. The qualification process is expensive and can take 2 years.

You must have something in your portfolio that grows.

Anthony Ward — CEO and Founder of Armajaro on Facebook.

4.4.1

The Basics

In recent years there has been increasing interest in developing energy crops with low requirements for fertilizers, pesticides, and energy. In addition, these crops provide better soil erosion control than conventional systems. Thus, initially Camelina as a crop turned out to be well suited to marginal soils. It is tolerant of low rainfall and can grow in areas unsuitable for food crops.

Camelina can be grown as a winter crop in areas with very mild winters. Camelina is short-seasoned (85-100 days) so that it can also be incorporated into double-cropping systems on agricultural land during cool periods of growth. Supporters of Camelina believe it can put an end to the “food-or-fuel” debate: crop yields are double those of soybeans. Its oil is more resistant to cold temperatures than other oils. The seedcake or Camelina meal leftovers after producing the oil is a perfect animal feed.

4.4.2

Rotation with Wheat

Camelina can be grown in rotation with wheat crops (double cropping). By planting Camelina in rotation with wheat, farmers can produce up to 100 gallons of Camelina oil per acre, while simultaneously the wheat crop yields are increased by 15% as well.

For wheat farmers, it is a natural short crop that can be grown following spring wheat and adds value to land. For cotton farmers and others with starved soils, it is a tolerant crop that produces a good, fast yield. A superior byproduct is Camelina seedcake and the rich, virgin oil that performs well in cold climates is an excellent source of biodiesel, as the blending of renewable diesel becomes more and more mandatory all over the world. It is a smart, steady play for a farmer looking to increase their income, fertilize the soil further by avoiding monocropping, and ultimately do better financially.

4.4.3

• Biomass from plants is carbon-neutral. For instance the amount of carbon dioxide that the sugarcane plant absorbs from the atmosphere during its growing phase is equal to the carbon dioxide emissions that the biomass emits during combustion. This makes the process of cogeneration greenhouse gas — neutral. Thus, biomass is a “carbon-lean” fuel, producing a fraction of the carbon emissions of fossil fuels.

• Biomass can often be sourced locally and contributes to the security of the energy supply.

• Biomass production and conversion into energy can offer new business opportunities, and support the industrial and rural economy.

• The use of biomass as a fuel makes the consumer independent from fossil fuels. It provides an economic incentive to manage woodland and agriculture independently, and improve biodiversity and soil fertility.

• Many biomass fuels generate lower levels of atmospheric pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen that contributes to “acid rain.” Modern biomass combustion systems are highly sophisticated, offering better combustion efficiency and lower emission levels then the best fossil fuel boilers.

• Biomass can be cofired with coal, generating heat or electricity with a low overall carbon dioxide output.

• Possible man-made disasters like the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico or the 2011 nuclear reactor destruction in Fukushima with fatal radioactive radiation can be avoided using biomass as a renewable energy.

8.4 Feedstock of Biomass | 115

8.4

In 2011, a total of 18.5 million passenger cars were sold in China and the expectations for 2012 are a 10% growth. Volkswagen has sold 2 million cars in China and plans to double its capacity by 2015. Bentley stated that China is now its

biggest market. GM also sold 2 million cars in China and targets sales of 5 million cars by 2015 (Figure 12.6).

After the United States, China has the second longest highway network in the world. Presently, there are around 75 million cars on the road in China. China currently shows a ratio of 60 people per motor vehicle, compared with a world average of 11.5, indicating huge growth potential for the Chinese market. Car

1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 China USA

Figure 12.5 China’s share of global commodity consumption (%), Source: UN Food and Agricultural Organization, 2008, and international Monetary Fund, 2010,

companies like BMW and Mercedes are selling more of their luxury cars in China today than in their domestic German market. It is expected that by 2020 around 200 million vehicles will be on the road. In Beijing alone there are 5 million cars, causing a shortage of parking spaces. If you buy a car in Shanghai you must participate in a license plate auction and bid for a license. Shanghai auctions off 5000-10 000 license plates a month and the latest successful bids in 2012 were

averaging over $10 000. One hundred and twenty new models were presented at the 2012 Beijing auto show. China plans to have at least 5 million electric and hybrid cars on the road by 2020.

12.8