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