BP's answer to food-based ethanol --jatropha plant

Anyone know anything about this here? I'm curious as to if it is a good thing or not.


The oil giant believes an inedible plant called jatropha can ease global fuel demands. It could boost incomes in Africa and other impoverished regions too.

(Fortune Magazine) -- Can a poisonous plant become a biodiesel hero and help African economies in the process?

BP (Charts) thinks so. It believes jatropha - an inedible plant used for hedges that was spread around the world centuries ago by Portuguese sailors - can dent global fuel demands without using up foodstuffs such as corn, soy and sugar cane, plus boost incomes in Africa and other impoverished regions.

In June the oil giant signed a $160 million deal with British biodiesel producer Dl Oils, creating a joint venture that aims to become the world's largest producer of jatropha oil by 2011. The new company expects to have nearly three million acres under cultivation within four years and process roughly two million tons annually - or 18% of Europe's expected biodiesel demand.

"The deal with Dl is all about developing a biofuels business," says BP spokeswoman Wendy Silcock. Half of the 12 countries targeted for bulk plantings are in Africa.

Because it can grow year-round in arid soil and is inedible, jatropha won't innate food prices or take up valuable cropland. Africa is considered ideal because of its proximity to European markets and low land and labor costs. "Jatropha is low input," says Steve Douty, executive director of Dl Oils. "It survives where others don't. It also grows best 25 degrees south or north of the equator. A big chunk of Africa is in that band."

More...
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/09/17/100259542/index.htm?postversion=2007090706

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jatropha



It sounds intruiging. Using this plant would stop (or at least greatly slow) the use of human foodstuff for fuel, and could make currently non-arable land profitable.

It does require 500-600mm of annual rainfall. However, it can sustain drought conditions for some 7-8 months.

I found this tidbit to be interesting:

Biogas usinf Jatropha presscake:
JCL oil cake is a very good substrate for biogas production because of its high protein and mineral content. You just add the press cake to the cow manure with which you feed your biogas digestor. You should mix it with the cow dung and water, as one usuall does, so that it can flow easily into the digestor. You can use both, fresh cow dung or already fermented slurry. The latter is richer is biogas bacteria. You should start with small quantities of presscake, so the bacterias can adapt themselfs to the new composition of the substrate.

http://www.jatropha.de/faq.htm

This site had quite a bit of information on the plant as a biofuel alternative.

http://www.ecoworld.com/home/articles2.cfm?tid=367

They could express the oil for use as a diesle substitute, then use the remaining biomass to produce methane which, itself, can be used as a fuel. I expect that any remaining plant material (including the byproducts of the methane production) can be tilled back into the soil as an organic fertilizer.

Wow, talk about going green!

godddammit. just do it!

However, it won't withstand a drought of 7-8 months such as they claim this plant will. This plant appears to also have the benefit of being a one stage conversion to bio diesel.

Jatropha

Common throughout India, jatropha grows rapidly in even the most arid climates, requires little in the way of fertilizers or other agricultural input, reverses desertification and produces valuable byproducts after the fuel is extracted. Moreover, it can yield up to 1,000 barrels of biodiesel from a single square mile of otherwise inhospitable cropland each year.

Also to its credit, as Joe Greene of Texas-based Terra Sol Biofuel notes, is the fact that jatropha is not a food product. “Jatropha does not necessarily compete with land usage for food crop growth—marginal lands can be used,” he says. “And jatropha does not require annual replanting as it is a shrub that lives 40 to 50 years, and it is a low-energy consumer—low amounts of tilling the ground, fertilizer and watering.”

The plant is already favoured by farmers for its natural ability to repel animals and insects. And its seedcakes, a byproduct created by pressing the plant’s oil, can be used as an organic fertilizer or for a protein-rich livestock feed.

It is not, however, a hardy species. “It cannot be grown in 99 percent of the United States,” Greene says. “It’s not frost-tolerant.”

Hemp

The ever-controversial hemp plant has also entered the biofuels debate—courtesy of a Virginia farmer and pianist named Grayson Sigler, who earlier this year completed a 40-city tour in a 1983 Mercedez Benz powered by hemp oil.

Because hemp oil doubles as a solvent, Sigler had to exchange his rubber hoses for synthetic ones. But that’s the extent of the modifications he had to make to get his Hempcar on the road. “There are no cons to growing hemp,” Sigler says. “The pros are too numerous to list.”

Long prized for its hardiness and versatility, hemp grows almost anywhere, and can be used for everything from clothing and rope to ice cream and cosmetics. Sigler estimates that his batch of hemp oil cost him about $4 a gallon to produce, but argues that the cost would come down significantly if hemp was put into large-scale production.

Of course, Sigler and his fellow U.S. hemp activists face a significant obstacle that other biofuel farmers manage to avoid: It’s illegal to grow it in many countries.

http://www.odemagazine.com/doc/45/after_oil


It would appear that both plants have great promise but in different regions. Which ideally is what is needed.

However, I don't trust BP. I wonder if their intent is buy the patent for it and then hype the product.

They're one of the worst IMO.