In a recent publication, researchers from the Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany, present the findings of a global survey on Jatropha cultivation conducted in 2011. Their main findings show that of the 1.04 million ha cultivated with Jatropha in 2011, 26% was established on land previously used for crop production or animal husbandry, 34% on previously […]
In Rwanda, after four years of unsuccessful attempts to get it off the ground, the government is abandoning its $35 million biodiesel project. Poor science behind the feasibility studies that expected jatropha to be a key feedstock but later was determined to not be viable in the country’s climate is blamed for the project’s failure. […]
In Mexico, a researcher at the Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa has been awarded the silver prize from the PRODETES 2016 competition that comes along with a $500,000 grant to continue his research into biodiesel from trees such as jatropha and moringa. The competition is funded by the Energy Ministry, the World Bank and other partners […]
In Pakistan, the country’s national oil company has launched a jatropha-based biodiesel pilot project outside Karachi in an effort to trial opportunities that could help reduce reliance on fossil fuels. The minister for water and power said the project needs to be fast tracked in order to develop alternative energy sources for the national market […]
In Nigeria, the government has released the guidelines for the $246 million in Green Bonds that it will invest in a wide range of renewable energy and agriculture including jatropha for both reforestation and for biofuel production. The program is supported by the UK’s DFID, UNEP and the World Bank in an effort to help […]
In Botswana, the University of Botswana took its research program to loftier heights when it launched an experimental vehicle that uses biodiesel fuel on November 14, 2016. The vehicle uses blended fuel (B10) which is 90 per cent petroleum diesel (50PPM) and 10 per cent biodiesel produced by University of Botswana researchers. The launch was […]
In Nigeria, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company announced it will begin planting jatropha along its 5,000km of pipeline to produce biodiesel but the trees will also provide other ecosystem services such a serving as a windbreak and preventing erosion. The project is inline with the company’s wider biofuel strategy to produce fuel for blending domestically. […]
In Mexico, the Monarca BioJet fuel project in the Yucatan is adding another 33,000 hectares of Jatropha to produce seed oil feedstock so they can export directly to the US to supply biofuel refineries needing low cost feedstock. The bioJet fuel market is growing faster than the supply and a number of biofuel refineries are […]
In India, the Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute is eyeing ways to attract farmers back to jatropha production to boost oil supplies allowing it to use its patented biofuel production technology. The center has been experimenting with uses for the cake, such as a soil supplement, and soaps from glycerin. Even jatropha shells […]
In India, the joint ventures owned partly by three oil marketing companies that sought to produce biodiesel from jatropha have been shut down due to unviability. Many believed that jatropha could be successfully grown in dry wastelands without irrigation. The three companies had planned to grow jatropha on 180,000 hectares across Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and […]
