Joint exploration of the potential for a biodiesel industry

Stuttgart, Germany, January 09, 2008

ADM, B CS AG and Daimler AG plan to jointly explore the potential for a biodiesel industry based on Jatropha (Jatropha curcas L.). A respective Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the companies. Jatropha, a tropical plant from the Euphorbia family, is seen by the three cooperating partners as a promising alternative energy feedstock for the production of biodiesel. Biodiesel derived from Jatropha nut kernels has properties similar to those of biofuels obtained from oilseed rapes. It is also characterized by a positive CO2 balance and can thus contribute to protecting the climate.

In this project, the companies are seeking to develop production and quality standards for Jatropha-based biofuel. ADM is running several biodiesel refineries worldwide. B CS plans to develop and register herbicides, soil insecticides and fungicides for disease and pest control of Jatropha plants. At the end of last year, Daimler AG completed a wide-ranging five-year research project which demonstrated that Jatropha can be used and cultivated to obtain high-quality biodiesel and studied the use of this fuel in test vehicles. The company will continue to explore the interactions between fuel and engine in vehicles powered by Jatropha biodiesel and mixtures of this and other fuels.

Dr. Peter Reimers, General Manager, European Oleo Chemicals at ADM said: “By diversifying the world’s energy supplies, we increase global energy security and create for many nations the ability to produce fuel from local sources.” Dr. Rüdiger Scheitza, Member of Board of Management of B CS and Head of Global Portfolio Management, said: “Energy is a fundamental and indivisible human need. Sustainable production of Jatropha without impacting food production is not only an interesting option on marginal areas. It might be a further essential key in renewable energy strategies of the future.” Prof. Dr. Herbert Kohler, Vice President Vehicle and Powertrain, Group Research and Advanced Engineering and Chief Environmental Officer of Daimler AG: “Alternative fuels are an integral part of our roadmap towards sustainable mobility. Our research activities within the last years have proven for example, that Jatropha biodiesel can be produced with quality similar to biodiesel from oil seeds. Now, it is time to evaluate the commercial potential of Jatropha biodiesel.”

Jatropha – a promising energy feedstock
Jatropha is actually a “wild plant”, and therefore it has never been professionally cultivated. Recent studies show a potential of approximately 30 million hectares of land on which this plant could be grown, especially in South America, Africa and in Asian countries such as China, India or Indonesia. Since Jatropha can be cultivated on barren land, it does not compete for land that is being used for food production, and thus provides farmers with an additional source of income.

Jatropha originates from Central America, and was transported to Africa and Asia by Portuguese sailors on their voyages round the world. It is a hardy, drought tolerant plant and can be cultivated in tropical and sub-tropical regions, and even on depleted soil. It requires very little water or fertilizer. The plant is an excellent source of renewable energy because its seeds contain more than 30 percent oil. Furthermore, it is excellent for preventing soil erosion caused by water and/or wind. Jatropha can be maintained economically for 30 to 40 years

First Myanmar jatropha harvest ready after 2006 planting campaign

12 March 2008

In Myanmar, the first national jatropha crops are ready for harvest, with up to 7 million acres planted by small farmers, after a national directive in 2006 that all farmers with more than 1 acre of land had to plant a minimum of 200 jatropha seeds to establish a hedge around their landholdings. The ruling junta developed the plan in light of soaring oil import costs, and the biggest anti-junta protests since the 1980s which erupted last year over cuts in diesel subsidies.

Air NZ goes nuts for experimental biofuel

By Stuart Dye

Air New Zealand expects 10 per cent of its fuel - enough to run the entire domestic fleet - to come from a nut grown in India and Africa within five years.
The national carrier has announced it will use oil from jatropha nuts to fuel a test flight this year - the first of its kind using a sustainable biofuel with commercial potential. By 2013 it says the fuel will provide it with one million barrels a year.
Group strategy manager Abhy Maharaj said jatropha met all the airline's "non-negotiable" criteria.

It was cheaper than traditional jet fuel, emitted less carbon dioxide and was socially responsible - it was grown on land unsuitable for food crops, which had not been forest land for at least 20 years.
Air New Zealand has spent $1 million in a year on its biofuels project. Mr Maharaj said when it started oil was about $80 a barrel.
"Now it's above $170 so it's good that we started when we did - and an extra incentive."

Air New Zealand has already begun cutting carbon emissions by reducing weight on aircraft and adopting slower flying times.
But it has also been forced to increase the fuel surcharge for passengers twice in the past two months.
And at the end of May it downgraded its profit forecast to below $200 million, down from the expected $268 million in February.
Captain Dave Morgan, general manager airline operations, said cost was "clearly a factor" but environmental responsibility was "a cornerstone" of Air New Zealand and the country's clean, green image.
The national carrier has been working with Boeing and Rolls-Royce on the biofuel plan.

A date has not yet been set for the test flight, but it will be "in the last quarter of this year" said chief executive Rob Fyfe.
It is also likely to be a world first. Virgin Atlantic powered a jumbo jet partly using coconut oil in February, but Air New Zealand's flight will use a biofuel that is a commercially viable option. One of four engines will be filled with oil from jatropha for the Boeing 747-400 flight out of Auckland.
It is a race against Dutch airline KLM, which plans a test flight this year with a biofuel made from algae.

JATROPHA PLANT COULD BE THE KEY
In a field of volcanic red soil overlooking Pearl Harbour is the future of air travel, according to Air New Zealand.
Jatropha plants standing about 2.5m tall are in neat rows across half a hectare of the 43ha Kunia substation, owned by the Hawaiian Agriculture Research Centre.
The hardy plant that can grow in barren land is not native. Seedlings were brought from Madagascar and India.
Air New Zealand believes that the fruit from this plant - a nut which produces up to 40 per cent of its mass in oil - is the answer to its search for a sustainable fuel source.

The plant takes about 18 months to grow and the nut, from pollination to maturity, about four or five months.
It is drought resistant and is not a food source for insects or animals.
Bob Osgood, former vice-president of the research centre in Honolulu, said, "There's a lot of hype. For example, some of the yield information is way too high. It could be the future of air travel - and let's hope it is - but it's still too early to tell."

PNOC subsidiary allots P50M for pilot jatropha plantation

By MARIANNE V. GO
The Philippine Star

PNOC-Development and Management Corp. (PNOC-DMC) plans to allocate at least P50 million to undertake a pilot jatropha plantation in Northern Mindanao by next year.

This was revealed to The STAR by PNOC-DMC chairman Waldo Q. Flores who plans to personally supervise the establishment of a pilot 1,000-hectare jatropha plantation.

Flores has his own sugar plantation in Negros province and thus has experience in putting up and managing an agricultural plantation.

According to Flores, PNOC-DMC is taking the lead in putting up a jatropha plantation to set a model for future plantations.

PNOC-DMC, Flores said, is eyeing idle lands of local government units in Northern Mindanao which have the right climate for growing jatropha.

The PNOC-DMC jatropha plantation, Flores explained, is envisioned to be a sort of model and start-up plantation which PNOC-DMC will initially manage. Once the plantation is up and running, Flores said PNOC-DMC, plans to turn over the plantation to the LGU which would then reimburse PNOC-DMC for its initial financial outlay for the project.

PNOC-DMC, Flores said, is awaiting the results of a study by University of the Philippines-Los Baños (UPLB) regarding the best variety for the planned jatropha plantation and identification of the best site for the plantation before going ahead with the project in the early part of next year.

Flores, however, thumbed down proposals by the Department of Agriculture to intercrop jatropha in existing coconut plantations.

According to Flores, jatropha needs sunlight and thus will not grow well if intercropped with the tall but sun-shading coconut trees.

First jatropha-based plant in Brazil to open this fall

By Anduin Kirkbride McElroy

Austria-based BioDiesel Technologies GmbH (BDT) announced it has delivered its first biodiesel processing unit to Brazil. The biodiesel equipment manufacturer and project developer has 17 projects operating in 10 countries worldwide.

The receiving plant, Compahnhia Productora de Biodiesel de Tocantins, is the first commercial-scale biodiesel plant in Brazil that will use jatropha as a feedstock, according to BDT. It is also BDT’s first commercial-scale project to use jatropha oil. The plant has feedstock agreements in place with local cooperatives and small farmers in the state of Tocantins who have planted 48,000 hectares (118,611 acres) of jatropha. The plant can also use animal fat from the state’s 6 million head of cattle.

In a press release, BDT said it would deliver one processing unit in September and four additional units by the end of the year. Ultimately, the plant will have the capacity to produce 40,000 metric tons per year (11 MMgy). Additionally, Compahnhia Productora de Biodiesel de Tocantins is researching the feasibility of two additional sites within the region, which would add 80,000 metric tons (22 MMgy) of annual production capacity.

In an attempt to promote agricultural production that is both environmentally and socially sustainable, the government has implemented tax incentives for biodiesel producers that source their feedstocks from local communities. Because the plant’s feedstock agreements align with this model, Compahnhia Productora de Biodiesel de Tocantins expects to take advantage of these incentives.

Global cue: Indian firm eyes wastelands for jatropha cultivation to produce biofuel

Sandip Das
Posted online: Thursday , June 26, 2008 at 22:24 hrs
Updated On: Thursday , June 26, 2008 at 22:24 hrs

At a time when developed countries like America are coming under fire for their policy of encouraging biofuel cultivation instead of foodgrains and aggravating the global food crisis, a home-grown Indian firm is embarking on an aggressive drive to use wastelands across the country to produce biofuels.

IKF Green Fuel plans to invest more than Rs 400 crore to take up Jatropha plantation and processing, including over Rs 100 crore in the farmer suicide capital of the country , Vidarbha and Marathwada. “We ensure that agricultural land is not diverted for jatropha cultivation through checking of crop records of the farmers,” says Vishal Rawat, president, Biodiesel, IKF Green Fuel.

Incidentally, a national bio fuel policy has been in the works for a while now but there has been no progress on it despite a Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by agriculture minister Sharad Pawar mulling over it since last year. The national mission on bio-diesel envisages plantation of Jatropha and Pongamia over 5 lakh hectares of non-agricultural and degraded land. “We have been taking up jatropha plantation in company-owned land, government land and through contracting farming,” Rawat told FE . IKF Green has already acquired and initiated Jatropha plantations in more than 54,000 hectares of land mostly degraded or with low agricultural output or without any secured source of irrigation across Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Jharkhand. IKF technologies would raise the required resources through a Global Depository Receipt (GDR) for which approval has been received. However, the company expects to get bio diesel out of its plantation for commercial supply by 2011 as it takes about 3-5 years before a Jatropha plant is ready for processing. The company has tied up with more than 6000 farmers mostly in Maharashtra , Karnataka, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu for initiating contract farming for Jatropha cultivation. “We are targeting around 10,000 hectares of land to given on contract farming during the current year,” Rawat said.

Besides arranging for loans facilities from the bank, the company has been providing technical support for plantation and its maintenance for 3 years to the farmers. Rawat said that the company is assuring farmers Rs 6 kg of seeds or the prices fixed by the respective state government. More than 35% oil can be extracted from Jatropha seeds and rest is glycerine. The oil seeds cake can be used for fertiliser.

IKF has already signed an agreement with Indian Oil Corporation's Research and Development wing for transferring of technology and providing technical assistance for conversion of jatropha oil into bio-fuel. “We have been in talks with Punjab National Bank, Corporation Bank and others for providing loans to farmers for jatropha cultivation,” Rawat said. With a small processing plant of 3000 litres capacity per day at Udaipur , IKF has already signed memoranda of understanding with the state governments of Gujarat and Meghalaya to set up Jatropha seed processing plants with an annual capacity of 1 lakh tonne.

Seeking jatropha success model

04 November, 2007

Keningau: The Sabah Land Development Board is looking for a success model for the implementation of jatropha curcas cultivation on a commercial scale as another programme to eradicate rural hardcore poverty in the interior of the State. The crop has shown a great potential to produce oil for bio-diesel production.

The Board, which has been entrusted by the State Government with pioneering this project in the State, hopes to find the right ingredients through three trial plots it had started jointly with other parties.

SLDB General Manager, Jhuvarri Majid, said for this purpose SLDB has opened up its own commercial trial plot of about two acres at its estate in Binakaan where a collection of local and imported species are being planted and tested.

He said the collection of local species was brought in from various districts throughout Sabah where jatropha curcas could be found including Tenom, Bingkor, Tambunan, Kudat and Kota Marudu.

The imported ones are brought in from the peninsula as well as Indonesia, where jatropha curcas is commonly grown and has become part of the village industry in certain areas.

"We want to see which of these species has the best potential to be grown on a big commercial scale. This is important before we proceed to plant it as part of our programme to uplift the living condition of the rural hardcore poor, which is in line with the State Government's halatuju of development," he told the Daily Express recently.

"The main problem of jatropha is that it has to be mechanised as it is too labour intensive particularly the process of plucking the fruits," said Jhuvarri. "That's why we need some sort of a success model. Once we have the success model with all the relevant data about which materials can give us the maximum oil content, the costing and so on, then we will duplicate and multiply it on a much bigger scale."

The board has also started a joint-venture with the Agriculture Department to do the research required at the Sabah Agriculture Park in Lagud Sebrang, Tenom.

"Under the smart partnership, the department will do all the relevant research while we provide all the material needed," he said. At the same time he said another joint venture between SLDB and Borneo Alam Ria which is a subsidiary of an India-based business group which specialises in jatropha curcas-based pharmaceutical production is also in progress in Sinua, Sook.

"So we have three trial and research centres in progress. Two of these are on a small scale while the trial plot in Sinua is on a bit bigger scale involving a 15-acre land and using a Technology brought in directly from India," said Jhuvarri.

"So we have all these combinations of research in progress to get for us the best formula or a success model É a model means the right materials, the costing and how it can be commercialised and we are concentrating on this right now," he said.

On other parties which have also started their own jatropha curcas cultivation programme on a big scale, Jhuvarri said they had actually invited SLDB to participate but "we told them we are working on our own first before teaming up."

A VISIT to the jatropha curcas commercial trial plot in Binakaan which was opened in September this year showed some of the local and imported jatropha curcas seedlings have already been planted in the trial plot.

The testing is done by either planting these seedlings in the plot by plantlet or by stem or by direct planting techniques.

The work is carried out under the supervision of the SLDB officer-in-charge of the jatropha curcas project in Binakaan, Makunsai Murudan, who is going around collecting samples of jatropha curcas seedlings from district to district for the purpose.

"The reason we collect local seedlings from every district where the plant is found is to check which of them is more productive and suitable than those imported from the peninsula or Indonesia," he said.

Based on his findings so far, the local jatropha curcas plant collection at the plot presently shows almost similar growth patterns but depending on the weather conditions and water availability.

"Jatropha curcas needs a place where there is enough water and reasonable hot weather," he said, adding he has collected samples from Sook, Keningau, Tenom, Tambunan, Kota Belud, Kota Marudu and Kudat and would be going to the East Coast to get more samples.

But based on his finding most jatropha curcas plants are found in Kota Marudu where they are popularly grown as fencing for the village houses.

SLDB is pioneering the commercial jatropha curcas cultivation in the State, as part of its programme to assist the government eradicate hardcore poverty in the rural areas through development of land with commercial crops. It currently has more than 10 estates under its care which have been cultivated with oil palm under its three development programmes - the leasing scheme, the pre-land land development and clustered land development - throughout Sabah, involving more than 2,600 participants.

These programmes, implemented since its inception, have helped the participants earn an income beyond the hardcore poverty line. There are participants now earning a lucrative four-figure income.

Sabah looking at planting jatropha

Monday November 5, 2007

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah has taken its first step towards studying the viability of cultivating the jatropha curcas plant to produce bio-diesel in a move to help eradicate rural poverty.

Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman said the Sabah Land Development Board (SLDB) has been given the task to carry out trials that, if successful, would be promoted for commercial purposes by encouraging rural people to plant such trees.

“We have asked SLDB to try it out as even the Prime Minister has asked us to study the potential of jatropha curcas,” he said after attending the SLDB Hari Raya open house here yesterday.

SLDB has planted various foreign and local species of jatropha curcas to see which variety has the potential to be grown on a commercial scale.

The non-fussy plant grows anywhere including on poor soil and rocky areas. The seeds are crushed and the oil can be processed to produce high-quality bio-diesel that can be used in diesel vehicles while the residue can be processed into biomass to power electricity plants.

“This is a pilot project. If it is viable in terms of labour and maintenance cost, we will then proceed to cover a bigger acreage,” he said, adding that SLDB will continue to play its role in helping the socio-economic development of rural people.

He said SLDB remains relevant in helping rural people open up idle land for the development through its oil palm development in rural Sabah.

“It is making money. Last year they made RM10mil profit and with Crude Palm Oil prices rising they are expecting to make RM20mil this year,” he said when asked if SLDB was still relevant in view of the success of its commercial arm, Sawit Kinabalu.

The Chief Minister stressed that SLDB had a socio-economic function to help the rural people while Sawit Kinabalu (a subsidiary of SLDB that has been put directly under the state) was a commercial entity.

Singapore's first jatropha biodiesel plants eye exports to China

Thursday, March 22, 2007

A new joint-venture, Van Der Horst Biodiesel, is planning to build Singapore's first biodiesel plant that uses Jatropha curcas and not palm oil as feedstock.

The plant on Jurong Island is the project of a joint venture between the Institute of Environmental Science and Engineering, which is linked to Nanyang Technological University, and Van Der Horst Engineering. It will see an investment of around S$40 (€19.7/US$26.3) million and have an annual capacity of 200,000 tons per year.

The move is seen as a boost for the local biodiesel sector and Van Der Horst said it is planning a second plant in Johor.

Currently, all biodiesel firms in Singapore use palm oil as a raw material to produce fuel. But Van Der Horst Biodiesel is seeking to be the first to use a new feedstock – the oil-rich nuts from the Jatropha curcas plant.

Jatropha has advantages over palm oil, which is commonly produced in Indonesia and Malaysia. Professor Tay Joo Hwa, Director and CEO, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, said: "Jatropha can grow in very harsh environment. And we're not using that as a food source so it doesn't compete with the food and farmland."

"And because we have the plantation, and we have the technology, the cost of the feedstock will be much lower than the cost of other feedstock, such as palm oil in this part of the world and rapeseed in Europe."

Van Der Horst plans to secure land in Cambodia and China for the planting of the Jatropha nut