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Wednesday, December 27, 2006

India's Big Plans for Biodiesel

Researchers are developing new methods for cultivating a plant called jatropha.

By Michael Fitzgerald
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Biodiesel could be an important renewable substitute for fossil fuels. And, in certain parts of the world, governments and some corporations consider the jatropha plant, common in hot climates, one of the most promising sources of biodiesel. The plant can grow in wastelands, and it yields more than four times as much fuel per hectare as soybean, and more than ten times that of corn. But the commercial-scale cultivation of jatropha, which has not previously been grown as a crop, raises several significant challenges.

This year, the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), an Indian research group, launched a 10-year, $9.4 million project to research issues involved in taking jatropha from seed to filling station. One challenge is growing the plant in poor soil.

The first crops of jatropha, planted in what was wasteland, have now flowered, says Alok Adholeya, director of TERI's Biotechnology and Management of Bioresources division. "It proves that we can do this," he says. He and other researchers at TERI spent five years testing different mycorrhiza microorganisms, symbiotic fungi that improve the ability of many plants to grow in poor soil. Adholeya's team found that the most effective was a fungus in the glomus species (he is not currently disclosing the exact fungus), which improves jatropha yields by 15 percent.

The TERI project is working in rural Andra Pradesh, a state in southeast India, collaborating with local financial institutions to develop loan guarantees to fund seed purchases; it's also collaborating with insurers to back the farmers against potential losses. In addition, it had to educate the farmers on how to cultivate the plant.

So far, the project has signed up 5,000 farmers representing 1,000 hectares of land. The goal is to have 8,000 hectares under cultivation by March 2008, and Adholeya says that the success of the first crops has drawn interest from many more farmers. By the end of 2008, TERI plans to have a production facility producing biodiesel from jatropha. Eventually, it aims to produce 90 million liters of biodiesel annually.

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Comments

  • biodiesel
    VCRAGAIN on 12/27/2006 at 7:57 AM
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    Are there any indigenous 'weeds' in the US that can be grown this way also ? 
    We need in the US to take this kind of action, and apply ourselves to ways to produce our own fuel - Brazil has done it, now India and others will go that route - will we be left still twiddling our thumbs because Big Oil is controlling the direction WE go ? - ok Pelosi and Co this is what US citizens want to see done by our Government - wish we had spent that Iraq money on this effort instead  !!
    Rate this comment: 12345
    • Re: biodiesel
      SirLanse on 12/27/2006 at 9:28 AM
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      Unfortunately, the corn industry rules the US.
      Sugar would be better, alge could be better, but
      corn is the crop that gets the federal assistance.
      If we could ban "High frutose corn syrup" and
      "partially hydrogenated corn oil" as food additives, we would be healthier and the price of bio fuel would go down.
      Rate this comment: 12345
    • Re: biodiesel
      riparian on 12/27/2006 at 11:56 AM
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      Switchgrass is the one most commonly discussed.  Jatropha itself might grow in places like Arizona or New Mexico.

      Michael Fitzgerald
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      • Re: biodiesel
        raoch15 on 12/27/2006 at 9:56 PM
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        As it is future fuel Indias efforts to grow Jatropa will go long way in utilising fallow lands. Present policy of encouraging cultivation of Jatropa in India will go long way in producing biodiesel that can reduce use of fossil fuel thus contributing to the reduction of green house gases
        Rate this comment: 12345
        • Re: biodiesel
          gabrielg01 on 12/28/2006 at 12:37 PM
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          Biodiesels do not reduce green house gases. You are still burning a fuel that ends up as CO2. Basically, we are just talking of carbon-recycling from the atmosphere to plants, and then back into the atmosphere. So, even if we switched all our systems to biofuels, the present levels of atmospheric CO2 would still be there. Global warming would still continue.

          However, biodiesel fuels would allow us to be less dependent on the crazy Middle East.
          Rate this comment: 12345
          • Re: biodiesel
            doomang@hotmail.com on 12/28/2006 at 2:09 PM
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            Your argument lacks logic. When you are burning biofuels you are not needing to drill for fossil fuels - therefore you are adding less CO2 to the atmosphere. Why is that so hard to understand?
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            • Re: biodiesel
              gabrielg01 on 12/28/2006 at 5:17 PM
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              ...or perhaps the argument was too nuanced for you to grasp. I'll try it again, so here it goes: even if we stopped putting new CO2 into the atmosphere, we have already put too much CO2 into circulation. Simply stopping new CO2 emissions may not be enough to stop global warming. We may have to remove some CO2 from the global circulation to reverse things.
              Rate this comment: 12345
              • Re: biodiesel
                BobAlbrecht on 12/28/2006 at 5:29 PM
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                If we stopped putting CO2 from burned fossil fuels to the atmosphere today the Earth would return to an equilibrium with a natural level of CO2. It would take some time, but CO2 levels would start dropping immediately.

                Removing CO2 and sequestering it or the carbon in it would take a lot of enerergy and would be impractical.
                Rate this comment: 12345
                • Re: biodiesel
                  gabrielg01 on 12/28/2006 at 6:44 PM
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                  Why would the CO2 levels drop by themselves? Where would the extra CO2 go?...

                  There are plans to pump CO2 into the ground, but some people fear that this would leak out over the long term. Here is one of the stories:
                  http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/printout/0,13155,901040517-634765,00.html
                  Rate this comment: 12345
              • Re: biodiesel
                doomang@hotmail.com on 12/28/2006 at 6:08 PM
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                Now you are being clear about what you meant to say
                Rate this comment: 12345
          • Re: biodiesel
            cinxav on 08/21/2008 at 2:49 PM
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            By reading more about Jatropha one can understand that a well grown Jatropha tree absorbs 8 kg of co2 from atmosphere per year.So we can be sure that it plays a major role in reducing green house effect.
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      • Re: biodiesel
        lorial on 01/04/2007 at 1:54 PM
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        Jatropha is good, but is very labor intensive to cultivate and then collect the seeds.  It works well in rural India where villagers receive employment doing this.  They receive low wages compared to the US, but many Indian companies working on this are trying to incorporate social programs by providing living wages. 

        Based on the labor required, this plant does not seem to be a good resource for the United States. 
        Rate this comment: 12345
      • Re: biodiesel
        subodhgoyal on 04/23/2007 at 7:57 AM
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        I want to set up a biodiesel refinery, please give me all the details about it. I would like to know, that biodiesel from jatroba or any other oil will be a 100% substitute to the diesel or we have to mix biodiesel and diesel to get the fuel for the diesel engine. Please send me all the details and information about plant & machinaries, raw material with processing information of different raw materials and costing of total process. I want to know about raw materials, marketing ,what will be the investment for the plant, what is the minimum quantity of production is needed and from where is the Jatropha oil is available to me?
        Thank You.
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        • Re: biodiesel
          wenlor27 on 12/19/2007 at 6:03 PM
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          i am from the Philippines. i would like to inquire about jatropha business.Does your company want to invest in the Philippines? we have wide land area  favorable for planting jatropha. are you willing to have business partners in producing bio diesel from jatropha? we will be glad to be one of your business partners. thanks
          Rate this comment: 12345
          • Re: biodiesel
            tusshar_biotech on 12/29/2008 at 5:59 AM
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            I am planning to start my own Biodiesel manufacturing firm. I have personal contacts with farmers (around 150 acres)willing to do jatropha plantation. Nearly 2 acres of NA land (for production) is available on Pune Nasik Highway (vicinity of PUNE, MUMBAI, NASIK and AHMEDNAGAR), with a minimum duration of 2 hours. Any person interested in joining hands, pls contact me at tusshar_biotech@yahoo.co.in
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        • Re: biodiesel
          saiamor on 03/19/2008 at 9:34 AM
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          Please contact me at skambala@gmail.com

          I can furnish all the relevant details.

          Regards,

          Sai
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  • Conspiracy Theories
    oconnmic on 12/27/2006 at 11:43 PM
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    While bio-anything is possible don't jump to the conclusion there is some vast conspiracy inhibiting its development.   When you can stick a straw in the ground and suck up natural biofuel (eg. oil) at a cost to the owner of the oil which is no more than a few bucks a barrel, if that, how can anyone compete.  Until oil is very very scare or alternate energy sources are the equivalent of a barrel of oil to producer you won't see wide spread use of alternate fuels.  Beyond that the processes used to produce most of these alternate fuels use coal, oil, and gas to create them.  It's fun to have a pity party about the evil forces which are crushing enviornmentally friendly energy sources but reality, in the form of economics, always seems to throw a wet blanket on it.
    Rate this comment: 12345
    • Re: Conspiracy Theories
      gabrielg01 on 12/28/2006 at 12:56 PM
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      Conspiracy theories may be overblown, but that does not mean that certain nasty behavior does not exist. Look at how GM killed the electric car. Most owners loved those cars, and they were fully committed to living with their shortcomings. When GM shelved the program, these people offered to buy the cars and keep using them. But GM refused to sell them, and they repossessed them (often forcefully), just so they can terminate the program. Why?

      http://www.sonyclassics.com/whokilledtheelectriccar/
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  • Conspiracy ll
    McMillan968 on 12/28/2006 at 12:30 AM
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    Fortunately the threshold for further exploration of oils and bio fuels is about $60bl.The level that our dear friends at OPEC are trying to hold.Therefore we will see the developement of biodiesel and deep exploration of oil and shale oil.All of these things too expensive in the past.I can't believe OPEC doesn't see this and go cheaper??As  it is Saudi Arabia is doing all it can to limit any further upward pressure of prices as is advocated by the smaller countries looking to fatten their treasuries.
    Some of ther available shale oil is so thick with fuel it used to be burned as is for heat but the shale left behind had to be cleaned out.We also have plenty of coal we just have to clean up the exhaust gasses.So conspiracy NO not yet,not here.The conspiracy is in the upward prices of oil at every little nudge in the world.
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  • Almost everyone has missed the point.
    zig158 on 12/30/2006 at 8:13 AM
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    The United States does have a way to make cheap biodiesel. Turn to the south. Central American countries have a natural plant that produces more oil per acre than any other plant on earth. It is called the oil palm. Wild oil palms can produce 12 metric tones of oil per acre per year. The other thing that Central American Contras have is cheap labor to harvest the nuts. By eliminating the 100% tariff on biodiesel you can solve 3 problems.

    1. Get an alternative source of diesel that will help dampen the ridicules price swings of rock diesel.
    2. Create jobs in countries that have low employment rates.
    3. Salve our Middle Eastern problem by reducing their stranglehold on our energy source.
    4. Who ever does it stands to make a boat load of money.

    Global warming nuts save it. Its frigin cold here so I could use some warming.
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    • Re: Almost everyone has missed the point.
      timswall on 09/02/2007 at 11:03 PM
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      no flippin way, average malaysian(worlds leading grower of oil palm) plantations produce 1.49 metric tons of palm oil per acre per year, that's using the best known farming procedures and highest producing artificially selected plants. 12 tonnes/acre/year is outrageous, especially considering soybeans only produce .15 tonnes of oil/acre/year, that would be almost 100 times more than soybeans!

      Also palm oil may not be viable for use as biodiesel in certain climates because it clumps at low temp very easily. anybody who's ever tried to start a diesel engine in sub zero weather with normal fuel knows it's a huge pain in the bum, with fuel that is even less effective at low temp that engine will never start.

      to make this boat-load of money you speak of you'd have to run an outrageously large farm, proceeds from palm oil are only a few hundred dollars per acre per year, that's not profit just $ from sales.
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  • Bio-Fuels
    mkogrady on 01/02/2007 at 1:55 PM
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    Rather than focusing on diesel alone, look for balancd approaches using both cold and warm climate plants. In the south you have these Oil Palms and other plants, while up north you have corn, switchgrasses, soybean and sorghum. By rotating crops, you also balance the load on the farmlands.

    How long does it take for Oil Palms to be fully developed to produce the seeds?

    One final comment - don't forget about conservation efforts like ride sharing, mass transit, bicycles/rollerblades and walking and one of my favorites - Telecommuting.
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    • Re: Bio-Fuels
      zig158 on 01/03/2007 at 5:41 AM
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      "How long does it take for Oil Palms to be fully developed to produce the seeds?"

      If my memory serves me it is 4 to 5 years, after that they can be harvested every 2 weeks for quite some time. They currently use this method in Malaysia to mass-produce palm oil that we use for cooking. They harvest the trees until they get over around 40 feet before cutting them down and replanting. I don’t see corn as a viable alternative. It is quite expensive to grow compared to other crops, far more expensive than pumping oil out of the ground. Soy makes a very poor grade diesel, I think using soy is causing more harm than good.

      As for the cold problem, we will work that out with time, but for now we can get warmer climates a reasonable alternative.

      I live in the upper mid west; mass transit is just not feasible here.
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      • Re: Bio-Fuels
        kjblack on 01/03/2007 at 5:21 PM
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        Great idea palm oil plants, unfortunately Malaysia and Indonesia are destroying thousand upon thousand of hectares of native tropical forest to plant palm oil.
        I wouldn't call that environmentally friendly.
        Jatropha Curcas seems a better alternative against the human food oil plants of Soy, Rapeseed, and Canola.
        I thought Switchgrass was only used for ethanol production?
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        • Re: Bio-Fuels
          zoomie on 01/03/2007 at 7:38 PM
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          Alright everybody, so is there a consensus?

          What is the best form of alternative fuel available (I own an old Diesel) all around in the US?
          I'm currently using B100 and looking into a full conversion as I get ready for trip around the US...

          Public transport is not an option ;-)

          Let's move forward with positive feedback and solutions.
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  • Part of a larger tech picture.
    rn.feeds on 01/05/2007 at 1:57 AM
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    Forgive my slowness, but - I understand the fact that using biomass, a 'consumer' of C02, as a source for fuel will be a factor in reducing greenhouse emissions; however, is it as simple as all that? Won't it also depend on how the biodiesel is being burned - especially in a developing country, with access to older technologies?

    I live in India, and I can tell you our transportation fleets - the trucks and buses that burn a lot of our diesel - are very polluting. Our trucks pollute a lot more than most modernised Western vehicles. That will change in time, but for now, that's the story - an Indian truck burning cleanly produced diesel will still pump out a lot of CO2. Millions of Indian trucks - plus millions of Chinese trucks - and so on - well, you'll end up having to be careful about how that balance tips. Especially since growing a bio alternative to fossil fuel will probably help keep the internal combustion engine around a while longer - along with an increased or sustained dependence on personal vehicles.

    Leveraging jatropha will help reduce dependence on oil. Using it as 'green' fuel, however, will really only be successful when it is part of a larger set of technology initiatives - cleaner engine technologies, emission control, the like.
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  • Jatropha genetically modified
    Alagarsamy on 03/20/2007 at 2:07 AM
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    sir
    This is a great news and also the noble efforts put up by TERI in AP...
    I wish TERI also try in Tamilnadu
    with best wishes
    S.A.Alagarsamy
    www.mgrbiodiesel.com
    Chennai
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  • plants use up co2
    jjjjj on 05/08/2007 at 3:09 PM
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    The jatropha plants themselves will eat up the extra Co2.
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  • Economic viability of jatropha plantation
    rajesh.rawat on 06/02/2007 at 1:24 AM
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    Dear Sir:
    Very informative and timely article on the environmental benefits of jatropha plantation. I've been following jatropha to bio-diesel as an alternative clean energy solution for quite some time now and reached the conclusion that for the small farmers it doesn't pay to grow jatropha. However, adding the revenues from carbon credits generated by CO2 sequestration as well as the usage of biomass for the electrification of rural claimed as a CDM under the Kyoto protocol can provide the much needed incentive to make jatropha plantation a viable business. Nevertheless, the bureaucratic hurdles prove too much of a challenge for the poor farmers to pursue such avenues.

    To help poor farmers participate in this development, we're setting up cooperatives with farmers with small marginal lands to grow jatropha and trying to work with individuals and corporations in the US who are committed to reduce their carbon footprint to fund these efforts. You can find more information at http://www.plantjatropha.com.

    Sincerely,
    Rajesh Rawat
    www.plantjatropha.com
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    • Re: Economic viability of jatropha plantation
      fsandoval on 02/12/2008 at 4:28 PM
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      We are looking in Mexico to include the farmers as a part of the full chain as associates! This will be a better way to produce the seeds and also to get better conditions to everybody. Also you don´t need to use good land to grow the jatropha. Or am I wrong ?
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  • Jatropha Biodiesel in India
    Alagarsamy on 08/02/2007 at 11:15 PM
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    The excellent efforts by Teri is really commendable.I think govt of India still sleeping over our biopolicy declaration. China has done itand Even smaller countries are after this Bioenergy projects.I am still surprised the sluggishness on our Renewable energy Ministry.
    Jatropha is a multi-facted Plant which has many
    advantages  with bye-products like glycerine and a lot of Neautracticals..we must do research and Many Universities in cluding private  should be aided to do reasearch by our Ministry of Science and Technology.
    Alagarsamy s.a.
    Chennai
    www.mgrbiodiesel.com
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    • Re: Jatropha Biodiesel in India
      platinumlies on 03/16/2008 at 9:54 AM
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      yes agree with ur comments as so far no progressive steps taken to educate farmers with biodiesel technolgy availablity,jatropha etc cultivation benefits.our govt has not yet made any agreement with any country to avail biodiesel technolgy.govt must take responsiblity to bring technolgy properly otherwise shortly many unbranded,quality biodiesel in indian market.
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  • Big plans for Jatropha
    Dereck on 04/08/2008 at 8:38 AM
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    I have recently joined the wave of interest in Jatropha, having only read this article today I noticed that the prediction was for March 2008, how is the 8000ha plantation looking?
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