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Earlier this century, jatropha was hailed as a "wonder" biofuel. A simple shrubby tree native to Central America, it was wildly promoted as a high-yielding, drought-tolerant biofuel feedstock that might grow on abject lands throughout Latin America, Africa and Asia.
A jatropha rush occurred, with more than 900,000 hectares (2.2 million acres) planted by 2008. But the bubble burst. Low yields led to plantation failures nearly everywhere. The after-effects of the jatropha crash was tainted by allegations of land grabbing, mismanagement, and overblown carbon reduction claims.
Today, some scientists continue pursuing the incredibly elusive pledge of high-yielding jatropha. A comeback, they say, depends on splitting the yield problem and dealing with the damaging land-use concerns intertwined with its initial failure.
The sole staying big jatropha plantation is in Ghana. The plantation owner declares high-yield domesticated varieties have actually been attained and a new boom is at hand. But even if this comeback falters, the world's experience of jatropha holds crucial lessons for any appealing up-and-coming biofuel.
At the beginning of the 21st century, Jatropha curcas, an unassuming shrub-like tree belonging to Central America, was planted throughout the world. The rush to jatropha was driven by its guarantee as a sustainable source of biofuel that could be grown on broken down, unfertile lands so as not to displace food crops. But inflated claims of high yields failed.

Now, after years of research and development, the sole staying large plantation concentrated on growing jatropha is in Ghana. And Singapore-based jOil, which owns that plantation, declares the jatropha curcas resurgence is on.

"All those companies that stopped working, adopted a plug-and-play model of searching for the wild varieties of jatropha. But to commercialize it, you require to domesticate it. This belongs of the process that was missed out on [throughout the boom]," jOil CEO Vasanth Subramanian told Mongabay in an interview.

Having found out from the mistakes of jatropha's past failures, he states the oily plant might yet play a crucial role as a liquid biofuel feedstock, decreasing transportation carbon emissions at the worldwide level. A brand-new boom might bring fringe benefits, with jatropha likewise a possible source of fertilizers and even bioplastics.

But some researchers are skeptical, noting that jatropha has actually currently gone through one hype-and-fizzle cycle. They caution that if the plant is to reach full capacity, then it is important to gain from past errors. During the very first boom, jatropha plantations were obstructed not just by bad yields, however by land grabbing, logging, and social problems in countries where it was planted, consisting of Ghana, where jOil runs.

Experts also recommend that jatropha's tale provides lessons for researchers and business owners checking out appealing brand-new sources for liquid biofuels - which exist aplenty.

Miracle shrub, major bust

Jatropha's early 21st-century appeal came from its promise as a "second-generation" biofuel, which are sourced from grasses, trees and other plants not stemmed from edible crops such as maize, soy or oil palm. Among its several supposed virtues was an ability to flourish on degraded or "minimal" lands