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Earlier this century, jatropha was hailed as a "miracle" biofuel. A simple shrubby tree belonging to Central America, it was hugely promoted as a high-yielding, drought-tolerant biofuel feedstock that might grow on degraded lands across Latin America, Africa and Asia.
A jatropha rush ensued, with more than 900,000 hectares (2.2 million acres) planted by 2008. But the bubble burst. Low yields caused plantation failures nearly all over. The after-effects of the jatropha crash was tainted by accusations of land grabbing, mismanagement, and overblown carbon decrease claims.
Today, some researchers continue pursuing the evasive promise of high-yielding jatropha. A comeback, they say, is reliant on cracking the yield problem and attending to the hazardous land-use issues intertwined with its initial failure.
The sole staying big jatropha plantation is in Ghana. The plantation owner declares high-yield domesticated varieties have been attained and a new boom is at hand. But even if this return fails, the world's experience of jatropha holds important lessons for any appealing up-and-coming biofuel.
At the start 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 pledge as a sustainable source of biofuel that could be grown on degraded, unfertile lands so as not to displace food crops. But inflated claims of high yields fell flat.

Now, after years of research study and advancement, the sole remaining big plantation focused on growing jatropha is in Ghana. And Singapore-based jOil, which owns that plantation, claims the jatropha comeback is on.

"All those business that stopped working, embraced a plug-and-play design of searching for the wild ranges of jatropha. But to advertise it, you need to domesticate it. This belongs of the procedure that was missed [throughout the boom]," jOil CEO Vasanth Subramanian informed Mongabay in an interview.

Having learned from the errors of jatropha's previous failures, he states the oily plant could yet play a crucial role as a liquid biofuel feedstock, minimizing transport carbon emissions at the worldwide level. A brand-new boom could bring fringe benefits, with jatropha also a potential 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 complete capacity, then it is vital to gain from past errors. During the first boom, jatropha plantations were hindered not just by bad yields, however by land grabbing, deforestation, and social problems in nations where it was planted, consisting of Ghana, where jOil runs.

Experts likewise suggest that jatropha's tale uses lessons for scientists and entrepreneurs checking out promising brand-new sources for liquid biofuels - which exist aplenty.

Miracle shrub, significant bust

Jatropha's early 21st-century appeal originated from its guarantee as a "second-generation" biofuel, which are sourced from turfs, trees and other plants not obtained from edible crops such as maize, soy or oil palm. Among its numerous supposed virtues was an ability to flourish on abject or "marginal" lands