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Earlier this century, jatropha was hailed as a "miracle" biofuel. An unassuming shrubby tree native to Central America, it was extremely promoted as a high-yielding, drought-tolerant biofuel feedstock that could grow on abject lands across Latin America, Africa and Asia.
A jatropha rush took place, with more than 900,000 hectares (2.2 million acres) planted by 2008. But the bubble burst. Low yields resulted in 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 scientists continue pursuing the evasive guarantee of high-yielding jatropha. A comeback, they say, depends on breaking the yield issue and dealing with the damaging land-use concerns intertwined with its original failure.
The sole staying big jatropha curcas plantation is in Ghana. The plantation owner claims high-yield domesticated varieties have been attained and a brand-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 beginning of the 21st century, Jatropha curcas, an unassuming shrub-like tree native to Central America, was planted across 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 and development, the sole staying large plantation concentrated on growing jatropha is in Ghana. And Singapore-based jOil, which owns that plantation, claims the jatropha resurgence is on.

"All those business that failed, adopted a plug-and-play model of searching for the wild varieties of jatropha. But to commercialize it, you need to domesticate it. This is a part of the process that was missed out on [during the boom]," jOil CEO Vasanth Subramanian told Mongabay in an interview.

Having gained from the errors of jatropha's previous failures, he says the oily plant might yet play a crucial function as a liquid biofuel feedstock, reducing transport carbon emissions at the international level. A new boom could bring fringe benefits, with jatropha likewise a prospective source of fertilizers and even bioplastics.

But some scientists are hesitant, noting that jatropha has actually already gone through one hype-and-fizzle cycle. They caution that if the plant is to reach complete capacity, then it is necessary to gain from previous mistakes. During the very first boom, jatropha plantations were hindered not just by bad yields, however by land grabbing, logging, and social issues in countries where it was planted, consisting of Ghana, where jOil operates.

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

Miracle shrub, significant bust

jatropha curcas's early 21st-century appeal originated from its promise as a "second-generation" biofuel, which are sourced from yards, trees and other plants not originated from edible crops such as maize, soy or oil palm. Among its several supposed virtues was a capability to flourish on abject or "marginal" lands