Biodiesel from the wild

Three companies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to conduct research into the viability of the Jatropha plant as a source for biodiesel fuel.

The three companies are Daimler AG, Bayer CropScience AG and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), a company that is already running several biodiesel refineries around the world.

Daimler AG has just concluded a five-year study of Jatropha, a plant originating from Central America and transplanted by Portuguese sailors to parts of Africa and Asia.

The study concludes that biodiesel (more here) extracted from Jatropha has many of the properties of biodiesel extracted from rapeseed, a more commonly known source for the fuel.

Because Jatropha has never been cultivated, it doesn't encroach on existing food crops, but is more drought-resistant than other crops and will grow on barren land, in both tropical and sub-tropical areas. As a bonus, in countries such as Australia, Jatropha actively prevents soil erosion and can be maintained economically for 30 to 40 years.

The three partners anticipate that Jatropha could be raised in areas of South America, Africa and Asia to provide for future fuel needs. 30 million hectares could potentially be set aside for farming in these regions without impact on traditional food crops.

Deriving biodiesel from vegetation would, in part, redress the CO2 emissions imbalance that currently exists, refining oil from traditional fossil fuel resources.

"Alternative fuels are an integral part of our roadmap towards sustainable mobility" said Prof Dr Herbert Kohler (pictured), Vice President Vehicle and Powertrain, Group Research and Advanced Engineering and Chief Environmental Officer of Daimler AG.

"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."

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