Global greenhouse gas implications of land conversion to biofuel crop cultivation in arid and semi-arid lands – Lessons learned from Jatropha

Achten, Wouter; Trabucco, Antonio; Maes, Wouter; Verchot, Louis; Aerts, Raf; Mathijs, Erik; Vantomme, Paul; Singh, V. P.; Muys, Bart

doi:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2012.06.015

Cited by 37 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Early biofuel life cycle assessments (LCAs) disregarded the effect of land use and cover change (LUCC) on the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) [44] but, biofuel-related direct and indirect LUCC effects, including for jatropha in the African context [45][46][47], were eventually shown to be responsible for significant GHG emissions from biofuels [42,44],. At present southern African countries have not been required to curb their GHG mitigation (non-Annex I countries).…”

Section: The Conducive Environment For a New Biofuel Crop In Southernmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Rise, Fall and Potential Resilience Benefits of Jatropha in Southern Africa

2014

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Jatropha is the latest in a list of "miracle crops" that have been promoted in southern Africa for their perceived development benefits. This was based on promises of high yields, low water requirement, ability to grow on marginal land and lack of competition with food. In less than 10 years, tens of thousands of hectares were acquired for jatropha plantations and thousands of hectares were planted, most of which are now unused or abandoned. Overestimations of jatropha yields coupled with underestimations of the management costs have probably been the prime contributors to the collapse of most jatropha projects in southern African. However, a few projects still survive and show signs of possible long-term sustainability. We consider two such projects, a smallholder-based project in Malawi and a large-scale plantation in Mozambique. Though their long-term sustainability is not proven, both projects may increase resilience by diversifying household income streams and contributing to national fuel security. By identifying what seems to be working in these projects we provide insights as to why other projects may have failed in southern Africa and whether there is still place for jatropha in the region. In essence can jatropha still enhance local/national resilience or are jatropha's benefits just a myth? OPEN ACCESSSustainability 2014, 6 3616

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Section: The Conducive Environment For a New Biofuel Crop In Southernmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Rise, Fall and Potential Resilience Benefits of Jatropha in Southern Africa

2014

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“…However, the environmental issue and significant economic problems are tightly associated with the first generation of biofuel, the land area needed for growing the crops for bio-fuel production will be in competition with for food production, leading to severe food shortage problems [11,12]. In addition, the increase in the crop harvesting rates for biofuel production has also raised the concerns about the fertilizer and pesticide pollution, eutrophication, and carbon debt [13][14][15]. Therefore, due to those limitations of the first generation of biofuels, the second and third generation of biofuels have also been developed [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Subcritical water hydrolysis of durian seeds waste for bioethanol production

et al. 2015

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The feasibility of bioethanol production using durian seed waste was investigated in this study. The effects of hydrolysis parameters (temperature, time, pressure and solid to water ratio) on the yields of reducing sugars and bioethanol were also examined. Central composite design was used to determine the optimum conditions of both reducing sugars yields obtained from hydrolysis stage and ethanol from reducing sugars fermentation. The optimized values for subcritical water process of durian seeds to produce reducing sugars were achieved at temperature of 139.8°C; solid to water ratio of 1:30; pressure of 30 bar; and reaction time of 3.58 h with 32.37 % yield of reducing sugars. The fermentation of 20 g L -1 reducing sugars for 72 h gave the highest ethanol concentration, i.e., 9.85 g L -1 .

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“…Life cycle environmental impact evaluation showed a potential reduction in fossil energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, but also an increase in eutrophication and acidification risk [13]. In relation to land competition, the positive greenhouse gas balance can be easily neutralized by direct and indirect land use changes [14][15][16], meaning that Jatropha bioenergy is not per se climate friendly [17].…”

Section: Claims Versus Factsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Opportunities and Constraints of Promoting New Tree Crops—Lessons Learned from Jatropha

et al. 2014

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It is not uncommon that new crops suddenly attract a lot and international attention from private and public actors based on their acclaimed potential to contribute to sustainable development. Such sharp increases in attention can lead to big investments and promotion campaigns to domesticate and commercialize these crops at industrial scale. However, in many cases the research of these plants is still in its infancy and investors generally lack sufficient insight into uncertainties and risks related to their investments, which consequently hold sustainability risks.

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Global greenhouse gas implications of land conversion to biofuel crop cultivation in arid and semi-arid lands – Lessons learned from Jatropha

Cited by 37 publications

References 35 publications

The Rise, Fall and Potential Resilience Benefits of Jatropha in Southern Africa

The Rise, Fall and Potential Resilience Benefits of Jatropha in Southern Africa

Subcritical water hydrolysis of durian seeds waste for bioethanol production

Opportunities and Constraints of Promoting New Tree Crops—Lessons Learned from Jatropha

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