In a key speech in September 2004, UKPrime Minister Tony Blair spoke of theneed for "timely actions" to avert the

potential disaster of climate change throughglobal warming. New low carbon fuels wereamong the technologies that the PrimeMinister listed as having the potential tocounter the catastrophic impact of climatechange "without disturbing the essence ofour way of life, by adjusting behaviour, notaltering it entirely".

BiodieselHerein lies the essential strength of biofu-els, and in particular biodiesel. Biodiesel isa direct substitute for fossil fuels, and itsincreased use will reduce transport emis-sions immediately without drivers alteringtheir behaviour. When blended with min-eral diesel, it significantly lowers harmfulemissions, cutting carbon monoxide by up

to 50%, and particulate emissions by up to30%. Being virtually free of sulphur,biodiesel does not contribute to acid rain.There are also carbon benefits from theproduction of biodiesel. As biodiesel cropscapture CO2 as they grow, the overallimpact of greenhouse gas emissions is sig-nificantly reduced. In terms of greenhousegas emissions, a lifecycle study by the USNational Renewable Energy Laboratoryconcluded that biodiesel reduces net CO2emissions by 78% compared to mineraldiesel. Biodiesel can already be produced atlow cost on a commercial scale from agri-cultural and agro-forestry crops. Unlikefuel cell and hydrogen technologies, itrequires neither investment in new distri-bution infrastructures nor the redesign ofmotor vehicles. Many manufacturer war-ranties now extend to a B5 (5%) or higherbiodiesel blend.

Europe's biodiesel leadEurope is potentially well placed to takeadvantage of biodiesel as a means to reducethe emissions from the transport sector. TheEU currently has the world's largestbiodiesel industry. The European BiodieselBoard estimates that total refining capacityin 2004 was 2.2 million tonnes. In contrast,the USA produced less than 70,000 tonnes.The EU Biofuels Directive, in force since2003, requires member states to set

indicative targets for biofuels sales in 2005and 2010, and included 'reference values'for governments to take into account in set-ting their own targets; 2% by energy contentin 2005, and 5.75% by 2010. The EUCommission estimates that the Directivewill create a market demand of 10.5 billionlitres (approximately 9.5 million tonnes) ofbiodiesel by 2010.

Anticipating a biodieselshortage?However, despite Europe's undisputed leadin the sector, it is not certain that Europeancountries will be able to satisfy the growingdemand for biodiesel. The key determinantwill be the availability of feedstock.Rapeseed is currently the dominantbiodiesel feedstock in Europe, supplying80% of total requirements, and theassumption within the European biodieseland agriculture sectors is that rapeseed pro-duction will expand to meet futuredemand. Rapeseed is an established sourceof biodiesel, but there are doubts as towhether it can be grown in sufficient quan-tities at an acceptable price to meetdemand for its use as a fuel.

If rapeseed is to continue to provide 80%of the EU's biodiesel feedstock, the potentialdemand of 9.5 million tonnes in 2010 willrequire an enormous increase in rapeseedproduction. Currently rapeseed is grown onapproximately 3 million hectares of arableland within the EU, but over three quarters

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Road transport, fuelled almost exclusively from finite reserves offossil fuels, currently accounts for around 25% of greenhousegas emissions in many European countries. The introduction oflow carbon biodiesel could help deliver the necessary emissionscuts however, EU partner countries can only grow a portion ofthe feedstock required to deliver a secure, low cost supply ofbiodiesel. Philip Wood, Chief Executive of D1 Oils plc, suggeststhat Europe will also need to look to the developing world for itsbiodiesel supplies, and that this could offer a significant opportunity for agriculture in developing economies.

OUT OF AFRICACould Jatropha Vegetable Oil be Europe's Biodiesel Feedstock?

Cultivating Jatropha crops in Africa

Further information Contact: Philip Wood, ChiefExecutive Officer, D1 Oils plc, 100Pall Mall, St James's, London,SW1Y 5HP, UK. Tel: +44 (0)20 7321 3885; Fax: +44(0)20 7321 3886; Email:JHolland@d1plc.com; Web:www.d1plc.com

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of the oil produced is required by the foodindustry. Assuming that demand from thefood industry remains constant, meetingfuture biodiesel demand from domestic agri-cultural production of rapeseed is likely torequire at least a doubling of the area cur-rently planted with rapeseed. It has beenargued that sufficient land will be availablefor increased planting under the EU set-asideprogram. Yet this may not be realistic, as theland is often located in areas unsuitable forproduction, and much of it has designatedenvironmental value.

Rapeseed is a relatively expensive crop togrow; because it is so intensive it requires fre-quent rotation and extensive use of expensivefossil-fuel fertilisers (over which there arealso environmental concerns). Moreover, it iscurrently grown under a complex subsidyregime. If set-aside land is not available,rapeseed will have to compete with foodcrops for scarce arable land and the resulting

biodiesel may be too expensive without subsidy.

These issues will need to be carefully con-sidered if the acreage under rapeseed is sig-nificantly expanded. Although it will remaina key feedstock, the extent to which rapeseedcan meet the Europe's growing demand isopen to question. According to F.O.Lichts,Canadian rapeseed (canola) is likely to beimported into Germany in 2005 to makebiodiesel because insufficient European rape-seed is available.

Food oils versus fuel oilsThe availability of sufficient supplies oflow-cost feedstock will be a crucial deter-minant in delivering a competitivebiodiesel to the forecourts of EU filling sta-tions. Fortunately inedible vegetable oils,mostly produced by seed-bearing trees andshrubs, could provide an alternative. Withno competing food uses, supplies of such

A fully grown Jatropha tree

Jatropha offers particular advantages as an agro-forestry crop: it grows rapidly from cuttingsand seeds; takes only two to three years to reach maturity and generate economic yields.

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oils are more readily available, particularly ifthe crops can be grown on non-arable ormarginal land with limited agricultural use.It was this characteristic that turned atten-tion at D1 Oils to jatropha curcas, whichgrows in tropical and subtropical climatesacross the developing world. Jatropha seedscan be crushed to produce crude vegetableoil that can be refined into excellent, highquality biodiesel.

The new crude oilJatropha biodiesel fully complies with thecurrent European EN 14214 standard forautomotive diesel. Its cetane value, or com-bustion quality (equivalent to octane valuefor petrol), is in fact higher than mineraldiesel, enabling a cleaner burn at highertemperatures. When mixed with regulardiesel, both fuels combust more cleanly.Jatropha biodiesel's greater lubricity reducesengine wear, and its higher flash pointmakes handling and transport far safer. It isalso non-toxic and biodegradable. A B5 jat-ropha blend can be used without enginemodifications.

Jatropha vegetable oil is refined through atransesterification method that breaks downthe chains of fatty acids in the oil into alcohol esters (biodiesel), and glycerine. Inaddition to the latter byproduct which is in demand by the cosmetics industry,crushing jatropha seeds to extract the oilalso produces seedcake that can be used asorganic fertiliser, briquettes for fuel,

nutraceuticals, or, after further processing,animal feed.

Jatropha grows wild across sub-saharanAfrica, India, South East Asia and China,and is often cultivated as a hedge crop.However, jatropha oil, although used forcenturies as a folk medicine, has until nowhad no commercial application. If jatrophais grown in large-scale plantations, it has thepotential to create a new agricultural indus-try to provide low-cost biodiesel feedstockfor both the developing world, whose needfor clean fuel for transport is as great as ourown, and for export to markets such as theEU.

Jatropha offers particular advantages as anagro-forestry crop: it grows rapidly fromcuttings and seeds; takes only two to threeyears to reach maturity and generate eco-nomic yields; and has a productive lifespanin excess of thirty years. Under optimumconditions it can produce oil yields of up to40%. However, it requires only minimalwater and nutrients, and is able to grow onmarginal, poor quality, or degraded land,including desert or semi-desert. D1 esti-mates that a 5,000 hectare plantation, set inwaste or marginalized land, can support aminimum of 2,000 productive trees perhectare. With each 5000 hectare plantationsupporting 10 million productive trees, andeach tree yielding 3.5 kg of seeds perannum, the total seed harvest will be 35,000tonnes, which when crushed will produceabout 14,000 tonnes of crude

vegetable oil. D1 estimates that each tonneof jatropha oil will produce 1,100 litres ofbiodiesel. A mature 5,000 hectare plantationcan therefore produce 15 million litres ofbiodiesel per annum. On this basis, it wouldtake about 125,000 hectares of jatrophaplantation to meet Germany's 2004biodiesel consumption of 376 million litres.However, D1's current planting program isalready at over 250,000 hectares, and it hassecured options on over 9 million hectaresfor future planting in locations stretchingfrom Ghana to the Philippines. This is afraction of the land available in the develop-ing world that is suitable for growingbiodiesel crops.

A new production modelfor energy cropsEfficient feedstock production on this scalerequires a different approach to the stan-dard method of harvesting fuel crops suchas ethanol from sugar cane. Jatropha isplanted over thousands of hectares, and theharvesting and collecting of seeds is a high-ly decentralised operation. In consequence,large biodiesel refineries following a tradi-tional production model may suffer fromdiseconomies of scale. However, this neednot be a problem in countries where logisti-cal infrastructure is less developed. D1'smodular refinery, the D1 20, is a compactand transportable transesterification unit,

A modular biodiesel refinery: Compact andtransportable weighing less than 15 tonnes

Jatropha seeds and the finished product: Jatropha biodiesel

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weighing less than 15 tonnes. It can pro-duce 22,000 litres of biodiesel per day (8 million litres per annum) from a rangeof vegetable oil feedstocks. It recycles muchof its inputs and can be run on thebiodiesel it produces. D1 plans to deployits first overseas refineries in Durban,South Africa, and Chennai, India, by theend of the year.

A distributed biodiesel productionmodel based on small refineries servinglarge plantations of oil-bearing trees couldenable energy crops to be producedthroughout a coun-try, directly benefit-ing poor rural com-munities throughincreased jobs andenhanced incomes.Jatropha's advanta-geous characteristicof requiring minimalinputs also enable itto be intercroppedwith existing agricul-tural crops that havemuch higher waterand nutrient needs. In Madagascar, forexample, farmers traditionally use jatrophatrees as supports on which to grow vanillapods. D1 is now working with Madagascancommunities to harvest the seeds fromthese trees, which until now have goneunused, for processing into oil. In thePhilippines D1 is investigating intercrop-ping jatropha with coconut palm.

Jobs from jatrophaLarge-scale employment will be generatedfrom the creation of nurseries, the plantingand maintenance of trees, and the harvest-ing and processing of seeds. In many ruralareas particularly in Africa, limitedemployment opportunities force men tomigrate to the cities to find work, drainingthe area of skills and often reducing the liv-ing standards of the families who are leftbehind. In the long term, the planting ofagro-forestry energy crops like jatrophacould reduce this labour drain. However,jatropha planting and harvesting also offeremployment opportunities for women,particularly in activities traditionallyundertaken by them such as the making oforganic compost from local agricultural

residues, and gathering of seeds at harvest.A recent review of biodiesel in SouthAfrica, prepared for the City of CapeTown, concluded that the employmentbenefits of biodiesel crops, particularly jat-ropha, are almost five times greater thancrops to produce ethanol. D1 estimatesthat one job will be created for every twohectares of jatropha plantation.

The larger strategic benefit for developingcountries will be the development of thecapacity to produce their own green fuel tosubstitute for expensive mineral diesel imports

to power their transportneeds. A rapidly growingeconomy like India islikely to consume muchof the biodiesel that it iscapable of producing.However, many coun-tries in Africa have thecapacity to produce farmore biodiesel than theirown economies are likelyto consume in the fore-seeable future. Vegetableoil and refined biodiesel

will therefore be available for export to devel-oped markets. As a forestry crop with the abil-ity to absorb CO2, planting jatropha couldalso earn countries income from carbon credits.

A new energy supplychainD1 is now building a global supply chain thatwill deliver jatropha biodiesel to Europe andother developed markets from plantationslocated in the developing world. Its operationsin Burkina Faso, Ghana, Madagascar andSouth Africa all have the potential to supplynot only their own domestic demand for greenfuel, but also to supplement the inevitableshortfall in supply of domestic feedstock to theEuropean market.

Reclaiming land withenergy cropsIn addition to the benefits that jatropha canbring to the developing world from produc-ing biodiesel and its byproducts from jat-ropha seeds, it also has the potential to reha-bilitate marginal, desert or degraded land,and prevent soil erosion and desertification.In the Philippines, D1 is currently working

with a mining company to investigate theplanting of jatropha to reclaim land degrad-ed by mine workings. It is also working withcompanies in Saudi Arabia to reclaim desertland by cultivating jatropha irrigated withwaste water that, for religious reasons, can-not be recycled for human use or for the irrigation of food crops.

A Better Trade with theDeveloping WorldGiven the inevitable increase in biodieseldemand from the EU and the limits on thecapacity of the continent's agricultural sec-tor to meet that demand, D1 believes thatthere are strong business arguments forobtaining supplies of oil from the develop-ing world, and in particular Africa. Giventhe demand for food from growing popu-lations, it makes neither economic normoral sense to grow fuel crops in Africa forthe developed world in the place of foodcrops that could feed people. However,agro-forestry crops that can produce sus-tainable supplies of vegetable oil frommarginal land while simultaneously reha-bilitating and protecting land from deser-tification or erosion offer an attractivesolution.

Europe cannot meet its growing biodieseldemand from domestic rapeseed production.However, African countries could offerEurope a stable supply of biodiesel and veg-etable oil feedstock to supplement local pro-duction. African agriculture has often suf-fered at the expense of subsidised agriculturein the developed world. However, the pro-duction of energy crops could enable Africaand other areas of the developing world todevelop new crops in the production ofwhich they have a clear competitive advantage.

When launching the Commission forAfrica in March 2005, Tony Blair called for"a new partnership between the developedworld and the continent of Africa that goesbeyond old donor/recipient relations". ThePrime Minister advocated "better trade" as ameans to this new partnership. The produc-tion of biodiesel from jatropha has the poten-tial to create such trade. Energy production,which in the petroleum age has often been amixed blessing for developing countries,could now finally deliver widespread eco-nomic benefits to the world's poor.

Large-scaleemployment will begenerated from the

creation of nurseries,the planting and

maintenance of trees,and the harvestingand processing of

seeds.