Dear friends of ELSBETT-ANC SVO engine technology

I found in a podcast of Autoline (10th March 2022 - from minute 38) a pretty compact definition of E-fuels given by the former Volkswagen Manager Oliver Schmidt (became famous in the States when Volkswagen company - by my opinion - "let him hang during" the dieselgate).

His argument that we have to care even about the legacy cars to get them more carbon neutral makes a lot of sense (because we still have more than 1 300 000 000 pieces of them). And as long we don't have wide solutions for the real heavy machinery, we really have to work on it. But is the E-fuel the right way or just another project to spoil the large fuel industry with development $$. At the moment E-fuel is roughly five times more expensive than standard fuel. Depending from electricity sources there will be a way to drop this cost down for sure in the future. I remember such projects since almost 30 years, they called the sunfuel, synfuel, solarfuel... so mostly alibi projects.

So why not encourage farmers to produce their SVO and let them use it like they already did in very successful in Germany 20 years ago. This positive way was almost destroyed by German tax policy since 2005, when they changed mineral oil tax in to energy tax and included straight vegetable oil in to taxation this way.

Why to build big E-fuel refineries (or rebuild existing one) and new infrastructure for a dying engine technology, instead of using simple solutions. Why to waste expensive solar electricity, we need now for our electric powertrains, if the sun can make this CO2 transfer by oil crops much more efficient and can reduce even more CO2. Growing oil crops may recultivate old opencast mining or other unused lands.

I think it is at least something we may discuss and think about before we dump millions of $$ more in to E-fuels. I completely agree that for sensitive applications like airplanes a high standard E-fuel makes sense, but for the wide mass of heavy trucks, agriculture and construction machinery, marine applications, SVO and WVO might be the more economic and direct way to reduce their carbon footprint. Beside this it may include farmers in to the energy market, reduce their fuel cost and give them a solid income during the next years. Have more information on the news News chapter at our homepage.

Hilpoltstein / Germany, 14^th February 2024
Kind regards
Alexander Noack
ANC
Marquardsholz F4
D-91161 Hilpoltstein
Internet and shop: www.elsbett.com
e-mail: info@anc.me
phone: +49 (0) 9174 9760988
fax: +49 (0) 32226846372

 High-protein edible crop variety developed that “thrives” on fallow land.

Article from Flora Southy in FoodNavigator Europe

In Switzerland, a seed variety has been developed that appears to do it all: the edible Jatropha seed 

produces vegatable oil and protein, captures C02  from the atmosphere, and thrives on previously 

unproductive fallow land.

The company Jatropower claims to be he first in the world to offer seeds for the high-protein, edible 

variant, which CEO George Francis suggested could lead to exciting innovation in food and beverage.

Jatropower targets Jatropha and xuta ( the edible jatropha) cultivated on land with suboptimal soil 

and climatic conditions, explained Dr. Francis

Reed more at 

https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2022/07/14/Jatropower-develops-high-protein-edible-crop-variety-that-thrives-on-fallow-land

 2e chance for Jatropha??

Abstract

RNA N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modifications are essential in plants. Here, we show that transgenic expression of the human RNA demethylase FTO in rice caused a more than threefold increase in grain yield under greenhouse conditions. In field trials, transgenic expression of FTO in rice and potato caused ~50% increases in yield and biomass. We demonstrate that the presence of FTO stimulates root meristem cell proliferation and tiller bud formation and promotes photosynthetic efficiency and drought tolerance but has no effect on mature cell size, shoot meristem cell proliferation, root diameter, plant height or ploidy. FTO mediates substantial m6A demethylation (around 7% of demethylation in poly(A) RNA and around 35% decrease of m6A in non-ribosomal nuclear RNA) in plant RNA, inducing chromatin openness and transcriptional activation. Therefore, modulation of plant RNA m6A methylation is a promising strategy to dramatically improve plant growth and crop yield.

in

Nature Biotechnologie 39, 1581-1588 (2021)

 

Another one bites the dust.

JatroSolutions used to be a serious company in the world of Jatropha developments like breeding and selection. They also further developed the edible Chuta jatropha which came already in production by Jatropower in 2010. For one reason or another their major shareholder, the German 3e energy giant EnBW  decided to pull the plug. They stopped all JatroSolutions activities except the experimental plantation in Madagascar.  Breeding activities from JatroSolutions in Cameron are  owned by country manager and breeder Euloge Dongmeza, who now works under the umbrella of the Swiss company Jatropower (George Francis) who formally also acquired the breeding activities of D1/Quinvita.

The Chuta activities have been taken over by Sebastian Held, managing director of Chuta Nut GmbH in Ulm, Germany.

 

Singapore's JOil the world's first corporate to obtain Gold Standard sustainability certification for its Jatropha plantation

 • NGO-backed Gold Standard certification obtained for Ghana plantation

 • JOil's proprietary Jatropha varieties a highly productive non-food crop for multiple sustainable industrial applications including biofuel

 • Second certification following ISCC certification since 2019 SINGAPORE, March 7, 2022 /PRNewswire

 Singapore-based Jatropha JOil Singapore Pte Limited (JOil) has become the first corporate to be awarded the worldclass sustainability certification Gold Standard for its Jatropha plantation in Ghana. Its Jatropha trees produce fruits that are a non-food, low carbon footprint source material for a variety of eco-friendly industrial applications, including biofuel. A best-in-class certification globally for climate and development projects, the prestigious Gold Standard certification has been awarded to JOil's Jatropha plantations in Bono East Province, Ghana, as afforestation, reforestation and re-desertification (ARR) project, the first corporate to achieve this, since the certification was established in 2003 by WWF and other international NGOs as a best practice standard for sustainable development. A joint venture between Temasek Holdings Limited, Tata International and Skyland Holdings, JOil is a pioneer in developing a sustainable Jatropha value chain. It uses a technology-led approach in planting variety research and downstream application technologies for industrial uses such as bio-resins, bio-plastics, bio-candles, to name a few. As part of upstream development, JOil will directly plant about 6,000 hectares (ha) of Jatropha and establish about 14,000 ha of Jatropha Plantation through an estimated 14,000 small holder outgrowers. This is expected to create agricultural employment opportunities for an estimated 1,500 people, especially women. JOil plans to certify all the plantations under Gold Standard or other appropriate carbon certification standards.

Mongabay Series: Bioenergy, Covering the Commons, Planetary Boundaries

Jatropha: The biofuel that bombed seeks a path to redemption

by Sean Mowbray on 6 April 2023

• Earlier this century, jatropha was hailed as a “miracle” biofuel. An unassuming shrubby tree native to Central America, it was wildly promoted as a high-yielding, drought-tolerant biofuel feedstock that could 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 led to plantation failures nearly everywhere. The aftermath of the jatropha crash was tainted by accusations of land grabbing, mismanagement, and overblown carbon reduction claims.

• Today, some researchers continue pursuing the evasive promise of high-yielding jatropha. A comeback, they say, is dependent on cracking the yield problem and addressing the harmful land-use issues intertwined with its original failure.

• The sole remaining large jatropha plantation is in Ghana. The plantation owner claims high-yield domesticated varieties have been achieved and a new boom is at hand. But even if this comeback falters, the world’s experience of jatropha holds important lessons for any promising 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 promise 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 remaining large plantation focused on growing jatropha is in Ghana. And Singapore-based jOil, which owns that plantation, claims the jatropha comeback is on.

 Jatropha oil again?

After being silent for a while, I got triggered by the rising interest for Jatropha oil.

Not as a biofuel; most of these ambitious projects failed, as I uncovered before.

There is a more realistic approach to develop a business  case for the use of Jatropha products on a local scale.

This means not only biofuels (as going to be used in safari diesel cars in e.g. Tanzania) but also Jatropha soap being produced in Zimbabwe and exported to e.g. Germany.

This means not only producing seedcake briquettes in stead of charcoal for fuel but also seedcake as a fertilizer (https://jatropha.pro/seedcake-as-fertilizer/) and actually again for soap production and eventually for cardboard production.

The Jatropha market is merely hampered by several problems.

1.      The ambitious business plans of big companies were utterly unrealistic.

2.      There was a story buzzing around Jatropha that because the oil is poisonous, you could not use the seedcake in agriculture and you could not use oil or seedcake in health products like soap.

3.      The university of Katesart in Thailand proved already a long time ago that seedcake is a safe organic fertilizer and even better than chicken manure. See link for the complete study

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://docs.google.com/uc?id%3D0By3dl79GeixyY0I3SFVhMXk1WGc&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1689758274778082&usg=AOvVaw3Pr7jnrTkg_tEAiBl3T1kU

           There is a lot of  anecdotical information that Jatropha soap works as an antibacterial treatment and a proper prevention for eczema .

5.       So far I did not run into scientific studies affirming the above mentioned claims, but still the soap is sold in the UK end Germany.

LET US TRY TO REVIVE THE PRODUCTION OF JATROPHA PRODUCTS FOR THE SAKE OF LOCAL COMMUNITIES IN AFRICA AND ASIA.

 

Find more scientific data on  https://sites.google.com/view/jatropha-pro/homepage