Ugly jatropha plant may produce green jet fuel of the future

Solutions to problems often come from inconspicuous places, and the jatropha plant seems to be one such occasion. It isn’t a pretty plant, and its innards contain toxic chemicals. So maybe it’s no surprise that after processing, the jatropha plant yields a highly effective jet fuel.

That’s big news to an industry hypnotized by the rise and fall of prices in kerosene and crude oil. Airlines are like many other businesses right now trying to find a way to go green, ostensibly in a sustainable way. Manufacturing jet oil from the jatropha plant on any sort of large scale isn’t that easy though.

Under natural circumstances it takes 2-3 years for a new plant to produce its first fruit, and each bloom occurs sequentially instead of all at once. That makes harvesting by machine nearly impossible. But now that humans have taken an interest, the jatropha may take on some new characteristics.

Just like we’ve bred apple trees to mature in less than a year, and to produce fruit multiple times per season, researchers say they can apply concepts from agronomy to the jatropha plant to make it a viable source of green oil. It promises to produce more oil per hectare, endure harsher climate conditions, and live up to 40 years according to BusinessWeek.

Still, in reality this ugly plant with so much potential is nowhere near commercial production capacity right now. It only exists in smaller quantities even in its native environments. So not only will it require genetic manipulation, it will also need to multiply rapidly. Even after a couple of years working on these challenges the jatropha plant will likely only account for a slice of the jet fuel market.

But that’s the trend for green energy right now, sourcing from multiple locations to fulfill an overall need. Some industries will struggle with that, especially given crude oil’s king-of-the-hill status. For a long time it was the only energy source we needed, and many continue to search for another holy grail teeming with green energy.