Biofuel assessments

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Question: When considering the use of the jatropha plant and the waste generated at a fish processing plant in the production of biofuel, what are the factors that could diminish the public approval and ecological sustainability? Especially, what are the effects of these activities on the environment and the society, and how do they affect the approval of clients and other people?

Answer: The utilization of the jatropha plant in biofuel production doesn't seem quite as promising as that of the fish waste. The same problems with direct and indirect changes in the use of landscape and the competition with food production that have come up with the cultivation of other plants used for bioenergy apply to jatropha as well. The benefit of jatropha is its ability to grow in harsher environments, but in these conditions the plants oil production decreases. Fish waste is an unavoidable adverse effect of fish farming, and thus the production of the waste doesn't cause any extra emission. Even so, the emissions and effects of fish farming can't be left unnoticed, because the utilization of the waste can also make the primary process more profitable, thus increasing the emissions and effects on the area.

Scope

This page is summary page of The use of Jatropha as a source of bioenergy (in Finnish) and The use of fish farming residue as a source of bioenergy (in Finnish) pages.

Question

When considering the use of the jatropha plant and the waste generated at a fish processing plant in biofuel production, what are the factors that could diminish the public approval and ecological sustainability? Especially, what are the effects of these activities on the environment and the society, and how do they affect the approval of clients and other people?

Boundaries

• Examine the role of Finnish people in the production of bioenergy worldwide.
• The focus is mainly on the production of biodiesel and other liquid fuels used in the vehicles.
• Of the effects of the activities, the foci are mostly on ecological, ethical and environmental effects, but essentially important effects on health, financial costs etc. are not ruled out.

Options under examination (scenarios)

• Present state and continue the same way. Jatropha and fish waste are not used in Finnish energy prodution.
• Jatropha and fish waste are used in small scale energy production.
• Jatropha and fish waste are used in large scale energy production.

Assumed use and users

The assessment has an immediate value for Neste Oil and other energy production companies in helping rational paths to be taken in the future. It also has a significance to any interested people or groups, who want to improve their knowledge about choosing biofuels.

Participants

The responsible researcher in the assessment was specialresearcher Jouni Tuomisto (MD) from the Institute of Health and Welfare (Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos). Neste Oil supported the assessment financially and by participating in the work. As participants were also the open assessment group: Minttu Hämäläinen, Pauli Ordén, Tiia Sorjonen, Jaakko Örmälä, Matleena Tuomisto, Johannes Kröger, Elina Hirvonen. Included also Vilma Sandström and helping with the leading of the assessments Teemu Rintala and Mikko Pohjola. In addition, 18 stakeholders were invited to participate in the assessment. This was an Open assessment, so anyone was free to participate. The assessment is now over. However, commenting the content is still possible. You can use the commenting possibility at the end of the page.

Answer

Jatropha

An advantage of the jatropha plant over other oil producing plants is the fact that it can grow in low nutrient grounds and produces a big harvest. Jatropha is poisonous and inedible, unlike corn and palm oil. However, jatropha hasn't been able to fulfill the high expectations. The harvest is highly dependent on irrigation and the nutrient content of the ground. While jatropha can survive in dry, low-nutrient ground, the oil production is significantly less than in irrigated, hugh-nutrient ground. In areas where cultivable land and irrigation water are limiting cultivation, jatropha may compete of land use with food production. It can also have both direct and indirect effects on the ecosystems in the area: planting jatropha may directly take space from ecosystems or cause other actions to start to be taken in still untouched areas. With widely spread and in a small scale grown jatropha logistics develops as a problem, and building a business on jatropha may turn out to be financially unprofitable.

The jatropha plant grows in the tropic, where its cultivation could bring extra profit for the area and affect the development of the area positively. The harvesting of jatropha is mainly hand work, which requires a lot of workforce and increases the employment in the area. Underpayment and seasonal unemployment may cause problems.

The oilwaste of fish production

Fish farming industry produces a significant amount of waste annually. The main focus of this assessment was specifically on fish farming. Using this waste in the production of biodiesel looks like a promising option. The waste coming from fish farming is cheap and doesn't cause any extra emissions. This assessment concentrates on South-East Asian fish farming area's waste, but doesn't eliminate other areas that could give out big enough amounts of fish waste for the commercial production of biodiesel.

When considering fish waste, its other uses must be taken into account. If heavy waste has to be delivered long distances, the transportation may produce greenhouse gases, which may exceed the benefits of using biodiesel. It is also good to examine the effects of the waste producing process on the environment and society. On the other hand it could be argued, that fish waste is produced anyway, and utilizing it doesn't change the effects of fish farming. However, using the waste may make fish farming more profitable thus increasing its amount and thus increasing also its environmental effects in the area. The environmental effects of fish farming are highly dependent on what is used to feed the fish. If they are fed caught fish, it may put pressure on local fish stock, which are threatened all around the world. Also the untreated wastewaters from the farming let out in the waters may cause eutrophication. Fish farming may increase employment in the area, but on the other hand can compete for the area's recources, such as water and land area, with local food production and other activities.

In common

The goal of the EU and Finland is to use biofuel to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of traffic and increase the EU's energy self-reliance. In both assessments the raw materials are produced outside the EU, so they wouldn't decrease the EU's dependance on imported oil. However, the assessments do not have an opinion about where the produced biodiesel would be sold.

Rationale

• Jatropan käyttö bioenergian lähteenä (in Finnish)
• Kalanjalostuksen öljyjäte bioenergian lähteenä (in Finnish)

⇤--#: . Computational model? --Mikko Pohjola 11:07, 19 June 2012 (EEST) (type: truth; paradigms: science: attack)

Diagram of biodiesel production from jatropha. [1]

Diagram of biodiesel production from fish waste. [2]

See also

• Urgenche - City level climate change project
• Climate change policies in Kuopio
• Energiatase/Kuopio (in Finnish)
• Tehtävälista/Jatropa (in Finnish)
• The negative effects of land use are remarkable in biodiesel production (in Finnish)
• Stataoil Innovate (Statoil's challenge to private and small companies as an example of grouped cooperation in energy production)
• Vilma's master's thesis

Key words

Jatropha, fish waste, bioenergy, climate change, energy production

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