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Start-Up Uses Plant Seeds for a Biofuel

nytimes.com

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Re: Start-Up Uses Plant Seeds for a Biofuel

#11

Post by throwaway_yy2Di »

"The company has deals to plant 250,000 acres of jatropha in Brazil, India and other countries expected to eventually produce about 70 million gallons of fuel a year."

This does not sound promising. Scaled linearly to the current level of oil production, this would cover more land area than Brazil and India put together.

(Current production is 90 million oil barrels/day [0] or 1.4 trillion gallons/year. If this biofuel yields 70 million gallons/year out of 250,000 acres, that's 280 gallons/year / acre; dividing out that's about 5 billion acres, or 18 million km^2. Brazil and India put together are 12 million km^2 [1]).

Perspective on the 280 gallons/acre figure [2]:

"Estimates of Jatropha seed yield vary widely, due to a lack of research data, the genetic diversity of the crop, the range of environments in which it is grown, and Jatropha's perennial life cycle. Seed yields under cultivation can range from 1,500 to 2,000 kilograms per hectare, corresponding to extractable oil yields of 540 to 680 litres per hectare (58 to 73 US gallons per acre).[17] Time magazine recently cited the potential for as much as 1,600 gallons of diesel fuel per acre per year.[18] The plant may yield more than four times as much fuel per hectare as soybean, and more than ten times that of maize (corn)."

Also: [3]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependen...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jatropha_curcas#Biofuel

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiesel#Yield

Re: Start-Up Uses Plant Seeds for a Biofuel

#12

Post by taylan »

dnautics wrote: post #9

not optimistic (know the company personally). Communicated to the founder that he should pivot to specialty lubricants (for example low temperature lubricants that are used in satellites), wasn't interested.

Do you mind expanding on it a bit? Is it the volatility of oil prices or lower margins in aviation fuel compared to specialty lubricants?

Re: Start-Up Uses Plant Seeds for a Biofuel

#13

Post by dnautics »

taylan wrote: post #12
dnautics wrote: post #9

not optimistic (know the company personally). Communicated to the founder that he should pivot to specialty lubricants (for example low temperature lubricants that are used in satellites), wasn't interested.

Do you mind expanding on it a bit? Is it the volatility of oil prices or lower margins in aviation fuel compared to specialty lubricants?

lower margins sums it up, the entire premise of the company depends either on subsidies or being bought out by the chinese.

throwaway_yyD1 above has a better analysis.

Re: Start-Up Uses Plant Seeds for a Biofuel

#14

Post by kiddz »

throwaway_yy2Di wrote: post #11

"The company has deals to plant 250,000 acres of jatropha in Brazil, India and other countries expected to eventually produce about 70 million gallons of fuel a year." This does not sound promising. Scaled linearly to the current level of oil production, this would cover more land area than Brazil and India put together. (Current production is 90 million oil barrels/day [0] or 1.4 trillion gallons/year. If this biofu…

Why are you assuming growth on one plane? Can't these crops be stacked? Also from a hedging perspective, alternative supply from this (assuming fuel is interchangeable) doesn't need to be equal to oil.

Re: Start-Up Uses Plant Seeds for a Biofuel

#16

Post by [deleted] »

kiddz wrote: post #14
throwaway_yy2Di wrote: post #11

"The company has deals to plant 250,000 acres of jatropha in Brazil, India and other countries expected to eventually produce about 70 million gallons of fuel a year." This does not sound promising. Scaled linearly to the current level of oil production, this would cover more land area than Brazil and India put together. (Current production is 90 million oil barrels/day [0] or 1.4 trillion gallons/year. If this biofu…

Why are you assuming growth on one plane? Can't these crops be stacked? Also from a hedging perspective, alternative supply from this (assuming fuel is interchangeable) doesn't need to be equal to oil.

[deleted]

Re: Start-Up Uses Plant Seeds for a Biofuel

#17

Post by ars »

Why does everyone obsess over fuel for transportations? It's the most difficult thing of all to make from renewables.

Just plant some switch-grass and shovel it - as is - into a coal plant. No ethanol or anything else. Take the resulting ash (mostly potassium, i.e. potash), and use it as fertilizer, then and do it again.

Re: Start-Up Uses Plant Seeds for a Biofuel

#18

Post by icegreentea »

throwaway_yy2Di wrote: post #11

"The company has deals to plant 250,000 acres of jatropha in Brazil, India and other countries expected to eventually produce about 70 million gallons of fuel a year." This does not sound promising. Scaled linearly to the current level of oil production, this would cover more land area than Brazil and India put together. (Current production is 90 million oil barrels/day [0] or 1.4 trillion gallons/year. If this biofu…

You only need this to produce enough to cover petroleum use cases without viable alternatives. Push come to shove, we will get electric cars working. We can skip oil for any large scale power production.

Re: Start-Up Uses Plant Seeds for a Biofuel

#19

Post by icegreentea »

ars wrote: post #17

Why does everyone obsess over fuel for transportations? It's the most difficult thing of all to make from renewables. Just plant some switch-grass and shovel it - as is - into a coal plant. No ethanol or anything else. Take the resulting ash (mostly potassium, i.e. potash), and use it as fertilizer, then and do it again.

They obsess over it precisely because it's the most difficult of all. High energy density is required for flight. Apparently people would like to keep relatively cheap flight a thing that stays around.
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