It's not surprising then, that global production of biodiesel is ramping up, moving from around 2 billion liters in 2003 to about 5 billion this year, and reaching an estimated 24 billion liters by 2020, according to a 2005 report published by the Paris-based International Energy Agency. 

To meet the demand, biodiesel makers have a wide range of options. But the cultivation of the Jatropha plant, a tropical shrub that grows in near absence of water, is starting to catch the fancy of researchers, policy makers, and the energy industry. And investors are already starting to see a return.

Although many labs in India and elsewhere have been working with about a half-dozen non-edible oilseeds for the production of biodiesel, the inherent properties of Jatropha-a durable tree that can produce oil-bearing seeds over a 30-year lifespan-appear to have some clear advantages. Among them: better use of land. 

In Europe, some 3 million hectares of agricultural land are being used to grow 10 million tons of rapeseed. But only 20 percent of this is used for biodiesel (the rest is used to make food oil), another 3 million hectares-an area roughly the size of Belgium-would have to be covered in rapeseed to meet the E.U.'s new requirement.

Rapeseed tires the land and requires expensive crop rotation and fossil-based fertilizers. In contrast, Jatropha plants control erosion and improve soil. And it looks as though high-quality biodiesel made from Jatropha oil can be produced to meet stringent European emission norms. Jatropha shrubs can deliver 1,600 to 3,000 liters of biodiesel per hectare, depending on irrigation conditions and the number of shrubs planted per hectare.

In the United Kingdom, D1 Oils has already seen success from exploiting Jatropha oil to make biodiesel; the company has seen its shares double to more than 330 pence since listing on the London stock market last October. 

D1 Oils has not only brokered an agreement for India's Labland Biotechs to supply 10 million saplings annually for the next 10 years to cultivate Jatropha plantations in Saudi Arabia: it is literally putting Jatropha curcas on the map in countries around the globe.

The company has secured plantation rights to approximately 37,000 hectares of land in Africa, India, and the Philippines to turn Jatropha oil into biodiesel. The company also has options to contract up to an additional 6 million hectares of land in Africa and India. Once established, the plantations are expected to produce a sustainable supply of crude vegetable oil. 

The company's strategy is to control and manage its operations on a regional basis by securing rights to Jatropha plantations and establishing local refineries using its own refinery technology. Any surplus oil will then be exported for refining by D1 Oils or sold to third parties. 

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