Japan backs African jatropha biofuel supply chain with $47 million
In Japan, Nippon Biofuel has been selected for demonstration project worth approximately $47 million, to build a marine biofuel supply chain stretching from Mozambique and Ghana to Singapore and Japan, with a target of producing 400,000 tons of jatropha-based fuel annually by 2032.
Jatropha is a hardy shrub whose seeds yield oil that can be processed into biofuel. The project, backed by subsidies from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, will involve cultivating jatropha with smallholder farmers in Mozambique’s Nampula Province and Ghana’s Bono East Region, processing it into marine fuel, and developing bunkering infrastructure at ports along the route.
Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Kuribayashi Steamship, and ClassNK are among the project partners.
Jatropha attracted billions in investment as a biofuel feedstock in the 2000s before largely failing to deliver at commercial scale, as field yields consistently fell short of projections. Nippon Biofuel says it has developed proprietary varieties with up to 50 times higher productivity compared to wild types, a claim this project will put to the test.
Category: Sustainable Marine Fuels
