Toyota to diversify into jatropha production this year
In Japan, Toyota Tsusho Corp, parent of the Toyota Motor Corporation, has announced plans to begin growing jatropha and and producing biodiesel. Toyota Motors ‘ sales have fallen off lately due to manufacturing faults and massive vehicle recalls. While the company sorts out its problems, Toyota Tsusho Corporation is diversifying its investments.
The Nagoya-based trading corporation is in negotiations with a Philippine banana plantation to produce the feedstock, Makoto Hattori, a project development manager, said in an interview, without naming the company or disclosing the size of the investment. The Philippines is quickly developing into the third-ranked Jatropha producing nation worldwide, with 2.2 million acres currently under cultivation.
Toyota will partner with the Philippine-run National Development Corp (NDC)T and start off by planting and cultivating a one acre plot of jatropha and conducting a feasibility study of biodiesel refining. The company will fund the initial planting as well as research to be done by Philippine researchers. ??Depending on the initial results, Toyota and NDC will look at further collaborations on large scale cultivation and refining. Jatropha is a preferred biodiesel feedstock because it consists of 30-40 percent oil and it can’t be used as a food source.
Fuel made from jatropha seeds helped power a Boeing 747 flight last year as record oil prices spurred companies to grow feedstocks for biofuels. Toyota Tsusho bought a stake in Singapore-based seed researcher JOIL(S) Pte. to develop an improved plant lines after erratic yields prompted BP Plc and rivals to pull out of jatropha production ventures.
“We need to dramatically increase the plant’s yield in order to make this profitable,” Hattori said in an interview with Bloomberg. Rising oil prices and government legislated use of biofuels would also help make the business viable, he said. Crude oil rallied 77 percent last year as a rebound in emerging markets pushed prices to the highest level in 12 months.
Hattori said he expects the business to be profitable within five years, without giving a specific forecast. Research at JOIL, which specializes in tissue cultures and selective breeding of the plant, is headed by Nam-Hai Chua, winner of Japan’s International Prize in Biology in 2005.
Toyota to diversify into jatropha production this year is a post from: Biofuels Digest
