Gozo research into renewable energy source
Seeds of a plant used to produce biodiesel, which has the potential to produce animal feed, are to be planted in Gozo, along with 30 locations worldwide, next spring in a major research project. The €3 million annual investment by a private German...
Seeds of a plant used to produce biodiesel, which has the potential to produce animal feed, are to be planted in Gozo, along with 30 locations worldwide, next spring in a major research project.
The €3 million annual investment by a private German consortium is supporting the work of Klaus Becker of the Department of Aquaculture Systems and Animal Nutrition at the University of Hohenheim's Institute for Animal Production in the Tropics and Subtropics.
Prof. Becker has been conducting research on the plant, called jatropha caucus, for the past two decades.
"When I started my research a barrel of oil cost less than $10. Now it is close to $100. I anticipated this."
Little funding was available back then, even from the European Union, but he persisted and he believes he now has an advantage on others who started in the past two years or so.
Anton Tabone, the legal adviser to the German consortium, said Gozo had been identified for this research project, which involves building a research station and obtaining cooperation from farmers to plant the jatropha, because it has a rural identity.
"This kind of project complements perfectly the kind of investment that Gozo needs," Dr Tabone said.
"Gozo must be developed with an environmental consciousness. This project is very pro-environment and it creates quality jobs for scientists that unfortunately we do not have at the moment in Gozo."
Prof. Becker listed three advantages of jatropha, a perennial that is a direct relative of the Christmas star, which is found in the tropics. In the first place, it has a high resistance to temperature - the hotter the better - and is highly efficient in water use. It also grows on very degraded land, and even in the Egyptian desert, so it does not compete with arable land; and the plant is a bit toxic, deterring animals from grazing on the land, which does not need to be fenced in.
The major byproduct of jatropha is an oil, which is not edible but produces a good quality biodiesel. The yield is approximately 1,892 litres per hectare compared to 172 for corn (EORC, which produces biodiesel in Malta, is also encouraging the government to look into jatropha production in Malta).
"We have a big project on biodiesel with Daimler Chrysler, which we started in 2003 in India," Prof. Becker said.
"We tested about 80,000 litres of jatropha biodiesel on the roads in modern Daimler Chrysler diesel cars.
"Although the residue is still toxic, it can be used as a supplement or a substitute for soya bean meal in animal feed for sheep, goats, pigs, poultry and fish if it can be detoxified satisfactorily. Work on this is being done and results from our lab look promising."
The research project is to be a joint collaboration between the universities of Hohenheim and Stuttgart and the universities in Malta, including the University of Malta Gozo Centre.
The breeding programme, using different strains of seeds of jatropha, will make Gozo one of five breeding centres worldwide apart from Mexico, Laos, India and Madagascar. Gozo will also be a test location of all the genotypes of jatropha, which is 70 million years old.
"That means Gozo, Germany and Malta will work together as EU partners, which makes things much easier because you have more rights here," Prof. Becker observed.
Although the plant is not endemic, Prof. Becker is confident that the climate is appropriate - pointing to the growth of potatoes, which are also not endemic. Plants grown here from seed would be planted in north Africa, where they have the land area to cope with its potential growth. The Gozo research station will be a centre of excellence for renewable energy, Dr Tabone said.
"We are in the final stages of finding the most appropriate land to create the station, which will have a laboratory.
"This project, of course, will generate employment both for farmers, who will be giving their land and maintaining it, but also scientists and students.
It will be a joint programme, but the involvement of a professor of the repute of Prof. Becker and of the universities of Hohenheim and Stuttgart gives it credibility."
Prof. Becker added: "We will have value added activities in Malta and later on, the multiplication, the important part, will take place here together with the help of the two universities and our private investors."
The €3 million annual investment by a private German consortium is supporting the work of Klaus Becker of the Department of Aquaculture Systems and Animal Nutrition at the University of Hohenheim's Institute for Animal Production in the Tropics and Subtropics.
Prof. Becker has been conducting research on the plant, called jatropha caucus, for the past two decades.
"When I started my research a barrel of oil cost less than $10. Now it is close to $100. I anticipated this."
Little funding was available back then, even from the European Union, but he persisted and he believes he now has an advantage on others who started in the past two years or so.
Anton Tabone, the legal adviser to the German consortium, said Gozo had been identified for this research project, which involves building a research station and obtaining cooperation from farmers to plant the jatropha, because it has a rural identity.
"This kind of project complements perfectly the kind of investment that Gozo needs," Dr Tabone said.
"Gozo must be developed with an environmental consciousness. This project is very pro-environment and it creates quality jobs for scientists that unfortunately we do not have at the moment in Gozo."
Prof. Becker listed three advantages of jatropha, a perennial that is a direct relative of the Christmas star, which is found in the tropics. In the first place, it has a high resistance to temperature - the hotter the better - and is highly efficient in water use. It also grows on very degraded land, and even in the Egyptian desert, so it does not compete with arable land; and the plant is a bit toxic, deterring animals from grazing on the land, which does not need to be fenced in.
The major byproduct of jatropha is an oil, which is not edible but produces a good quality biodiesel. The yield is approximately 1,892 litres per hectare compared to 172 for corn (EORC, which produces biodiesel in Malta, is also encouraging the government to look into jatropha production in Malta).
"We have a big project on biodiesel with Daimler Chrysler, which we started in 2003 in India," Prof. Becker said.
"We tested about 80,000 litres of jatropha biodiesel on the roads in modern Daimler Chrysler diesel cars.
"Although the residue is still toxic, it can be used as a supplement or a substitute for soya bean meal in animal feed for sheep, goats, pigs, poultry and fish if it can be detoxified satisfactorily. Work on this is being done and results from our lab look promising."
The research project is to be a joint collaboration between the universities of Hohenheim and Stuttgart and the universities in Malta, including the University of Malta Gozo Centre.
The breeding programme, using different strains of seeds of jatropha, will make Gozo one of five breeding centres worldwide apart from Mexico, Laos, India and Madagascar. Gozo will also be a test location of all the genotypes of jatropha, which is 70 million years old.
"That means Gozo, Germany and Malta will work together as EU partners, which makes things much easier because you have more rights here," Prof. Becker observed.
Although the plant is not endemic, Prof. Becker is confident that the climate is appropriate - pointing to the growth of potatoes, which are also not endemic. Plants grown here from seed would be planted in north Africa, where they have the land area to cope with its potential growth. The Gozo research station will be a centre of excellence for renewable energy, Dr Tabone said.
"We are in the final stages of finding the most appropriate land to create the station, which will have a laboratory.
"This project, of course, will generate employment both for farmers, who will be giving their land and maintaining it, but also scientists and students.
It will be a joint programme, but the involvement of a professor of the repute of Prof. Becker and of the universities of Hohenheim and Stuttgart gives it credibility."
Prof. Becker added: "We will have value added activities in Malta and later on, the multiplication, the important part, will take place here together with the help of the two universities and our private investors."