Although commercial-oil production is not expected to begin in Yucatan until 2014 or 2015, several communities have already been affected by the planting and cultivation stages, and it is uncertain how the currently planned commercialization model will impact sustainability in the region. Thus, this project aims to evaluate the sustainability of the production and commercialization process of jatropha oil, and the socioeconomic impacts of this activity on the local communities in Yucatan and the broader national system. Also, although the current commercialization model is primarily concerned with biodiesel sales, it has been strongly suggested that the economic viability of such systems can be greatly benefit from the integral use of the jatropha plant. In that sense, a biorefinery system will be designed and included in the sustainability assessment, as an alternative, expanded system. For this stage, fundamental engineering experiments will be performed on the local feedstock at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering at UADY and at MTU, which will generate characterization data of the local feedstock that will be required for evaluation of both biofuel-oriented and biorefinery-oriented systems. Funds from the PEER Science grant to UADY will support the purchase of new lab equipment, materials, and software; domestic and international travel for fieldwork and training; and PhD student stipend support.

 

 

Since its initiation in December 2012, this project has faced a rapidly evolving situation due to the very recent news that many of the companies that had been planting jatropha on a large scale in Yucatán are either withdrawing from the business or greatly reducing their areas under cultivation. Through interviews with local industrial partners, it was found that these actions are the result of lower than expected seed yields and the impact of diseases on the plantations. As a result, instead of gearing up for industrial-scale production within a few years, the businesses are launching research and development activities on their plantations. After Dr. Sacramento and his U.S. partners discussed the new situation during the March 2013 visit of the latter to Mérida, they agreed to proceed with the project as planned, focusing on the socioeconomic and ecological impacts and benefits that the jatropha plantations have already had on the local communities, as well as the future effects of the jatropha business after the R&D period when the biofuel is eventually commercialized. In the meantime, a PhD candidate/research assistant has been hired and graduate and undergraduate students recruited for the project. Dr. Sacramento and his team have designed a household survey for use in the affected communities, identified the plantations to be studied, and conducted preliminary field work in the municipality of Tizimín. Quotations are still being gathered for procurement of the lab equipment to be bought with PEER Science funds. In May 2013, Dr. Sacramento and two of his U.S. partners will attend a Research Coordination Network (RCN) meeting in Buenos Aires. Over the spring and summer, pilot studies will be conducted in the identified communities, and a decision on sustainability indicators to be monitored will be made following consultations among researchers from UADY, MTU, and the RCN.