SG Biofuels, a company that specializes in developing jatropha for use in alternative fuels, such as biodiesel, has announced a new variety of the tropical plant that has double the oil output of normal jatropha and is best for the tropics where it is grown.

This company press release says the new variety is named JMax 100, a proprietary cultivar of Jatropha optimized for growing conditions in Guatemala with yields 100 percent greater than existing varieties:

JMax 100 is the first elite cultivar developed through the company’s JMax Jatropha Optimization Platform. The platform provides growers and plantation developers with access to the highest yielding and most profitable Jatropha in the world, the sequenced genome and advanced biotech and synthetic biology tools to develop cultivars specifically optimized for their unique growing conditions.

“The yields and profitability of JMax100 and the JMax platform far exceed what is currently available through existing varieties of Jatropha,” said Kirk Haney, President and Chief Executive Officer of SG Biofuels. “In Guatemala, we have utilized the world’s largest library of Jatropha genetic material and our advanced genetic program to enable exponential increases in productivity and profitability, and establish Jatropha as a large-scale sustainable energy crop.”

The press release goes on to say that the JMax 100 variety triples the profitability of Jatropha to greater than $400 per acre, cranking out more than 350 gallons per acre at $1.39 per gallon.