Chinese Tree Yields Oil for Biodiesel

Booming, energy-starved China is basing its domestic biodiesel industry on inedible feedstocks: jatropha, used vegetable oil, and also, possibly, the hardy Chinese tallow tree (Sapium sebiferum), an ancient, oil seed-producing tree with a long history of large-scale commercial production in China and other parts of Asia.

The Chinese tallow tree yields about 500 gallons of oil per acre per year. The output far exceeds other traditional oil seed crops, except for palm, which produces over 600 gallons per acre per year.

Chinese tallow tree oil was used as an emergency source of fuel for diesel equipment operated by Chinese and Allied forces during World War II.

The tree was first introduced into the United States in South Carolina during the 1700s for ornamental purposes and for seed oil production. Considered an invasive weed in the US , the tree has since spread throughout the south and to Texas.

Like jatropha, another remarkably hardy, oil-seed perennial, the Chinese tallow tree could probably be grown on President Bush's phony (five-cow) West Texas ranch, where photo-op brush-cutting seems to be the main activity.

But whereas China is seeking to exploit the tree to reduce the country's reliance on imported oil, the US is still focused on the tree's eradication. The University of Houston, for example, has mobilized significant resources to wipe out this potential source of biodiesel feedstock.

All of which should come as no surprise, for traditionally violent and backward--but oil-rich--Texas was never known for its sophistication or intelligence.