BusinessTN

Imagine at some point in the future stopping at the pump for a fill up and choosing from alternative fuels as well as the usual suspects. Do you want unleaded, corn, soybean or diesel tree?

Diesel tree? Granted, that last choice may lie farther in the future than the others. Currently, little is known about the Brazilian native tree save that it produces a thin maple syrup-like resin called copaifera, an oil commonly found in cosmetics, that can be used as diesel fuel. (Copaifera is a legume loosely related to soybeans, a biofuel source already gaining statewide attention.)

University of Tennessee agriculture professor Neal Stewart wants to revive studies spearheaded in 1980 by Nobel Prize winner Melvin Calvin and bring the tree’s genetic materials to the lab at UT-Knoxville. “We’re trying to see if this is too good to be true,” Stewart says. If Stewart and his research team were successful in altering the tree resin’s DNA, it could result in a new species that thrives in cooler climates, making diesel trees a future option for farmers to add to crop rotations.

Even taking the first small step towards the future—obtaining lab samples—presented Stewart with some daunting hurdles. Trade laws prohibited the export of the tree’s resin out of Brazil, a situation common in agriculture research.

"Many countries are getting very protective about their germplasm [genetic material] and refuse to share it despite the fact that they have received germplasm from all over the world,” says Jules Janick, agriculture researcher at Purdue University.

Fortunately for the commonweal, Stewart found a solution in a commonwealth—four, full-grown “pet” copaifera trees growing on the University of Puerto Rico campus. Today, Stewart is nursing his own infant diesel trees. For now, the new plants resemble little more than a landscaper’s ground cover—the trees take years to mature. Meanwhile, resin samples from the 40-foot adult Puerto Rican trees are on their way to the UT lab.

Even before true genetic testing begins, investors beware. Stewart still considers the diesel tree a “pet” project with much to prove. Others in research circles have already dismissed the diesel tree’s viability.

"I do not believe the biodiesel tree would have any potential as an alternative fuel in the U.S.,” says Michael D. Benge, a retired senior agroforestry officer from the USDA Forest Service’s international programs division. Benge adds that hauling and processing oil-producing trees makes for “shaky economics.”

Stewart admits it’s not a sure thing, but adds with confidence that someone’s investment could break even or be returned ten-fold. He has raised almost $700,000 in grants this year alone to fund a variety of biofuel projects underway at UT.