4.3. Energy Return on Investment
Based on practices observed in Sattur, the Prosopis system has an
EROI of 367 (Table 4). If no by-products of the Jatropha system are
used for energy provision, Jatropha biodiesel would have an EROI of
1.2. This indicates that Jatropha biodiesel would provide about the same amount of primary energy that is required for its production. If
all by-products are used for energy provision, the Jatropha system
EROI can increase to 10.7. While these results indicate that Jatropha
production yields positive energy returns, the returns from Jatropha
are significantly lower than the returns from Prosopis.