Biodiesel Technology Need of the Hour For India
April Colosimo edited this page 3 weeks ago


The non-renewability, environmental concerns and health dangers associated with the nonrenewable fuel sources has led to exploration of alternative sources of energy to replace the standard ones. An appealing innovation, still in its infancy, that could show us the method to the future ahead is Biodiesels. Biodiesels are diesel fuels stemmed from veggie oil or animal-fat that might be used to run diesel motors. Vegetables oils like sunflower, rape seed, palm oil, soya bean, jatropha curcas and so on can be subjected to oil processing to produce biodiesels. It consists of no petroleum but can be mixed with petroleum diesel for use or could be utilized in its pure kind.

Developed countries especially United States and European Countries have actually currently made significant advances in the Biodiesel Technology. Biodiesel have actually found its usage across industries and verticals and might emerge as a perfect cleaner and cheaper option to fuel, diesel and nonrenewable fuel sources. India has likewise started checking out the opportunities to produce and utilize bio-diesel. A number of plants for biodiesel transesterification are currently working in the country where veggie oils are responded with alcohols (ethanol or methanol typically) to produce bio-diesel.

The main factor for the increasing need for biodiesels is the truth that biodiesels are eco-friendly and carbon-neutral, thus having no net effect on the climate. Besides, bio-diesel runs in compression engines much like regular petroleum diesel and hence can be used with little or no engine adjustments. Biodiesel do not require any separate facilities for its storage and can be stored similar to the petroleum based fuels.

Considering the growing energy demand in the nation, increasing petroleum rates and the ecological hazards of fossil fuels, the Indian Government has taken up initiatives to establish the Bio Diesel Technology in India and set up more oil processing units. The Government revealed its 'National Biofuel Policy' on 12 September 2008 which intends to meet 20% of India's diesel demand with bio-fuels in the coming years.

Globally, edible vegetable oils like sunflower, soya bean, rape seed, palm oil are utilized as the pre-dominant raw products for oil processing and biodiesel production but in India the optimal capacity to produce biodiesels is from jatropha curcas oil - a non-edible one produced from the seeds of the Jatropha curcas. The biggest advantage of using jatropha curcas as a basic material is that this plant can be grown in huge amounts in wastelands all across India requiring extremely little water in comparison to other cash crops. Once grown, the plant has a helpful lifespan of several years. The jatropha curcas seeds consist of 40% oil and are considered to be an outstanding source of bio-diesel. The Government of India has actually 400,000 square kilometres of land ideal for the Jatropha growing in the nation. India now

A study estimates that even if a mixing effort of 2% jatropha curcas based Biodiesel is attained in 2011-12, India will conserve around Rs. 3000 crores. Besides, it will create around Rs. 5500 crores in the rural economy and assistance in decrease of Green House Gas emission by 3 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) every year. The government is taking actions to motivate the cultivation of Jatropha in India providing complimentary seeds, subsidized loans and other facilities. India requires to now reinforce its efforts to make the maximum use of the Biodiesel Technology. Besides jatropha curcas, the opportunities for extracting biodiesel from veggie oils, fats, sunflower, rape seed oil and palm oil must also be explored. It will not just provide an answer to the difficulty of Global Warming but might reduce our dependence on foreign oil and add to our own economy.