1 Biodiesel Technology Need of the Hour For India
Rolando Beyer edited this page 2025-01-12 00:34:54 +00:00


The non-renewability, ecological concerns and health risks associated with the nonrenewable fuel sources has led to expedition of alternative sources of energy to replace the standard ones. An appealing technology, still in its infancy, that could show us the method to the future ahead is Biodiesels. Biodiesels are diesel fuels stemmed from vegetable oil or animal-fat that could be utilized to run diesel engines. Vegetables oils like sunflower, rape seed, palm oil, soya bean, Jatropha etc can be subjected to oil processing to produce biodiesels. It contains no petroleum but can be blended with petroleum diesel for use or might be utilized in its pure kind.

Developed nations especially United States and European Countries have actually currently made considerable advances in the Biodiesel Technology. Biodiesel have discovered its use throughout industries and verticals and could emerge as a perfect cleaner and less expensive alternative to petrol, diesel and nonrenewable fuel sources. India has also started exploring the chances to produce and utilize bio-diesel. A variety of plants for biodiesel transesterification are already operating in the country where vegetable oils are responded with alcohols (ethanol or methanol generally) to produce bio-diesel.

The main reason for the increasing demand for biodiesels is the reality that biodiesels are eco-friendly and carbon-neutral, hence having no net influence on the climate. Besides, bio-diesel runs in compression engines similar to typical petroleum diesel and hence can be used with little or no engine adjustments. Biodiesel do not need any separate facilities for its storage and can be saved simply like the petroleum based fuels.

Considering the growing energy need in the country, increasing petroleum costs and the ecological hazards of nonrenewable fuel sources, the Indian Government has used up initiatives to develop the Bio Diesel Technology in India and established more oil processing systems. The Government announced its 'National Biofuel Policy' on 12 September 2008 which intends to satisfy 20% of India's diesel need with bio-fuels in the coming years.

Globally, edible veggie oils like sunflower, soya bean, rape seed, palm oil are used as the pre-dominant raw products for oil processing and biodiesel production but in India the maximum potential to produce biodiesels is from Jatropha oil - a non-edible one produced from the seeds of the Jatropha jatropha curcas. The greatest advantage of utilizing jatropha curcas as a raw material is that this plant can be grown in huge quantities in wastelands all throughout India requiring really little water in comparison to other money crops. Once grown, the plant has a helpful lifespan of several years. The jatropha curcas seeds contain 40% oil and are thought about to be an excellent source of bio-diesel. The Government of India has identified 400,000 square kilometres of land suitable for the jatropha curcas growing in the nation. India now

A research study estimates that even if a blending initiative of 2% jatropha curcas based Biodiesel is in 2011-12, India will conserve around Rs. 3000 crores. Besides, it will produce around Rs. 5500 crores in the rural economy and help in reduction of Green House Gas emission by 3 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) every year. The federal government is taking actions to encourage the cultivation of Jatropha in India offering totally free seeds, subsidized loans and other facilities. India needs to now reinforce its efforts to make the fullest use of the Biodiesel Technology. Besides Jatropha, the opportunities for drawing out biodiesel from vegetable oils, fats, sunflower, rape seed oil and palm oil need to also be explored. It will not just supply a response to the obstacle of Global Warming however might reduce our dependence on foreign oil and add to our own economy.