Biodiesel Technology Need of the Hour for India

The non-renewability, environmental issues and health risks connected with the fossil fuels has resulted in exploration of alternative sources of energy to substitute the standard ones. A promising innovation, still in its infancy, that could show us the way to the future ahead is Biodiesels. Biodiesels are diesel fuels obtained from grease or animal-fat that could be utilized to run diesel motors. Vegetables oils like sunflower, rape seed, palm oil, soya bean, Jatropha and so on can be subjected to oil processing to produce biodiesels. It consists of no petroleum however can be mixed with petroleum diesel for usage or could be utilized in its pure kind.

Developed nations specifically United States and European Countries have currently made substantial advances in the Biodiesel Technology. Biodiesel have actually discovered its use across industries and verticals and could become an ideal cleaner and cheaper option to fuel, diesel and nonrenewable fuel sources. India has also started checking out the chances to produce and use bio-diesel. A variety of plants for biodiesel transesterification are currently operating in the nation where vegetable oils are reacted with alcohols (ethanol or methanol typically) to produce bio-diesel.

The primary reason for the increasing demand for biodiesels is the reality that biodiesels are sustainable and carbon-neutral, hence having no net impact 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 modifications. Biodiesel do not require any separate facilities for its storage and can be saved much like the petroleum based fuels.

Considering the growing energy demand in the nation, increasing petroleum prices and the environmental risks of fossil fuels, the Indian Government has actually taken up efforts to develop the Bio Diesel Technology in India and established more oil processing units. The Government revealed its ‘National Biofuel Policy’ on 12 September 2008 which aims to meet 20% of India’s diesel need with bio-fuels in the coming years.

Globally, edible vegetable oils like sunflower, soya bean, rape seed, palm oil are used as the pre-dominant basic materials for oil processing and biodiesel production but in India the optimal potential to produce biodiesels is from Jatropha oil – a non-edible one produced from the seeds of the . The greatest advantage of using Jatropha as a basic material is that this plant can be grown in substantial amounts in wastelands all across India requiring extremely little water in contrast to other cash crops. Once grown, the plant has a useful life expectancy of numerous years. The Jatropha seeds consist of 40% oil and are considered to be an exceptional source of bio-diesel. The Government of India has identified 400,000 square kilometres of land appropriate for the Jatropha growing in the country. India now

A research study estimates that even if a blending effort of 2% Jatropha based Biodiesel is attained in 2011-12, India will save around Rs. 3000 crores. Besides, it will produce around Rs. 5500 crores in the rural economy and assistance in reduction of Green House Gas emission by 3 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) every year. The federal government is taking steps to motivate the cultivation of Jatropha in India supplying free seeds, subsidized loans and other centers. India needs to now enhance its efforts to make the fullest usage of the Biodiesel Technology. Besides Jatropha, the avenues for extracting biodiesel from veggie oils, fats, sunflower, rape seed oil and palm oil should also be explored. It will not just supply an answer to the challenge of Global Warming but could reduce our dependence on foreign oil and contribute to our own economy.