1 Biodiesel Technology Need of the Hour For India
Vida Maltby edited this page 2025-01-12 08:45:35 +01:00


The non-renewability, environmental issues and health hazards related to the fossil fuels has actually led to exploration of alternative sources of energy to replace the conventional ones. A promising innovation, still in its infancy, that might show us the method to the future ahead is Biodiesels. Biodiesels are diesel fuels from veggie oil or animal-fat that might be used to run diesel engines. Vegetables oils like sunflower, rape seed, palm oil, soya bean, jatropha curcas etc can be subjected to oil processing to produce biodiesels. It consists of no petroleum but can be mixed with petroleum diesel for usage or could be used in its pure form.

Developed nations particularly United States and European Countries have currently made significant advances in the Biodiesel Technology. Biodiesel have actually found its use across industries and verticals and could emerge as a perfect cleaner and cheaper option to petrol, diesel and fossil fuels. India has likewise begun checking out the opportunities to produce and utilize bio-diesel. A number of plants for biodiesel transesterification are currently operating in the country where vegetable oils are reacted with alcohols (ethanol or methanol usually) to produce bio-diesel.

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

Considering the growing energy demand in the nation, rising petroleum rates and the environmental threats of nonrenewable fuel sources, the Indian Government has used up initiatives 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 fulfill 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 Jatropha curcas. The greatest benefit of utilizing Jatropha as a raw material is that this plant can be grown in huge amounts in wastelands all across India requiring extremely little water in contrast to other money crops. Once grown, the plant has a helpful lifespan of several decades. The jatropha curcas seeds contain 40% oil and are thought about to be an outstanding source of bio-diesel. The Government of India has actually determined 400,000 square kilometres of land ideal for the jatropha curcas cultivation in the country. India now

A research study estimates that even if a mixing effort of 2% jatropha curcas based Biodiesel is achieved 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 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 totally free seeds, subsidized loans and other facilities. India requires to now enhance its efforts to make the maximum usage of the Biodiesel Technology. Besides jatropha curcas, the avenues for drawing out biodiesel from veggie oils, fats, sunflower, rape seed oil and palm oil must likewise be explored. It will not only provide an answer to the challenge of Global Warming but could reduce our dependence on foreign oil and add to our own economy.