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Biodiesel Technology Need of the Hour For India
Titus Meece edited this page 2025-01-14 07:04:46 +08:00


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

Developed nations especially United States and European Countries have actually already made considerable advances in the Biodiesel Technology. Biodiesel have found its usage across markets and verticals and might emerge as an ideal cleaner and more affordable alternative to gas, diesel and fossil fuels. India has likewise begun checking out the chances to produce and use bio-diesel. A variety of plants for biodiesel transesterification are currently working in the nation where veggie oils are responded with alcohols (ethanol or methanol usually) to produce bio-diesel.

The primary factor for the increasing demand for biodiesels is the fact that biodiesels are sustainable and carbon-neutral, thus having no net impact on the climate. Besides, bio-diesel operates in compression engines similar to normal 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 much like the petroleum based fuels.

Considering the growing energy need in the country, increasing petroleum prices and the environmental threats of fossil fuels, the Indian Government has actually taken up efforts 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 aims to fulfill 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 used as the pre-dominant basic materials for oil processing and biodiesel production but in India the maximum potential 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 big amounts in wastelands all throughout India requiring extremely little water in comparison to other money crops. Once grown, the plant has a useful lifespan of several years. The Jatropha seeds contain 40% oil and are considered to be an outstanding source of bio-diesel. The Government of India has actually determined 400,000 square kilometres of land suitable for the jatropha curcas growing in the country. India now

A study estimates that even if a blending initiative of 2% jatropha curcas based Biodiesel is attained in 2011-12, India will save around Rs. 3000 crores. Besides, it will generate around Rs. 5500 crores in the rural economy and help in decrease of Green House Gas emission by 3 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) every year. The government is taking actions to motivate the growing of Jatropha in India offering totally free seeds, subsidized loans and other centers. India needs to now reinforce its efforts to make the maximum use of the Biodiesel Technology. Besides Jatropha, the avenues for drawing out biodiesel from veggie oils, fats, sunflower, oil and palm oil should likewise be checked out. It will not just offer an answer to the difficulty of Global Warming however might reduce our reliance on foreign oil and add to our own economy.