Biodiesel Technology Need of the Hour for India

The non-renewability, ecological issues and health threats associated with the fossil fuels has caused exploration of alternative sources of energy to substitute the standard 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 veggie 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 consists of no petroleum but can be mixed with petroleum diesel for usage or might be utilized in its pure kind.

Developed nations especially United States and European Countries have already made significant advances in the Biodiesel Technology. Biodiesel have discovered its usage across industries and verticals and might emerge as a perfect cleaner and cheaper alternative to gas, diesel and fossil fuels. India has actually also started checking out the chances to produce and utilize bio-diesel. A variety of plants for biodiesel transesterification are currently operating in the country where vegetable oils are reacted with alcohols (ethanol or methanol generally) to produce bio-diesel.

The primary reason for the increasing demand for biodiesels is the fact that biodiesels are eco-friendly and carbon-neutral, therefore having no net impact on the environment. Besides, bio-diesel operates in compression engines similar to regular petroleum diesel and hence can be utilized with little or no engine adjustments. Biodiesel do not require any different infrastructure for its storage and can be kept simply like the petroleum based fuels.

Considering the growing energy need in the nation, increasing petroleum rates and the ecological threats of nonrenewable fuel sources, the Indian Government has actually used up initiatives to develop the Bio Diesel Technology in India and set up more oil processing units. The Government announced 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 veggie oils like sunflower, soya bean, rape seed, palm oil are utilized as the pre-dominant raw products for oil processing and biodiesel production however in India the maximum potential to produce biodiesels is from Jatropha oil – a non-edible one produced from the seeds of the Jatropha curcas. The biggest benefit of utilizing Jatropha as a basic material is that this plant can be grown in substantial quantities in wastelands all throughout India requiring extremely little water in contrast to other cash crops. Once grown, the plant has a helpful life-span of a number of decades. The Jatropha seeds consist of 40% oil and are considered to be an outstanding source of bio-diesel. The Government of India has recognized 400,000 square kilometres of land appropriate for the Jatropha growing in the country. India now

A research study estimates that even if a mixing effort of 2% Jatropha based Biodiesel is in 2011-12, India will save around Rs. 3000 crores. Besides, it will generate around Rs. 5500 crores in the rural economy and aid in decrease of Green House Gas emission by 3 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) every year. The federal government is taking actions to encourage the growing of Jatropha in India offering free seeds, subsidized loans and other facilities. India needs to now enhance its efforts to make the maximum use of the Biodiesel Technology. Besides Jatropha, the opportunities for extracting biodiesel from vegetable oils, fats, sunflower, rape seed oil and palm oil should likewise be checked out. It will not only provide an answer to the challenge of Global Warming but might reduce our reliance on foreign oil and contribute to our own economy.