Biodiesel Technology Need of the Hour for India

The non-renewability, environmental concerns and health threats connected with the nonrenewable fuel sources has resulted in exploration of alternative sources of energy to substitute the traditional ones. A promising innovation, still in its infancy, that could reveal us the method to the future ahead is Biodiesels. Biodiesels are diesel fuels stemmed from vegetable oil or animal-fat that might be utilized to run diesel engines. Vegetables oils like sunflower, rape seed, palm oil, soya bean, Jatropha and so on can be subjected to oil processing to produce biodiesels. It includes no petroleum but can be blended with petroleum diesel for use or could be utilized in its pure kind.

Developed nations specifically United States and European Countries have actually already made significant advances in the Biodiesel Technology. Biodiesel have found its usage throughout industries and verticals and might emerge as an ideal cleaner and more affordable option to gas, diesel and fossil fuels. India has also started exploring the opportunities to produce and use bio-diesel. A variety of plants for biodiesel transesterification are currently working in the nation where vegetable oils are reacted with alcohols ( or methanol generally) to produce bio-diesel.

The primary factor for the increasing need for biodiesels is the reality that biodiesels are sustainable and carbon-neutral, hence having no net influence on the climate. Besides, bio-diesel operates in compression engines just like normal petroleum diesel and for this reason can be utilized with little or no engine adjustments. Biodiesel do not require any different infrastructure for its storage and can be stored just like the petroleum based fuels.

Considering the growing energy demand in the country, rising petroleum costs and the ecological hazards of fossil fuels, the Indian Government has actually used up initiatives to establish 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 veggie oils like sunflower, soya bean, rape seed, palm oil are utilized 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 biggest benefit of using Jatropha as a raw material is that this plant can be grown in huge amounts in wastelands all throughout India requiring extremely little water in contrast to other money crops. Once grown, the plant has a useful life expectancy of numerous years. The Jatropha seeds consist of 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 ideal for the Jatropha growing in the nation. India now

A study approximates that even if a blending initiative of 2% Jatropha 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 assistance in decrease 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 offering totally free seeds, subsidized loans and other facilities. India needs to now strengthen its efforts to make the fullest usage of the Biodiesel Technology. Besides Jatropha, the opportunities for extracting biodiesel from vegetable oils, fats, sunflower, rape seed oil and palm oil must also be explored. It will not just provide an answer to the challenge of Global Warming but could decrease our dependence on foreign oil and contribute to our own economy.