Bio diesel: Great renewable energy source

21 September 2004

Last month crude oil prices rose to $49 per barrel before hovering at $43 a barrel. The impact of the price hike on the Indian petroleum bill for fiscal 2004-05 is expected to touch nearly $30 bn against $18.2 last year. High oil prices have led to inflation surpassing 8 per cent and economists say high oil prices have come to stay

Last year one million vehicles were sold in India. In 1999 the country consumed 243.3 million tonnes of fossil fuels, ranking fifth in the world behind the US, China, Russia and Japan. India's contribution to world carbon emissions has increased in recent years due to the rapid pace of urbanisation, shift from non-commercial to commercial fuels, increased vehicular usage and continued use of older and more inefficient coal-fired power plants. Vehicular pollution is estimated to have increased eight times over the last two decades. Automobiles alone are said to contribute 70 per cent of the total air pollution.

Therefore, the need to look for low cost sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels. According to the Planning Commission's figures, of the estimated 130 million hectares of wasteland in India about 33 million hectares can be reclaimed for energy plantations.

At a recent international conference organised by the non-profit organisation, Winrock International, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman, Planning Commission said there was an urgent need to make bio-fuels a viable alternative to fossil fuels.

He pointed out that the use of bio fuels would generate employment and income in the rural areas and would emit less green house gases, which make it worthwhile for the Government to encourage bio-fuels by providing tax benefits.

Pointing to the feasibility of making bio fuels, he said India has an estimated 50-100 million hectares of wasteland, degraded forestland, which can be used for large-scale bio-fuel plantations such as Jatropha that would generate employment in the rural areas.

According to some estimates the yield per hectare for bio-fuel plantation is 30-40 per cent, which can safely go to 50 per cent if the right kind of technology is in place, he said. Therefore an investment of Rs30,000 per hectare is needed for plantation of bio-fuel plants, which would generate an income of Rs20,000 after a gap of three years for the next 50 years.

Globally efforts are being made to decrease fuel consumption through the development of superior, low-fuel consuming car engines. Japan, the US, the UK and Europe have taken the lead in developing hybrid or green cars that run on a combination of electricity and petroleum. Though efforts in developing renewable sources of energy like solar and wind energy are finding gradual acceptance in industry, their design has not been found feasible in automobiles, which would require completely new inventions in automobiles.

Bio diesel
Oil obtained from plant seeds can be converted through technological processes into fuel, which can be used as a substitute for diesel or as a blend with diesel in automotive engines. Termed bio diesel, this fuel source promises to have immense potential as a renewable source of energy. In pockets of the US, soybean oil and rapeseed oil are being converted into bio diesel.