Indian Bio-diesel Scenario

The nation is facing a shortage of edible and non-edible oil. For the reason of edible oil demand being higher than its domestic production, there is no possibility of diverting this oil for production of bio-diesel. The existing high price of edible oil and the full use of tree borne oil seeds for various purposes suggest that organized bio diesel production for blending is possible only if plantation of selected non-edible oilseeds are taken up in compact areas and backed by infrastructure for procurement, primary processing, and production at the plant duly equipped to produce quality bio-diesel for the oil industry.

There are many tree species which bear seeds rich in oil. The edible oilseeds like Sunflower, Rapeseed, Soybean, Palm, Mastered and inedible oil seeds like Jatropha curcas, Pongamia, Neem, Mahua provide rich bio mass and nutrients to the soil and check degradation of land. Of these some promising tree species have been evaluated and it has been found that there are a number of them such as Jatropha curcas and Pongamia Pinnata (‘Honge' or ‘Karanja'), Mahua, Simaruba which would be very suitable in our conditions. However, Jatropha curcas has been found most suitable for the purpose. It can be planted on farmers' uncultivable land, field boundaries to provide protective hedge, fallow lands, on farmers' holdings as agro-forestry along with agricultural crops, public lands along railway tracks, highways, canals and community and government lands in villages. Jatropha also needs minimum fertilizer and water to grow well. It can also be planted under the poverty alleviation programmes / National Employment Guarantee Scheme that deal with land improvement.

The capacity of Jatropha curcas to rehabilitate degraded or dry lands, from which the poor mostly derive their sustenance, by improving their water retention capacity, make it an instrument for up-gradation of land resources and especially for helping the poor. Thus, grown on a significant scale, Jatropha can clean the air and green the country, add to the capital stock of the farmers and the community and promote crop diversification which is imperative in Indian agriculture.

It is envisaged that the Bio-diesel project in India can be successful only through the implementation in integrated manner involving the Farmers' Co-operative Society, NGOs, Automobile manufacturers, Oil Marketing Companies, State Govt. and Central Govt. Departments. According this model there should be cluster Jatropha plantation with supported by the seed procurement center and nearest oil extraction unit to reduce the transport cost. The chain of activities from raising nurseries, planting, maintaining, primary processing and oil extraction is labour intensive and will generate employment opportunities on a large scale, particularly for the rural landless and help them to escape poverty.

In USA , 20% bio-diesel blend is being used, while in European countries 5 – 15% blends have been adopted. Bio-diesel can be blended in any ratio with petroleum diesel fuel. It can be stored just like the petroleum diesel fuel and hence does not require separate infrastructure. Bio-diesel has been accepted as clean alternative fuel by US. Due to its favorable properties, bio-diesel can be used as fuel for diesel engines (as either, B5 – a blend of 5% bio-diesel in petro-diesel fuel, or B20 or B100). USA uses B20 and B100 bio-diesel, France uses B5 as mandatory in all diesel fuel.

Sunflower, rapeseed is the raw material for Bio-Diesel used in Europe whereas soybean is used in USA . Thailand uses palm oil, Ireland uses frying oil and animal fats. In India it is proposed to use non-edible oil for producing Bio-diesel. Presently many species are being grown which yield seed containing non-edible oil. The present production is being used and much surplus is not available. It is proposed to take up a major plantation programme of Jatropha curcas , Pongamia pinnata, Neem, Mahua, Simaruba which provide the oil needed.