Biodiesel
- Fuel for future
With
increase in the demand of petroleum products the prices of
petrol & diesel are increasing world wide. This trend
is expected in years to come as the resources are also depleting.
Hence alternative sources of energy for running our generators,
automobiles etc. are being considered world wide.
The
possibility of obtaining oil from plant resources has aroused
a great interest and in several countries, vegetable oil after
esterification being used as 'Biodiesel'.
Biodiesel
is a nontoxic, biodegradable replacement of the petroleum
diesel. The vegetable oils are treated with alcohol ethanol
or methanol and alkali. The products of the reaction are Biodiesel
and glycerol. Chemically biodiesel is monoalkyl esters of
long chain fatty acid and its properties are similar to petrodiesel.
The biodiesel can be used as 20% blend with petrodiesel in
existing engines without any modification. Both
the edible and non edible vegetable oils can be used as the
raw materials for the biodiesel. Considering the cost and
demand of the edible oils the non edible oils may be preferred
for the preparation of biodiesel in India.
In
India a National mission on Biodiesel has been launched with
the objective for producing biodiesel required for blending
to the extent of 20% with the petrodiesel in the year 2011-12.
Further it has decided to go for the massive plantation of
non edible oil producing plant species. The following plant
species are known to be good sources for the biodiesel
- Jatropha
curcas
(Jatropha)
- Pongamia
pinnata (Karanj)
- Azadirachta
indica (Neem)
- Madhuca
indica (Mahua)
The
process of obtaining Biodiesel is simple and requires only
two steps as follows:
- Extracting
oil from seeds by expeller
- Esterification
of the extracted oil
Jatropha
curcas has
the oil contents 33 - 40% and it can be grown in the salty,
stony and sandy soils and in the areas having rainfall even
up to 200 mm. The animals also do not consume Jatropha plants.
The
Biotech Park has under taken a project for raising the Nursery
of the Jatropha curcas plants
by the technology provided by National botanical Research
Institute, Lucknow. The jatropha plantlets are raised from
the seedlings and cuttings. The plantlets raised at the Biotech
Park are disease free and will yield seeds with high oil contents.
The
Biotech Park has received an order for supply of three lakhs
Jatropha plants from National Oil Seeds and Vegetable Oil
Development Board, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of
India. Besides this the farmers from different parts of states
of UP are approaching Park and booking their orders
for the supply of Jatropha plants. |
