Subject: Tree Provides Biodiesel For India

Posted from the Envirolink Network

   Tree Provides Biodiesel For India
   By Keya Acharya
   
   BANGALORE, India, April 8, 1998 (ENS) - Since February 1998, the oil
   from the seed of the Pongamia pinnata tree is being used as a
   substitute for diesel in electricity generation in rural Karnataka
   state. The tree is native to the Western Ghats of India, and
   distributed eastwards to Fiji and Australia.
   
   This form of fuel is being used in a project called SUTRA (Sustainable
   Transformation of Rural Areas) run by scientists from Asia's premier
   scientific research institution, the Indian Institute of Science.
   
   Professor Udupi Shrinivasa, Head of the Department of Mechanical
   Engineering, at the Indian Institute of Science, based at Bangalore,
   is also head of SUTRA. He is optimistic that pongamia oil will prove
   to be a practical and inexpensive substitute for diesel to serve power
   needs in rural areas. Shrinivasa has filed for a patent on the
   commercial use of pongamia oil as an alternative fuel.
   
   SUTRA is currently being funded by India's Ministry of
   Non-Conventional Energy and the state government of Karnataka. In the
   year 2000, SUTRA will be granted US$10 million from the Global
   Environment Facility, a body set up to help conserve the world's
   biodiversity, and funded by the World Bank, United Nations Environment
   Programme and United Nations Development Programme. Then plans are to
   replicate the project in other states of India. Pongamia tree
   
      Characteristics of the pongamia tree.
      
   The pongamia tree yields anywhere between nine to ninety kilos (20 to
   200 pounds) of seeds per year. One kilo (2.2 pounds) of seeds produces
   one-quarter of a kilo of oil. The residual crushed seed, known as oil
   cake, is a good source of manure.
   
   One kilo of oil generates three units of electricity, and the
   economics of all this works out to much lower than the current price
   of diesel.
   
   The villages in Karnataka are already familiar with pongamia oil and
   seed. They use the oil for lighting lamps and the seed for soil
   fertiliser.
   
   Biodiesel or fuel from renewable products is not a new concept -
   Rudolf Diesel himself experimented with vegetable oils in his engine
   in 1900. Before World War II, the multi-fuel ability of the diesel
   engine was recognised, but inexpensive and readily available petroleum
   fuels overtook vegetable oils.
   


   The OPEC embargo and subesequent price increases in the 1970s renewed
   research in using vegetable oils as fuels. More recently, concern over
   the environmental impacts of fossil fuels has increased impetus for
   research in biodiesels. The most common subjects of alternative fuel
   experiments are sunflower, rapeseed, castor, flax, palm, and coconut
   oils as well as animal fats.
   
   Biodiesel has been extensively tested by government agencies,
   university researchers and private industry in the United States,
   Canada and Europe. More than one hundred biodiesel tests, including
   three one-million-mile tests have been completed. Performance, fuel
   mileage and driveability were found to be similar to petrodiesel fuel.
   The most notable difference is that vegetable based fuels emit less
   exhaust fumes.
   
   In Europe, Austria has led the way in standardising biodiesel. Austria
   has made it mandatory to use biodiesel in areas of high risk to the
   environment, which immediately created a domestic market for
   production of vegetable oil fuel. A recent proposal to the European
   Council to allow use of biodiesel in diesel engines borrows heavily
   from Austrian standards.
   
   The most significant deterrent to biodiesel use in Europe and America
   is its high price in these areas. Even with improved technologies, it
   still costs more to produce a litre of biodiesel than a litre of
   petrodiesel. Special tax treatments would be needed to promote
   commercial use of this fuel.
   
   Another drawback to biodiesel is the high viscosity or thickness of

   vegetable oils which results in early engine damage. More research is
   currently being conducted for improvement in this area.
   
   The situation in developing countries, on the other hand, is the
   opposite. Most developing countries cannot afford to import petroleum
   based fuels to generate industry. But most also have access to sources
   of vegetable fuels like the pongamia which is distributed in tropical
   regions. So in developing countries, vegetable oils could become
   cheaper than petrodiesel, even if the diesel is heavily subsidised, as
   in India.
   
   In developing countries, there is no shortage of manpower for
   technical maintenance of the engines. Frequent cleaning of fuel
   injectors and filters are less of a problem. In the case of pongamia
   oil, Shrinivasa says a simple filtering in rural areas is sufficient.
   In colder parts of India and other developing countries, the problem
   of freezing of waxes and gums in the oil could be solved by simple
   heating.
   
   It may be possible to encourage the sustainable growth of the pongamia
   tree on India's over 90 million hectares (roughly 2 billion acres) of
   degraded lands. Since the tree is not grazed upon by cattle, rural
   areas could well be serviced in energy, economic and environmental
   benefits by the pongamia pinnata.
   
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   the [8]EnviroLink Network. Copyright =A9 1998 ENS, Inc.


Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998 21:51:40 -0500 (CDT)
From: kerryo 
To: renewable energy