Fuelling a cleaner tomorrow

While everyone is tiring of rising pollution and loss of trees, there appears to be some hope out there.

You could in the future be stopping at green bunks to fill up on biofuel or biodiesel which could come up in the city and elsewhere with the state planning a tie- up with oil companies to establish them. The KSRTC is already running 1,000 buses on biodiesel as an experiment and is working on improving the blend of biofuel and diesel.

The University of Agricultural Sciences in the city too runs some of its vehicles on this eco- friendly fuel that is not only cheap but also holds out great hope for cutting down on pollution in Bengaluru and other towns and cities choking on the black smoke emitted by cars and buses on their roads.

The state may be on the right track and willing to increase the percentage of biofuel in biodiesel, but engines that are currently available in the market are not ready for such a mix as yet and may have to be altered to accept it, say experts.

But the important thing is moves are afoot to make biofuel a part of every day life. Massive plantations of biofuel plants are coming up in various parts of the state, helping to produce biodiesel from seeds of tree species like Pongamia, Simarouba, Neem, Mahua, Jatropha, Veteria indica and Calophyllum inophyllum.

Karnataka, which currently has vast stretches of land under Pongamia and Simarouba, may also set up a Biofuel Park in Hassan and a seed collection unit on the lines of the Karnataka Milk Federation.

To its advantage biofuel plants can be grown on barren land. The State Task Force on Biofuels says Karnataka has 13.5 lakh hectares of land which can be used to grow biofuel species, without ever touching agricultural land.

The task force is also encouraging research in biofuel. The Dharwad University of Agricultural Sciences is doing research on producing biofuel from Jatropha and the GKVK campus of the University of Agricultural Sciences in Bengaluru has a demonstration centre where people can see for themselves the entire process of producing oil from seed and understand its advantages both to their purses and the air around them.

‘Biofuel is a very cheap alternative’

Dr M. Prithviraj

Biofuels are the future as fossil fuels are growing rarer and costlier. Producing biofuel in large quantity will not only help save import costs of fossil fuel but also generate wealth for the country. Growing plants from which biofuels can be extracted is certain to enrich and empower the rural community and also create carbon credits for the country.

The biggest advantage with biofuel is that the plants can be grown on barren land. This not only makes it a cheaper alternative fuel but also enhances the productivity of land that is in disuse. Karnataka has enough land and the right climatic conditions for these plants.

We at the Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology are helping the Biofuel Board gather information based on studies of the biofuel capacity of the state.

Research work is on in identifying the right species that can be grown in a certain geo-climatic condition, improving the yield from biofuel plants, ways to optimise oil extraction from them and on methods for efficient storage of oil. Once we have better yield, we hope to increase the percentage of blending in bio-diesel. It may, however, be necessary to modify the engines of vehicles to accept it.

Extracting biofuel from Neem is expensive because it already has a higher commercial value due to its recognised medicinal properties. We are therefore looking at other species which can give good yield and still be less expensive. Pongamia has proved to be a good option for Karnataka and is being grown across the state.