Getting away from Diesel, Finally

Results of tests on a biodiesel produced from an oilseed shrub gives new impetus to the drive to find alternative fuels.
In April 2004 a Mercedes car traversed 6000 km of diverse stretches on Indian roads—going up the Western Ghats, across the grave, desert tracks of Rajasthan and down the streaming stretches of south India. It was no ordinary journey but an experiment which might one day revolutionise land travel.
The C-class Mercedes, manufactured in Daimler Chrysler’s Pune plant, was being run not on petrol or diesel but on Jatropha Methyl Ester (JME), a fuel made by the extract of a wild plant that grows in wastelands. This “biodiesel” used in the unmodified Mercedes diesel engine is taken from an indigenous oilseed shrub, Jatropha curcus. The test was conducted by the Bhavnagar-based Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI) and backed by Mercedes manufacturer Daimler Chrysler, and Germany’s Hohenheim University
Amid howls of scepticism, the results from the experiment have caused a stir. Daimler Chrysler India’s CEO Hans-Michael Huber says, ”The test was very successful and the results were extremely encouraging.” But no less an eminence than President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has listed jatropha–based biofuel among the top five priority areas in science and technology for 2005.
In the CSMCRI-DaimlerChrysler experiment, JME fulfilled most of Euro–4 emission norms in its non-blended forms. The CSMCRI scientists have made a breakthrough in the final purification of biodiesel, which helps the fuel meet global quality and environmental standards. Says CSMCRI’s chemical engineer M.R.Gandhi: “It is simple but we don’t want to discuss our purification process at this stage because we have applied for the patent of the product.”
JME’s phosphorus and sulphur contents were found to be lower than that of fossil diesel and its Citan number, a measure of ignition quality, was higher than the amount required in Europe and the US. The biofuel produced lower perceivable engine noise and was stable in very high temperatures, with reduced hydrocarbons and particulate emissions. The JME gave the car a mileage of 15.5 km per litre in test condition and 13.5 km per litre in normal condition—on a par with the mileage derived from fossil diesel.
But CSMCRI Director Pushpito Ghosh, who headed the 10–member team on the experiment, is cautious: ”We have conquered Phase 1. The JME is not only on a par with fossil diesel in mileage but is also slightly cheaper. The final success of the experiment rests on phase 2—making Jatropha plantation viable for farmers. ”Using a base price of Rs 6 per kg for Jatropha seeds and standard yield of one litre of JME from 3.5kg of Jatropha seeds, the scientists have calculated a rough price for JME at Rs. 24 a litre—comparable to fossil diesel.
The Jatropha experiment is of particular interest to Germany because another biofuel—RME (rapeseed methane ester)—is used as a blending agent in the fossil diesel, but not in a neat form. The use of rapeseed oil has raised questions on the merits of developing biodiesel using edible oil.
Neat biodiesel was also tried in a high powered, normal automobile engine running on fossil diesel by National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) in Rajkot without modifying the engine, with satisfactory results. A Rajasthan government PSU, Rajasthan Mines and Minerals Company (RMMC), has written to the CSMCRI for advice as it intends to set up a Jatropha biofuel plant based on the technology developed by CSMCRI. The RMMC recently tested JME made by CSMCRI in some vehicles and found it compatible.
The success of the Jatropha experiment, particularly JME’s adherence to Euro–4 emission norms, has now given scientists and environmentalists a new avenue to explore.
As part of a five–year project, Daimler Chrysler has acquired a total of 30 hectares of land in two varying climates to set up their jatropha plantations. It now has twenty hectares in sub–humid Orissa and 10 hectares in semi–arid Gujarat. The CSMCRI is cultivating jatropha in Chor Vadla village near Bhavnagar.
The HPCL has also developed biodiversity from jatropha. It is using this on experimental basis in blended form with fossil diesel in 20 BEST buses in Mumbai. Right now it is blended in the ratio of 10 per cent JME to 90 per cent diesel. Says Bharat Balan, DGM, Alternative Fuels, HPCL, “The jatropha–based biofuel will emerge as a strong alternative fuel.”
However, making jatropha plantation commercially viable would warrant the involvement of not only scientists but also economists and visionaries because a cycle of demand and supply needs to be created. Says Ghosh, “There is no place for speculators when it comes to JME. You need to grasp the importance of the success of this experiment.”
Experts believe that over 30 million hectares of a total of 130 million hectares of wasteland in India can be brought under jatropha cultivation if an integrated approach is followed. But the onus of planning irrigation for the first three years of jatropha plantation will have to be on state governments.
According to Sudhir Singhal, a former director of the Indian Institute of Petroleum where research on jatropha plantation has shown that, on an average, one hectare of land yields 7.5 tonnes of jatropha seeds [or 2.5 tonnes of jatropha oil]. Some believe more research is needed for accurate projections.
The answer to this could be found in the studies done on jatropha in Hohenheim University. The university has been able to develop disease and pest–resistant jatropha varieties that are now being cultivated on a trial basis in India. Singhal says that 10 lakh hectares have been brought under jatopha cultivation. This could rise to 40 lakh hectares next year. Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana and Tamil Nadu are some of the states where planned jatropha cultivation has taken place. The National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development has been contemplating offering loans to encourage jatropha cultivation.
A cheap eco-friendly fuel may still be years away but a humble shrub seems to hold the key to India’s spiralling fuel shortage.
If jatropha plantations are made economically viable in India, JME could become the alternative fuel of the future.
—By Uday Mahurkar