Escalating petro price? Biofuel is the answer

LUCKNOW: After the green and whiterevolutions, the country now needs a ‘biofuel revolution''. The escalatingprices of fuel and heavy import bills at an astronomical Rs 84,000 crore in2002-03 are reasons enough to look at alternative sources of energy. Biofuelcould be the answer. The Union government mandated the supply of 5per cent ethanol (derived from waste molasses) to be blended with petrol witheffect from January 1, 2003. This has been implemented in eight states and fourUnion territories including UP. The Planning Commission in it''s report has alsoidentified Jatropha Curca (Ratanjyot) and Pongamia Pinnata (Honge) for producingbio-diesel. With the launching of the National Mission, Jatropha hasbeen selected for bio-diesel to be mixed at 5 per cent by year 2005 in a phasedmanner. However meeting this target would be impossible to achieve as the demandwould be approximately 5 lakh million litre for mixing. Despitebeing one of the first states to introduce ethanol blend, the awareness aboutbiofuel in UP remains at a minimal. The production of Ratanjyot and Honge plantsis at a nascent stage with National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI), BiotechPark and forest department have started their cultivation only recently.This may be too little and too late as Jatropha takes atleast twoand a half years to mature. Director, NBRI, Dr P Pushpangadan said that thoughthey have 2-3 lakh saplings ready in the Fast Multiplying hi-tech nursery atBiotech Park, they are yet to identify high yielding strains. "Forcommercial cultivation stability of yield is very important. Jatropha seed andoil yield is relatively low which fluctuates between as low as 28 per cent to 40per cent. A yield of 35-40 per cent is the basic minimum required for theproject to be successful. Also for ecological sustainability the plant shouldeasily adapt to sodic lands for we don''t want agricultural produce to be hit anyway because farmers are replacing agri-crops. This would be disastrous," headded. In co-ordination with Indian Institute of Petroleum, (Council ofScientific and Industrial Research Institute) for producing bio-diesel, NBRI istrying to identify strains where the plant architecture is umbrella shaped forimproving per unit area yield. Mass macro- propagation is being undertaken buteven then the commitments cannot be met. Another problem is trained manpowershortage,Pushpangadan added. ‘‘To meet the requirement the projectwill need to be taken up on a war-footing. In addition to this it has beendiscovered that UP soil is ideally suited for growing Pingamia Pinata which canbe exploited by the state for commercial use,he said.