CET operates college bus using biodiesel

Thiruvananthapuram: With an objective to promote sustainability, the center for sustainable development (CSD) at the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, (CET) has successfully operated a college bus using biodiesel extracted from used cooking oil.The project, which is a joint collaboration with the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), involves production and feasibility analysis of biodiesel made from leftover cooking oil procured from the college hostel and canteen. The college bus was successfully powered up on June 10. The project was led by Rani S, an associate professor from the mechanical engineering department, and Prof Muhammad Arif M from the chemistry department, along with Prof Gopakumar S, from the Government Engineering College, Barton Hill.“This is an on-going experiment where we are monitoring the buses running on biodiesel within campus premises. Utilising waste oil for biodiesel production would also prevent the reuse of cooking oil which will also make way for a healthier lifestyle. The major limitation is that we do not have a production plant as such and hence this restricts us from producing biodiesel of more than 100 litres," Rani S said. The biodiesel produced is said to have a similar efficiency to diesel and it significantly reduces the emission of pollutants such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and sulfur compounds.CSD is aiming to achieve the 17 declared goals of sustainable development by 2030, through research and technological interventions to combat pollution and promote sustainable development, in line with the concept of ‘waste to energy’. “Our long-term vision is to become a self-energy-generating campus. We are currently looking at options to start a production plant where we can at least produce enough biodiesel to power all our college buses,” she said.