The Hindu : Task force report soon on bio-diesel

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 22, 2004

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Task force report soon on bio-diesel

By Aarti Dhar

NEW DELHI, JAN. 21. The task force on implementation of bio-diesel as an alternative for conventional fuel is likely to submit its report in a month.

The project involves the use of jatropha curcas or "ratanjot" oilseeds for extraction of oil that can be used as a fuel instead of petro diesel. The task force was constituted by the Planning Commission to chalk out the finer details.

"We want to get the report cleared by the Cabinet before the general elections are announced, but it would depend on when the draft report is submitted,'' the Minister of State for Rural Development, Anna Sahib M.K. Patil, said here today. The Rural Development Ministry has been appointed as the nodal agency for the programme implementation.

"If the draft report is cleared soon, we will be able to start the oil production by the year 2007,'' Mr. Patil said. The Minister has named bio-diesel as "b-urja" ( a play on the Hindi word `urja' fo energy) to distinguish it from other forms of alternative fuels that are being researched upon.

Twenty States had expressed interest in the project and some had even begun planting of jatropha. As much as 63.5 million hectares of wasteland comes within the Ministry and 20 million hectares is likely to be used for jatropha plantation. Research shows that each hectare of jatropha plantation with 4,400 plants per hectare, under rain-fed conditions can yield 1,500 litres of oil. About three million hectare plantation is required to produce oil for 10 per cent replacement of petro-diesel. The residue oil cake after extraction can be used as organic fertilizer.

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