Every citizen of Delhi is concerned at the problems of school-going children and commuters as a result of the delay in conversion of buses to CNG, as per the Supreme Court’s orders. People have expressed satisfaction with the Court’s decision and anger at the actions and statements of those responsible for the situation, which include politicians, bureaucrats, bus operators, scientists and engineers. The loser, as always, is the citizen. This is probably the right time to think about the polluted and degraded environment, transport needs and the dependence on the limited reserves of oil and gas and consequent costly imports.

For a medium and long-term approach, we must seriously consider dependence imports, limited gas reserves, depleting global oil reserves, the changing political and economic scenario and the possible alternatives. Following the Iraq-Kuwait events of 1991, European countries started concentrating on renewable sources of energy, biofuels and bioenergy. The results were phenomenally successful. Europe, in the year 2000, led by France, Germany and Italy, produced over a million tonnes of BioDiesel—a clean biofuel, a name which has not featured in the Delhi situation so far. Most developed countries, concerned about global oil supplies and the Kyoto Resolutions on environmental pollution, have initiated steps to switch over to alternative clean fuels such as LPG or propane, natural gas (CNG), electricity, solar energy, hydrogen and biofuels—ethanol, methanol and BioDiesel. The use of these alternative fuels is being encouraged to reduce the dependence on imported petroleum and improve air quality.

BioDiesel is widely used in Europe. France is the world’s largest producer; virtually all French diesel contains at least 5 per cent BioDiesel. Germany has more than 900 filling stations selling BioDiesel through pumps. In Europe, over 25 plants are manufacturing BioDiesel with an installed capacity of over a million tonnes per year.

What is BioDiesel?: BioDiesel is a high grade, clean burning, eco-friendly fuel derived from vegetable oils and animal fats. It is a likely alternative, along with ethanol, compressed natural gas and methanol to help governments and industry meet clean air requirements. Just like petroleum diesel, BioDiesel can be used in IC (internal combustion) engines with little or no engine modification while maintaining payload capacity. BioDiesel has physical properties very similar to conventional diesel. Emission properties, however, are cleaner for BioDiesel than for conventional diesel. It has no sulphur, no polyaromatic compounds and reduced toxic smoke and soot emissions.

The Tropical Advantage: In Europe, rapeseed oil is most used for making BioDiesel, along with sunflower seed and soyabean oil, mixtures of palm oil and tallow/lard or even other ‘used’ cooking oils. In the case of India, edible vegetable oils being in short supply, BioDiesel can be made from the vast output of non-edible oil producing trees, for example, Pongamia pinnata, a common neighbourhood tree in Delhi. There are lakhs of these trees in and around Delhi but their produce is not being collected.

Pongamia pinnata is a native of the Western Ghats and is chiefly found along the banks of streams and rivers or near the sea on beaches and tidal forests. It also grows in dry places far in the interior and up to an elevation of 1000 mm. It is often grown to line avenues all over India, and especially in Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

Safety: If the flash point of a fuel is very low, the fuel is considered to be a fire hazard, prone to flashing, possibly ignition and even exploding. The flash point of BioDiesel has been tested and reported by many sources. It has been concluded that the flash point of BioDiesel blends rises as the percentage of BioDiesel increases. Therefore, pure BioDiesel or blends of BioDiesel with petroleum diesel are safer to store, handle and use than conventional diesel fuel. In addition, it is essentially sulphur-free and eliminates the emission of sulphur dioxide and sulphate aerosols.

Benefits: BioDiesel manufactured from non-edible oils of Pongamia pinnata and Jatropha curcas—if planted in India’s wastelands estimated at more than 50 million hectares—can totally free the country from costly oil imports.