Where do biofuels figure in India’s future? Is there anything that you have done to ensure it has a good future both for the producer and consumer?
The future is very bright in India because the demand is increasing steadily. There are two liquid fuels used in transportation system; petrol and diesel. What we manufacture here is biodiesel; a substitute for regular diesel. The other biofuel, ethanol is usually blended with petrol in the proportion of 5 to 10 per cent. Biodiesel is a 100 per cent substitute. It gives independence to the manufacturers. They don’t have to depend on fossil fuels to blend it. Ethanol is manufactured from starch, where as biodiesel is fat-based. Palm is the most abundant source of fats in India. Most of these fats are classified as non-edible in the western world due to high unsaturated fats content. We identified the configuration, which is a technology that can handle multiple grades of feedstock. Our configuration allows us to use any species or any grade of feedstock; jatropha, palm or any other fat type. What contributes to the price factor is the fatty acid content. The lower the fatty acid content
