India’s Infrastructure Forcing Some Biodiesel Producers to Sell Fuel Abroad
by Matthew McDermott, Brooklyn, NY on 10. 9.08
Jatropha curcas field (a bit sparsely planted and not in India, sorry couldn’t find one...) photo by: orgadem.
India may be one of the world leaders in growing jatropha for use in biodiesel, but apparently some of the nation's biodiesel producers are encountering production bottlenecks. There isn't enough of the necessary infrastructure to blend the fuel in with conventional petroleum diesel. The result: Indian biodiesel producers are shipping their fuel to the United States and Europe. Here’s the scoop:
The original article indicates that at least two Indian biodiesel producers are shipping fuel abroad or plan on doing so shortly because of difficulties with India’s fuel blending infrastructure.
Naturol Shipping to US & EU Since June
Hyderabad-based Naturol Bioenergy began commercial production last April and has been shipping biodiesel to the US and EU since June. Its biodiesel refinery can produce 100,000 tonnes of fuel per year, using a blend of palm oil, rapeseed, jatropha, pongamia, and vegetable oil as feedstock. For those (rightly) concerned about the use of palm oil, the firm has indicated that it plans on cutting its use of palm oil by 40% next year. Ironically, on the firm’s website over a photo of a palm oil plantation, the words “for a sustainable future” have been superimposed.
Cleancities Will Begin US Shipments Next Month
Cleancities Biodiesel , also based in Hyderabad, began commercial production last week and will be shipping fuel to the United States next month. Its 66 million gallon per year facility (the largest currently built in India) uses a blend of palm, jatropha and soybean oil as feedstock.
Exact Constraints Not Specified...
Strangely, the original article does not go into the details as to why India’s fuel infrastructure only supports blending biofuels with petroleum fuels, other than to say that it doesn’t. Is it a political decision, a technical one yet to be addressed? So we’ll have to leave it at that...An area for improvement in the Indian biofuels industry.
via :: Cleantech
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There are less than 8,000 Ha of land planted out as Jatropha Orchards in all of India. About 6,000 or so in Africa and similar amounts in SE Asia. There is no commercial production of Jatropha Curcas Linn Oil world wide. Most ambitious plantation attempts have failed miserably. Nothing wrong with Jatropha Curcas Linn, just that it survives drought and other extreme limits of nutrient input. It does not produce a commercial harvest under such conditions. Come to the Workshop in Hamburg this month and I shall discuss how to deliver a commercial project in full for the right reasons, in the right places with the right conditions. CKWR