The Indian Railways’ Research Design and Standard Organization (RDSO) has successfully developed and tested biodiesel-based locomotive engines, in its bid to scout for renewable and environment friendly fuels. Lucknow-based RDSO is the railway’s sole research and development facility in the country, whose executive director (engine development) Shishir Dutta was in the city to attend an energy conclave at the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur (IIT-K).
Dutta said the railways operated around 8,000 engines everyday for various transportation purposes, of which almost 4,500 were run on diesel. “We have been working on the idea of developing engines capable of running on alternative fuels since past five years and have finally gained success after a positive trial run last September,” he said.
The development is being viewed as a milestone as it would enable the consumption of large amount of biodiesel being manufactured by various companies in the country, which can easily serve as an eco-friendly alternative to the fossil fuels, which apart from being polluting, are fast getting depleted and are also expensive.
“The government has been serious regarding the issues of global warming and the step is an initiative towards cutting the carbon emissions in the country,” explained Dutta.
He also said the biofuel would be amalgamated with the presently used fossil fuels in a gradually phased manner over a period of three years, after witnessing the long term effects of the switchover.
“In the first phase we will mix up to 10 per cent and graduate to 20 per cent in second phase and reach the maximum limit of 50 per cent amalgamation after three phases. The present engines will be altered to run on the substitute fuel, so as to save the costs of manufacturing new units,” Dutta elaborated.
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One locomotive generally needs around Rs 5 crore investment for its manufacture, while the altering expenses will be marginal, running just into few lakhs rupees. The initiative, however, is currently not expected to bring about any cost reduction as the prices and production cost of bio-diesel is almost similar to the conventional fuels.
The railways are also running another project to promote the cultivation of bio-diesel plants, jathropa on lakhs of hectares of land lying along its tracks across the country. Bio-diesel can now also be generated from neem and waste vegetable oils, according to the latest research findings.