Govt launches sale of diesel doped with non-edible oil

After having blended ethanol in petrol, the government today launched on limited scale the sale of diesel doped with biodiesel as part of its attempts to cut reliance on oil imports.
Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan launched sale of diesel blended with 5 per cent non-edible oil extracted from palm stearin, at four cities of Delhi, Vishakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Haldia. The blended fuel has been named B5.
"We want to extend the programme to all over the country but such a move will depend on the availability of bio-diesel," he told reporters here.
Use of bio-diesel will not only help cut carbon emissions but will also cut reliance on imports, on which the nation is 80 per cent dependent to meet is oil needs.

Pradhan launched the sale of B5 at petrol stations and also announced that bulk users like Railways, Defence and State Road Transport undertaking can directly procure bio-diesel and blend it with diesel as per their needs.
"For a nationwide rollout, we will need 3.5 million tonne of bio-diesel but current production capacity in the country is only 1 million tonne. So there is a mismatch, and availability will decide on when the programme will spread to other parts," he said.

A Bio-diesel Purchase Policy was announced in January 2006 to encourage production of bio-diesel in the country for blending it with diesel with the objective of increasing energy security and meeting other emission and environment objectives. But the scheme never took off.

The Cabinet in January this year decided to roll it out again and allowed private bio-diesel manufacturers, their dealers and authorised joint-venture companies to sell the fuel directly to consumers.
Pradhan said the oil companies will this month float a tender to procure bio-diesel and rates will be fixed as per bids received.
He said blending of bio-diesel up to 5 per cent in diesel does not requirement any technological interventions at both the vehicle and diesel manufacturing.
On similar lines, a programme for 5 per cent blending of sugarcane-extracted ethanol in petrol is currently on. "But the average is only 3 per cent due to availability issues," he said.

Internationally, August 10 is observed as "World Bio Diesel Day" to mark the demonstration of Diesel Engine by Rudolf Diesel on various vegetable oils way back in 1893.
In 1900 when he demonstrated the engine running on Ground nut oil in Paris he made a prophetic statement which reads, "My Engine today is running on Diesel but a day will come when all the fossil fuels be over, but my engine will continue to run".