Bhavnagar based research institute Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute(CSMCRI), is likely to initiate talks with oil companies for manufacturing jatropha-based bio-fuel on a commercial scale.
"We have recently been granted the US patent for our technology, and now we can share our intellectual property rights (IPR) with an interested party, who can manufacture the jatropha-based bio-diesel on a larger scale", informed P K Ghosh, director of CSMCRI which has been producing bio-diesel on a small scale so far.
The institute is collaborating with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) which aims to trial run millitary vehicles on bio-diesel. "We have already trained DRDO personnel regarding the technology, and they can also manufacture it under our licensed process for internal consumption", Ghosh said.
CSMCRI has already supplied around 12,000 litres of bio-diesel to General Motors India in the last two years for testing its cars on bio-diesel. The US Department of Energy(DoE), GM and CSMCRI entered into a five year partnership in April this year to develop Jatropha as a sustainable crop. GM is investing close to $ 1million on the project that will demonstrate that jatropha, traditionally considered a weed, can produce significant quantities of oil for commercial scale conversion to biodiesel. Under the partnership two jatropha farms will be established, a 33 hectare plot in Bhavnagar and a 20 hectare plot in Kalol besides CSMCRI's existing 30 hectare jatropha farm in Bhavnagar. In all, there will be 83 hectares of jatropha farm under the partnership.
Another auto major Mahindra and Mahindra has also recently intensified its sourcing of bio-diesel from the institute. The company has recently sourced around 3,000 litres of bio-diesel from CSMCRI.
"The problem behind scaling up the programme is having enough jatropha as raw material for the fuel. Besides our Gujarat based farms, we have plantations in Orissa that produce around 10-12 tonnes of fruit per annum", Ghosh said. So, the institute is now looking for partners for large scale manufacture. While Ghosh did not wish to share finer details at the moment, he added, "Nothing is concrete as of now, but we are planning to talk to oil companies who can manufacture bio-diesel using our IPR".
Around 500 litres of bio-diesel could be produced per hectare provided each hectare produces 3 tonnes of fruit. Ghosh is planning to go on the lines of Amul and develop cooperatives comprising local farmers who would cultivate and harvest jatropha. "A family of four should be able to manage around five hectares of farmland. Given that the production is around 3 tonnes of fruit per hectare and one gets around Rs 8000 per tonne for the fruit, a family could earn around Rs 24,000 a month from the field. Leaving aside the cost of irrigation, buying seeds and sundry cost, the return is roughly around Rs 5000-6000 per month per hectare.", Ghosh explained. He also added that CSMCRI is now working on developing an integrated mobile unit that will go around the villages collect the fruits, separate the shaft and seeds and also extract the oil from the seeds that will be then brought back to the factory for refining. The mobile unit would be nothing but a vehicle mounted with the machines that will process the fruit. The cost of a single such unit could be around Rs 30 lakh. CSMCRI has already initiated talks with the likes of Self Employed Women's Association for assistance is developing the cooperatives and self help groups.
