Mahindra launches India's first biodiesel-compliant tractor

Automobile and farm equipment major Mahindra & Mahindra Limited launched biodiesel compliant Arjun International 75757, a 75 HP tractor, targetted at the Maharashtra market.

Sanjeev Goyale, senior vice president for sales and marketing at M&M's Farm Equipment division, said the new tractors will be able to use five per cent biodiesel.

He said the company's research and development team has developed a fuel injection system that will allow mixing of five per cent biodiesel, which will soon become a norm in the country. The tractors will also be able to run without biofuel.

Goyale said the company will use major towns in the state as hubs to supply biodiesel within a 50 km radius. M&M dealers in these hub cities will stock biodiesel and distribute it within their territories.

The new tractor was unveiled at Kisan 2007, a national exhibition of range of products and services directed at the farming community. Maharashtra is the top-selling market for the company, with sales of 18,000 units per year - 40 per cent of the total tractor sales in the state.

Goyale said all the tractors made by M&M will now be biodiesel compliant and the company is looking at upgrading the range to make products that can take 10 per cent biodiesel.

He said the company has tied up with two suppliers of biodiesel, one in from Latur in Maharashtra and another from Hyderabad.

As an incentive to the customers, the company will supply free biodiesel for the first 1,000 hours of tractor use, he informed.

M&M manufactures tractors out of two plants in Maharashtra (Mumbai and Nagpur) and is a major exporter of tractors. The company has so far sold 1.25 million tractors.

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GOING GREEN

Biodiesel is a renewable fuel that can be made from algae, vegetable oils, animal fats or recycled restaurant greases

It is safe, biodegradable and reduces air pollutants, such as particulates, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons

However, the smog forming hydrocarbon emissions are 35% greater, and nitrogen oxide emissions are also greater than regular diesel

Biodiesel is a better solvent than standard diesel, as it 'cleans' the engine, removing deposits in the fuel lines