2016, Vol. 4, Issue 6, Part D

author(s)
ZI Buhroo, MA Bhat, NA Ganai and JA Lone

abstract
Biofuel in today’s scenario is becoming increasingly attractive fuel because of its environmental benefits and renewable nature. Continuous use of petroleum sourced fuels is now widely recognized as unsustainable because of depleting supplies and the contribution of these fuels to global warming by way of heavy accumulations of carbon dioxide in the environment. The soaring oil prices have encouraged major consumers worldwide to sharply increase the use of Biofuel. In a developing country like India this is not practically feasible to divert the edible oil for production of Biofuel as the edible oil demand for human consumption is always higher than its domestic production. Under Indian conditions only such plant sources can be considered for Biofuel which produces non-edible oil in appreciable quantity and can be cultivated at large scale on non cropped marginal and wastelands. There are many tree species which bear oil rich seeds and can serve as excellent feedstock for Biofuel production. Biofuel plants are specially grown to produce some form of energy which may be generated through direct combustion or gasification of the plants to produce electricity and heat or by converting them to liquid fuels such as ethanol or biodiesel for use in vehicles. Various raw materials used to produce biodiesel include soybean oil, rapeseed oil, Jatropha oil, palm oil, waste vegetable oil and animal fat etc. In India the major thrust is on Jatropha oil and the rest of raw material sources are extensively used in USA and other countries of the world. This is because Jatropha, a promising Biofuel crop can be grown on any type of land without much care and investment. Keeping in view the increasing global prices and the finite nature of traditional based fuels it is imperative to encourage the use of Biofuels. Apart from this there is a dire need to explore the other efficient Biofuel crops at large scale especially in India.