Alternative Fuels for Petrol and Diesel

With a view to supplement the consumption of petrol and diesel, initiatives have been taken to explore the possibility of utilizing biofuels namely bio-ethanol and bio-diesel, and hydrogen. A National Policy on Biofuels has been developed and was announced in December, 2009. A target of 5% blending of bio-diesel with diesel and bio-ethanol with petrol has been fixed.

Research and Development (R&D) work has been initiated by various scientific organizations/institutions. R&D has been undertaken for development of improved varieties of planting material for improving yields of non-edible oil seeds and their oil content for increasing the production of biodiesel. Large scale field trials of the improved planting material are currently in progress in the States of Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, etc. Besides, R&D work has also been undertaken for development of second generation technologies for production of bio-ethanol from agricultural and forest residues/wastes.