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New steam for railways
 As the roads get more and more congested with vehicles, there is a huge demand for petrol and diesel. And as this need grows, the government also has to search for other sources of energy.
Countries like the United States of America have been using bio-diesel for a long time. India has now joined this club.
As a first phase, Indian Railways has started using bio-diesel for its locomotives and road vehicles. Northern Railway, in association with Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), runs its diesel locomotives using bio-diesel.
Southern Railway recently started operating its road vehicles using bio-diesel. Its general manager V Anand flagged off these vehicles from the Perambur Loco Shed in Chennai.
Bio-diesel is a fuel similar in characteristics to high-speed diesel oil (HSD) and it is produced from vegetable oils, both edible and non-edible. This can be used in all types of diesel engines in automotive and in stationary applications.
Process of producing bio-diesel:
Bio-diesel can be produced from any type of vegetable oils and also from greasy materials by a simple chemical process called esterification (transesterification). This can be used either directly by completely replacing the HSD oil or by mixing it in any proportion with the HSD oil. In either case it has tangible benefits over HSD oil which is basically an exhaustible
fossil
fuel.
Advantages of bio-diesel:
 Bio-diesel is an environment-friendly, renewable source of fuel unlike HSD oil. The dangerous emissions of HSD oil can be considerably reduced if bio-diesel is used. In fact, if bio-diesel is used as 100 per cent replacement to HSD oil, the harmful emission of sulphur dioxide is totally eliminated.
Hydrocarbons are reduced by 70 per cent. Aromatics are reduced by 80 per cent, particulate matter is reduced by 40 per cent, carbon monoxide is reduced by 20 per cent; only nitrous oxides are slightly increased by 5 per cent which can be controlled by simple tuning of the engine. Even if bio-diesel is mixed with HSD oil, say at 20 per cent proportion, these emissions can be reduced by 25 per cent in general.
Since bio-diesel is produced from trees and other types of plantations, green coverage gets increased, facilitating recycling of carbon dioxide which reduces green house effect and, consequently, global warming. Increase in green coverage also results in soil conservation and increased rainfall. Many developed countries extensively use bio-diesel mainly on environmental considerations.
 For developing countries like India, the other major benefits can be, locally produced fuel oil making the country self reliant on the energy front. Since the production is labour-intensive and best suited for the rural areas, large-scale employment opportunities can be created in villages; large tracts of wasteland can be reclaimed for growing the oilseed bearing trees thus simultaneously increasing the green coverage and soil conservation. Other byproducts like oil cake, glycerine, etc., can facilitate setting up of auxiliary industries in the villages.
Realising the benefits of bio-diesel, Indian
Railways has taken a policy decision to use bio-diesel extensively for its diesel locomotives and road vehicles. To facilitate this, Indian Railways has entered into a memorandum of understanding with IOC to supply bio-diesel as much as possible.
 To accelerate the use, Indian Railways has also started producing its own bio-diesel by planting trees like Jetropha curcas, karanjia (pungam in Tamil) on vacant lands, track sides, etc. Apart from that, it also buys raw vegetable oils like pungam oil and jetropha oil from the open market, they esterify it and put into use as esterified biodiesel, which is not available in the market now.
In this endeavour, Southern Railway has already planted more than a lakh of such trees and the process is continuing. The Southern Railway Perambur Loco Shed laboratory also processes the oil bought in the market at the experimental plant at the loco shed.
The commissioning of three road vehicles using bio-diesel may look like a small step in the field but it paves the way for a larger endeavour for the country to go all out to popularise the use of this natural fuel. Another pilot plant of larger capacity is being set up. After its commissioning, diesel locomotives also start using bio-diesel.
N Arun Kumar
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