It could be the first CDM (clean development mechanism) project in the transport sector of the country and could earn up to 0.115 million dollars every year, just to begin with. When its scope is extended it would mean earning 1.9 million dollars every year. That is the BMTC project to run 280 of its buses on biofuel.
More important than the money, this could mean avoiding for the period between 2006 to 2015 a total emission of 27839.9 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. When extended to the entire fleet it would mean a reduction of 499 tonnes of emissions every day!
A few buses of both the KSRTC and BMTC have been run on pilot projects using biofuel. It was shown to increase efficiency and reduce exhaust emissions. No engine retrofit was found to be required. The plan was to expand the number by end of March this year.
However, it has not yet taken off simply because of the unavailability of the fuel. “Tenders have been put out and we are waiting,” said Anand Rao, environmental adviser, KSRTC, who is also handling the section at BMTC.
According to him, the prices have gone up from Rs 28 to 33 per litre, and most of the biofuel seeds is being sold to the neighbouring states for higher prices.
The project would require 1226.4 kilolitres of biofuel whereas the State has an availability of 16746 tonnes of the same, according to the corporation’s calculations.
Everywhere the world over, and especially so in the US which is trying desperately to find independence from oil and petrol, biofuel is the most happening technology. Especially in the transport sector which is one of the highest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions (which are adding to the global warming).
But the area is still a nascent one, with many issues at stake both for the farming community and for the consumers.
In India too, and in Karnataka, biofuels are becoming a fashionable word. The promise of making fast money as also reduce dependence on oil imports has attracted many players. But there is still more ground work necessary before the fuel takes off.
For one, as Prof Bala Krishne Gowda, UAS, Bangalore says, “There is a scarcity largely due to the lack of a proper system of collection and marketing. The sector is not yet organised. The rates often vary and is demand-driven. We need something on the lines of milk co-operatives that gives the growers an assured price.”
However, he is hopeful that things will take shape in a couple of years. “At our biofuel park at Hassan we have already set up an organised marketing system. By this year end the marketing aspect will also be in place,” he adds.
Prof Gowda is optimistic that there is enough availability of raw materials in the State and the university, alongwith the Agriculture Department, has plans to augment capacity. The university has distributed over 6 lakh seedlings last year and plans to take up more after the oncoming monsoons, he says.
According to Dr Sarvesh K V, additional director, crop development, Dept of Agriculture, the problem is mainly that of biodiesel conversion. “The scarcity is not for the seeds as much as for the biodiesel, the end product. We don’t have enough conversion centres. (There are only two in the State.)”
For buyers, it is mostly a problem of not enough bulk quantity of seeds. He sees it as a slow process.
There is no scarcity of takers, he says, adding that the department was educating the farmers on biofuel crops.
 Biofuel crops are easy to grow too. Like the Honge which hardly needs any care and whose seeds fall and grow into trees in as less as 6-7 years.
Studies have been undertaken on some of the other crops at the University of Agricultural Sciences, both at Dharwad and Bangalore. In the case of jatropha it has been seen that at Rs 5 per kg of seeds from a tree, a farmer could get as much as Rs 500 after three years; Rs 2500 after four years and Rs 20,000 after eight years. Just from a single tree! In fact, as one of the scientists remarked, it was much more profitable than cultivating paddy.
It was seen that the maximum oil yield was from Simarouba, followed by Suragi, Nagasampige and Akrotu (local names). Research has also shown that fertiliser application increased seed yield. Though most of these are hardy trees, it was found that they need some care in the first few years, and this includes some irrigation.
With the kind of interest being shown by industries, and some pharma companies too, quite a few farmers have evinced interest. But there is still a lot of hesitation to take up the risk of a new crop. Agricultural scientists like Prof Gowda have been cautioning farmers not to give up food crops but merely take it on as an additional crop to grow on the bunds and in wastelands.
Almost 24 per cent of Karnataka would come under the category of such wastelands with northern part of the State taking a major share of this pie.
While transport sector has been eyeing the biofuel programme, there have been some attempts to use biofuels for electrification of villages that fall outside the grid. One such was a village in Chattisgarh which was, under the initiative of Winrock, electrified using biofuels. In Karnataka too, the KREDL did take up a similar project but ran into trouble. It was in a village in Holenarasipura.
“We can procure the seeds and oil we want but there is no cooperation from the villagers. They are not willing to pay at all. This is mainly because under the Bhagya Jyoti Scheme they can avail of power from the grid at no cost!” says Ramesh Nagar, deputy general manager, KREDL.
According to him there is no scarcity of seeds. “We hardly need 40 kgs of seeds every day for our unit unlike big players like KSRTC or BMTC. This is available. But with the villagers showing no interest, the plant is almost idle. We run it for two hours every day and use it for lighting.”
Who said there is no free lunch?

Biofuels and the Railways
The Indian Railways has also done its bit by biofuels. It has taken up biofuel crop plantations in many places, planted 20 lakh saplings alongside the tracks and other places it owns, and has entered into an MoU with IOCL. It ran the Shatabdi between New Delhi and Chandigarh on the last day of 2002 with the engine powered by a five per cent blend of biodiesel. Another trial run was between Lucknow and Allahabad.
The fuel economy was found to be better up to 20 per cent blends (usually the biofuel comprises 5 per cent of the diesel mix). The emission characteristics were also promising.
But it is only big projects that qualify for CDM and the carbon credits.