Increasing demand for petrol and diesel has forced exploration for alternative forms of energy.

The Mysore District Bio-fuel I and D Centre set up by the state government on the premises of Centre for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology (CREST) at the National Institute of Engineering (NIE) on Manandavadi road, a year ago, has already made a start with other, but energy-friendly fuel.

Bio-diesel produced by processing non-edible seeds like honge, jatropha, simarouba — blended with regular fuel — was poured into vehicles of the institute, marking World Bio-fuel Day on Friday.

Explaining about bio-fuel, chief coordinator of the centre S Shyamsundar said, it not only helps vehicle users get additional three to four km per litre against regular fuel, but also fetchs additional revenue to farmers.

The centre buys honge seeds for Rs 14 to Rs 18 per kg, against Rs five offered by traders.

Likewise, rates differ for various seeds that can be converted into energy, but assures a decent income for ryots.

The bio-diesel can be used for all vehicles — bus, car, lorry, tractor, train, etc — and also pumpsets and generators in the range of 10 to 40 per cent, blended with traditional diesel.

Said Shyamsundar: “The centre has a revolving fund of Rs 1.5 lakh to purchase seeds alone”.The centre has been set up at a cost of Rs 10 lakh, sponsored by Karnataka Bio-fuel Development Board, having a capacity to derive 40 litres of bio-diesel from 200 kg of seeds per day.

Besides capacity to peel off the cover of seeds up to 40 kg per hour and crush 25 kg to 30 kg of the same in the same period, the centre has a laboratory to test the quality.
Bio-diesel is available at Rs 44 per litre, followed by honge oil, seed cake and organic soap at different rates.

With the country consuming 330 billion barrels of fuel per day, supplied from Arab nations, days are not far when there will be scarcity of fuel against surging demand.
It would be better to switch over to alternative sources of energy like bio-diesel.
Chairman of NIE S R Subbarao, secretary S L Ramachandra, treasurer M N Lakshminarayan, in-charge principal Chandrashekar, N Ramanuja and others were present.