The non-renewability, ecological concerns and health hazards related to the nonrenewable fuel sources has actually caused expedition of alternative sources of energy to substitute the conventional ones. An appealing innovation, still in its infancy, that could reveal us the method to the future ahead is Biodiesels. Biodiesels are diesel fuels stemmed from vegetable oil or animal-fat that could be used to run diesel motors. Vegetables oils like sunflower, rape seed, palm oil, soya bean, Jatropha etc can be subjected to oil processing to produce biodiesels. It contains no petroleum but can be combined with petroleum diesel for usage or could be utilized in its pure type.

Developed nations particularly United States and European Countries have actually already made considerable advances in the Biodiesel Technology. Biodiesel have actually discovered its usage across industries and verticals and could become a perfect cleaner and less expensive alternative to petrol, diesel and nonrenewable fuel sources. India has actually also started exploring the opportunities to produce and utilize bio-diesel. A number of plants for biodiesel transesterification are currently operating in the country where vegetable oils are reacted with alcohols (ethanol or methanol usually) to produce bio-diesel.

The primary reason for the increasing demand for biodiesels is the fact that biodiesels are sustainable and carbon-neutral, thus having no net effect on the climate. Besides, bio-diesel runs in compression engines much like typical petroleum diesel and thus can be used with little or no engine adjustments. Biodiesel do not require any different facilities for its storage and can be saved much like the petroleum based fuels.

Considering the growing energy demand in the nation, increasing petroleum costs and the environmental hazards of nonrenewable fuel sources, the Indian Government has used up efforts to develop the Bio Diesel Technology in India and established more oil processing systems. The Government revealed its ‘National Biofuel Policy’ on 12 September 2008 which intends to meet 20% of India’s diesel demand with bio-fuels in the coming years.

Globally, edible vegetable oils like sunflower, soya bean, rape seed, palm oil are used as the pre-dominant basic materials for oil processing and biodiesel production however in India the optimal capacity to produce biodiesels is from jatropha curcas oil - a non-edible one produced from the seeds of the Jatropha curcas. The greatest advantage of utilizing jatropha curcas as a raw material is that this plant can be grown in big quantities in wastelands all across India requiring very little water in contrast to other money crops. Once grown, the plant has a beneficial life expectancy of a number of years. The Jatropha seeds consist of 40% oil and are thought about to be an outstanding source of bio-diesel. The Government of India has identified 400,000 square kilometres of land appropriate for the Jatropha growing in the . India now

A research study estimates that even if a mixing initiative of 2% jatropha curcas based Biodiesel is attained in 2011-12, India will conserve around Rs. 3000 crores. Besides, it will generate around Rs. 5500 crores in the rural economy and aid in decrease of Green House Gas emission by 3 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) every year. The federal government is taking actions to encourage the growing of Jatropha in India offering totally free seeds, subsidized loans and other facilities. India needs to now reinforce its efforts to make the fullest use of the Biodiesel Technology. Besides jatropha curcas, the avenues for extracting biodiesel from veggie oils, fats, sunflower, rape seed oil and palm oil should also be explored. It will not only offer a response to the challenge of Global Warming but might decrease our dependence on foreign oil and contribute to our own economy.