News Release Details
Bio fuel from sewage may change oil scene
New Delhi 03-Oct-2007
Bio fuel manufactured from sewerage and waste may rule the world from the near future. No more multinational companies or brand names associated with oil producing. giants. The "desi" brand diesel getting readied in "green rooms" may soon give the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and oil tycoons of the west a run for their money. It is a matter of time before bio fuels start powering internal combustion engines. "Present day world is dominated by fossil fuel based economy. We have to develop cheap technology for bio fuel and solar energy production," said Dr Kerry S. Burton. Research Leader, University of Warwick, England. Dr Burton, who was in Chennai recently in connection with a seminar on Biotechnology, is actively engaged in developing bio diesel from wheat straw. Though Brazil and the USA produce ethanol from sugarcane, rest of the world is yet to catch up with the technology. Dr Burton is not happy with the dependence on ethanol and he describes it as non-ethical. "We are exploiting agricultural crops and farm land for the production of fuel and this in turn will lead to severe food shortage. What we should try to do is to produce fuel from agricultural, and industrial waste," pointed out Dr Burton. Indian scientists and entrepreneurs are already in the business of setting up bio fuel plants using waste; recent developments in biotechnology have opened new avenues with microbes (micro organisms) assuming the role of kingmaker. Microbial biotechnology is rated as the future of science. Dr V. Sivasubramanian, a plant biologist in Chennai, has developed a technology to grow micro algae in wastewater, industrial effluents, and salt water in order to produce bio-fuel. Photosynthesis is the process of converting light energy into chemical energy using sunlight. Algae, which grow in bewerage and effluents, undergo photosynthesis by absorbing carbon dioxide and getting itself converted into bio fuel. "We can grow algae in tanks filled with effluents or sewerage. Industrial waste gas coming out of coal based industries could be bubbled through these tanks to enhance the growth of algae and to mitigate carbon dioxide, a Green House gas," said Dr Sivasubramanian. He said bio fuel could be refined to produce petrol, diesel and even aviation turbine fuel. "The laboratory level experiments have proved that we can commercially produce bio fuel from algae," said Dr Sivasubramanian. The algae technology addresses the concerns expressed by scientists like Dr Burton. "This technology does not require any agricultural land and water. Though bio diesel could be produced by jatropha, it requires hundreds of thousand of hectares of farm land which will upset the country's agriculture paradigm," said Dr Sivasubramanian, who is director of the Vivekananda Institute of Algae Technology (VIAT) in Chennai. V. Ramaswamy, a Chennai based entrepreneur, is busy setting up a pilot plant at Kelambakkam to produce bio fuel. He calls it the modern day bioreactor. "Our plant is capable of producing 1,00,000 litres of bio fuel per day. The capacity can be increased to a million litres per day within one year. We hope to sell the bio diesel at Rs 23 per litre," said Mr Ramaswamy. Both Mr Ramaswamy and Dr Sivasubramanian point out that more than replacing the fossil fuel, the bio fuel will revolutionise the rural and tribal areas of the country. 'These bio fuel plants could be set up in coastal and tribal areas where farming is not possible. You need not set up hi-tech pants with imported machineries to produce lese biofuels,” said Dr Sivasubramanian. Mr Ramaswamy describes as a socio-economic project capable of providing letter living standards to the ibal population who are elow the poverty line. Rural unemployed youth and women could be employed as workers. Even ' they are illiterate, we can aim them to run bio rears," said Mr Ramaswamy. A research conducted by Michael Briggs of the University of New Hampshire, SA has proved that bio diesel could be used in existing diesel engines without any modification. "We found that a Toyota Qualis gives a mileage of 14 km with one litre of bio diesel. Moreover, there was no carbon dioxide emission during the test," said Mr Ramaswamy. Dr Sivasubramanian describes bio fuel production from algae as wealth creation put of waste. "It is the only technology which does not exploit any valuable resource in nature. There is no emission and that makes it a clean fuel," pointed out Dr Sivasubramanian. Mr Ramaswamy said the 1,00,000 litre plant he is going to set up would employ 900 workers. "Our mission is to establish a network of bio reactors across the country. The raw materials for the bio fuel are cheaply available all over India; sewerage, wastewater and effluents," said Mr Ramaswamy.
New Delhi 03-Oct-2007
Bio fuel manufactured from sewerage and waste may rule the world from the near future. No more multinational companies or brand names associated with oil producing. giants. The "desi" brand diesel getting readied in "green rooms" may soon give the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and oil tycoons of the west a run for their money. It is a matter of time before bio fuels start powering internal combustion engines. "Present day world is dominated by fossil fuel based economy. We have to develop cheap technology for bio fuel and solar energy production," said Dr Kerry S. Burton. Research Leader, University of Warwick, England. Dr Burton, who was in Chennai recently in connection with a seminar on Biotechnology, is actively engaged in developing bio diesel from wheat straw. Though Brazil and the USA produce ethanol from sugarcane, rest of the world is yet to catch up with the technology. Dr Burton is not happy with the dependence on ethanol and he describes it as non-ethical. "We are exploiting agricultural crops and farm land for the production of fuel and this in turn will lead to severe food shortage. What we should try to do is to produce fuel from agricultural, and industrial waste," pointed out Dr Burton. Indian scientists and entrepreneurs are already in the business of setting up bio fuel plants using waste; recent developments in biotechnology have opened new avenues with microbes (micro organisms) assuming the role of kingmaker. Microbial biotechnology is rated as the future of science. Dr V. Sivasubramanian, a plant biologist in Chennai, has developed a technology to grow micro algae in wastewater, industrial effluents, and salt water in order to produce bio-fuel. Photosynthesis is the process of converting light energy into chemical energy using sunlight. Algae, which grow in bewerage and effluents, undergo photosynthesis by absorbing carbon dioxide and getting itself converted into bio fuel. "We can grow algae in tanks filled with effluents or sewerage. Industrial waste gas coming out of coal based industries could be bubbled through these tanks to enhance the growth of algae and to mitigate carbon dioxide, a Green House gas," said Dr Sivasubramanian. He said bio fuel could be refined to produce petrol, diesel and even aviation turbine fuel. "The laboratory level experiments have proved that we can commercially produce bio fuel from algae," said Dr Sivasubramanian. The algae technology addresses the concerns expressed by scientists like Dr Burton. "This technology does not require any agricultural land and water. Though bio diesel could be produced by jatropha, it requires hundreds of thousand of hectares of farm land which will upset the country's agriculture paradigm," said Dr Sivasubramanian, who is director of the Vivekananda Institute of Algae Technology (VIAT) in Chennai. V. Ramaswamy, a Chennai based entrepreneur, is busy setting up a pilot plant at Kelambakkam to produce bio fuel. He calls it the modern day bioreactor. "Our plant is capable of producing 1,00,000 litres of bio fuel per day. The capacity can be increased to a million litres per day within one year. We hope to sell the bio diesel at Rs 23 per litre," said Mr Ramaswamy. Both Mr Ramaswamy and Dr Sivasubramanian point out that more than replacing the fossil fuel, the bio fuel will revolutionise the rural and tribal areas of the country. 'These bio fuel plants could be set up in coastal and tribal areas where farming is not possible. You need not set up hi-tech pants with imported machineries to produce lese biofuels,” said Dr Sivasubramanian. Mr Ramaswamy describes as a socio-economic project capable of providing letter living standards to the ibal population who are elow the poverty line. Rural unemployed youth and women could be employed as workers. Even ' they are illiterate, we can aim them to run bio rears," said Mr Ramaswamy. A research conducted by Michael Briggs of the University of New Hampshire, SA has proved that bio diesel could be used in existing diesel engines without any modification. "We found that a Toyota Qualis gives a mileage of 14 km with one litre of bio diesel. Moreover, there was no carbon dioxide emission during the test," said Mr Ramaswamy. Dr Sivasubramanian describes bio fuel production from algae as wealth creation put of waste. "It is the only technology which does not exploit any valuable resource in nature. There is no emission and that makes it a clean fuel," pointed out Dr Sivasubramanian. Mr Ramaswamy said the 1,00,000 litre plant he is going to set up would employ 900 workers. "Our mission is to establish a network of bio reactors across the country. The raw materials for the bio fuel are cheaply available all over India; sewerage, wastewater and effluents," said Mr Ramaswamy.