23/12/2008 (Times Of India), Kolkata - The city is on the threshold of a bio-fuel revolution. Very soon, buses and diesel taxis may stop belching toxic smoke, and Kolkatans may 
again breathe fresh air. That is, if the government changes its policies to put this green fuel in top gear, as several countries have done.

Emami Biotech Limited has started commercial production of bio-fuel at its Haldia plant. The fuel of the future is not only eco-friendly but it will also save foreign exchange for the country by cutting down the need for crude oil import.

The petroleum ministry has recommended a mixture of 20% bio-fuel with 80% diesel, minimizing sulphur and particulate emissions. Emami, however, has run vehicles on B40 (40% bio fuel and 60% diesel) without any modification of the engine mechanism. "We have used B100 100 per cent bio fuel to run generators," Emami director Aditya Agarwal told TNN.

Agarwal has offered all private buses free supply of bio-fuel for three days so that people can experience the "sea change" it will bring to the city's environment.

Emami Biotech first invested Rs 150 crore exclusively for the bio-fuel project in April 2007. "The plan was to produce bio-fuel from palm oil. But world food prices suddenly sky-rocketed and importing palm oil became very expensive and unviable for the project. So, we decided to set up edible oil production units altogether. These were integrated to the bio-fuel plant with an additional investment of Rs 100 crore," Agarwal said.

"We now have the capacity to produce 300 tonnes of bio-fuel per day from the residue of edible oil produced at our Haldia plant. But government policy prohibits us from selling the fuel in the open market. We have to sell it to one of the three Oil PSUs or to Reliance. But that has not deterred us. The state transport department has shown interest in using bio-fuel for state buses," said another Emami director Manish Goenka.

"Our bullishness on bio-diesel got impetus from test reports from internationally known emission certifying agencies SGS Singapore and SGS India. Both of them certified that the plant's bio-diesel sample as the finest of its kind," said executive director of Emami Biotech S K Mondal.

State transport secretary Sumantra Chowdhury is taking keen interest in the development. "We want to use bio-diesel in government buses. We desperately want to reduce emission levels," he said.

Professor P K Bose, principal propagator of bio-diesel in India, explained the economics. "We are importing 70% of our crude oil needs. Simply by mixing 5% ethanol with petrol and 20% vegetable oil with diesel, we can save substantial oil reserves. But general awareness level is quite poor. The government must boost such ventures to solve the imminent energy crisis we face," he said.

"Without the support of the state and Centre, our bio-fuel project will turn completely unviable," said Goenka.