The non-renewability, ecological concerns and health dangers related to the nonrenewable fuel sources has actually led to exploration of alternative sources of energy to replace the conventional ones. An appealing technology, still in its infancy, that could reveal us the way to the future ahead is Biodiesels. Biodiesels are diesel fuels originated from veggie oil or animal-fat that could be utilized to run diesel engines. Vegetables oils like sunflower, rape seed, palm oil, soya bean, jatropha curcas etc can be subjected to oil processing to produce biodiesels. It contains no petroleum but can be mixed with petroleum diesel for usage or could be utilized in its pure type.

Developed countries especially United States and European Countries have already made substantial advances in the Biodiesel Technology. Biodiesel have found its use across markets and verticals and might become a perfect cleaner and less expensive alternative to petrol, diesel and fossil fuels. India has also started exploring the opportunities to produce and utilize bio-diesel. A variety of plants for biodiesel transesterification are already operating in the nation where vegetable oils are responded with alcohols (ethanol or methanol usually) to produce bio-diesel.

The main factor for the increasing demand for biodiesels is the truth that biodiesels are sustainable and carbon-neutral, hence having no net effect on the climate. Besides, bio-diesel runs in compression engines just like typical petroleum diesel and hence can be utilized with little or no engine modifications. Biodiesel do not require any separate infrastructure for its storage and can be saved just like the petroleum based fuels.

Considering the growing energy demand in the nation, rising petroleum rates and the ecological threats of fossil fuels, the Indian Government has actually taken up initiatives to develop the Bio Diesel Technology in India and set up more oil processing systems. The Government announced its 'National Biofuel Policy' on 12 September 2008 which aims to satisfy 20% of India's diesel need with bio-fuels in the coming years.

Globally, edible veggie oils like sunflower, soya bean, rape seed, palm oil are utilized as the pre-dominant raw products for oil processing and biodiesel production but in India the maximum capacity to produce biodiesels is from jatropha curcas oil - a non-edible one produced from the seeds of the Jatropha curcas. The biggest benefit of using jatropha curcas as a raw product is that this plant can be grown in substantial quantities in wastelands all across India needing really little water in contrast to other money crops. Once grown, the plant has a useful life-span of numerous decades. The jatropha curcas seeds include 40% oil and are thought about to be an outstanding source of bio-diesel. The Government of India has actually recognized 400,000 square kilometres of land ideal for the Jatropha growing in the nation. India now

A study approximates that even if a mixing effort of 2% jatropha curcas based Biodiesel is attained in 2011-12, India will save around Rs. 3000 crores. Besides, it will create around Rs. 5500 crores in the rural economy and assistance in decrease of Green House Gas emission by 3 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) every year. The federal government is taking steps to encourage the growing of Jatropha in India supplying complimentary seeds, subsidized loans and other facilities. India requires to now enhance its efforts to make the maximum usage of the Biodiesel Technology. Besides jatropha curcas, the avenues for extracting biodiesel from vegetable oils, fats, sunflower, oil and palm oil ought to also be explored. It will not just supply an answer to the challenge of Global Warming but might reduce our dependence on foreign oil and add to our own economy.