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OP editorial

Will Biodiesel replace Diesel in my Lifespan!!

Abhijeet Chausalkar, Graduate Student, Iowa State University

Today, as a 35 year old man, I hope to live till the age of 85.This means that I have 50 moreyears to feel and observe this world. I can at least hope to live long. But wait why am Italking about the future 50 years? With some experience in fuel and combustion research, Idont see biodiesel completely replacing diesel as transportation fuel in my complete lifespan.Do I sound pessimistic about using this much hyped transportation alternate fuel, biodiesel?

According to Energy Information Administration (EIA) USA, by taking proven reserves andthe current rate of petroleum consumption in to account, global supply of crude oil isexpected to be adequate for the next 25 years. But they are sceptical about crude oil supplyfor the total period of 50 years from now due to unavailability of proper reserve accounts.Does this mean that we should immediately expedite the process of finding, producing andusing suitable biofuels in our vehicles? Answer is no. EIA did not imply complete extinctionof crude oil but just conveyed that they are simply unaware of any other petroleum reserves

present worldwide. To strengthen further, crude oil in continents like Africa, Australia arerelatively unexplored and thus present great opportunity of discovering more petroleumreserves. Further, based on the EIA data on US Crude oil Reserves New Filed discoveries ,it is evident that new oil reserves have been discovered since 1980 and this process of

exploration is still going on. New discoveries add to the existing reserves of crude oilreducing the chance of extinction. The whole point here is that there is a less possibility ofcomplete depletion of the crude oil and I can enjoy driving my classic diesel sedan at the oldage of 85.

What about the business and profits of the huge oil and gas companies? Present infrastructureto produce, refine and transport the diesel fuel is well established worldwide and major

players such as BP, SHELL, have invested heavily to meet the growing demand. I was anemployee of a Fortune 500 oil company, Indian Oil , and being the part of such a hugeorganisation I feel that oil companies have made huge profits over the years by exploring,refining and catering to the needs of the mass population. Since business model of mycompany was based on the availability and demand of diesel fuel. Therefore, the companywas strongly motivated to explore more crude oil reserves.

However, if biodiesel is seen as an alternative to diesel, similar infrastructure will be requiredto produce, chemically treat, and supply biodiesel to the end user. Well established Biorefineries are required to produce biodiesel using vegetable oil or non-edible oil as rawsource. These bio refineries are completely different from the conventional crude oilrefineries. Huge investment is required to establish a well-defined infrastructure, well towheel, which is impossible without strong motivation of replacing diesel by biodiesel. I dont

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see such strong motivation building in the coming 50 years due to ample availability of dieselfuel and lack of government policies.

Conducive policies by an aware government act as a strong motivation to build suchinfrastructure. This is possible only when high level of confidence is established in using

biodiesel. To me, it appears as a rare possibility due to confusion of using biodiesel fromdifferent perspectives, including; economic viability, carbon reduction, raw resourceavailability and investment requirement. In my work span of nine years, I was a part of atechnical team responsible for forecasting the future 20 years of the company. Due to theabsence of real interest of the government in boosting the biodiesel sale and establishing it asa diesel replacement fuel, our team did not propose production of 100 percent biodiesel inIndia .We rather proposed to establish biodiesel production & distribution facility to meet thedemand of using 5% biodiesel and in extreme case 20 % biodiesel . In this case, our decisionwas dominated by the money and efforts required for major infrastructure revival and policy

related approvals.

In my tenure, I did experienced the decreasing confidence of the investors in producing biodiesel from Jatropha seeds. At a conclave meet on biodiesel in 2005, I remember fierce burst of frustration during an interactive session between the biodiesel investors and thegovernment officials. Reason, the investors had invested a lot for producing biodiesel from

Jatropha . Except one oil company, no other public or private company was interested in buying their biodiesel. This was simply a fatal consequence of missing policy and roadmapfor using biodiesel as transportation fuel. From this experience, I am of the opinion that not asingle big investor would like to waste his hard earned money in something which has no real

driver in terms of policy to accelerate its proliferation. Even if some government does get proactive, the pace is slow and not enough to replace the diesel completely.

Before implementing policies, automakers will have to overcome different technical barriersassociated with using 100% biodiesel in the vehicles. As an engine testing expert, I can saythat you will face problems such as choked fuel injectors, lower mileage due to lower energycontent of biodiesel and degradation of engine oil if you use 100 percent biodiesel in yourunmodified diesel car. Presently, major auto manufacturers, Cummins and John deer, suggestonly using 2 -5% biodiesel. This means that to use tank full of biodiesel, automakers willhave to redesign and create a dedicated biodiesel engine. This will of course take time,research efforts and money on their part. Not only engine modification is required but alsocomplete production facility which includes assembly line, testing facilities, quality assurancewill need a major revival.

Although, biodiesel on burning emits lower carbon related emissions but produces higher smog causing substance, NOx, from the exhaust. Some sort of engine modification or aftertreatment device will be required to mitigate harmful NOx emissions. Time is required toresearch and fix an appropriate, optimum method and get approval as per the regulations

before commercially introducing the system in the vehicle.

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I tested diesel engine oil for 1000 hrs using 5% biodiesel in a heavy duty truck diesel engine.Based on my experience and other studies I can say that engine oil alteration and sealcompatibility is critical while using 100 percent biodiesel because biodiesel tend todecompose seal material and contaminate engine oil. This puts additional pressure on oil

industry to develop engine oil suitable for use with biodiesel and test the oil beforecommercially launching in the market. Furthermore, you cannot store biodiesel for more thansix months since gum formation takes place generating the need of modifying biodiesel to

prevent such phenomena. This will require additional time and investment delayingreplacement of diesel.

Complete replacement of biodiesel will require balance in its supply and demand. Currently, biodiesel is produced either using plant derived oils or algae. Requirement of large land areaand dependence on agricultural conditions can limit supply of biodiesel derived from plantderived oil. Studies show that production of biodiesel from micro algae is still in nascentstage and many concerns such as high cost, return of investment, sustainability factor are stillto be answered satisfactorily. Major research work is required to completely understand the

production of biodiesel from microalgae. Adequate supply of biodiesel to meet the growingdemand is a major hurdle in completely replacing diesel by biodiesel. I know that finding aresearch solution is possible and can be expedited but still time and motivation is required to

prove the feasibility of using a specific production method on a commercial scale.

Food security concerns have hovered right from the time the concept of biodiesel wasintroduced in the market. Even with the use of third generation biodiesel derived from algae,

there will be a greater issue of maintaining a worldwide consensus to produce biodiesel onlyfrom algae and not from edible oil. Development of such consensus will take additional timesince government of different countries need to seat and discuss various issues regarding theconsensus. Further, such discussion does not promise building of consensus even after manyrounds of talk across the table.

Interestingly, biodiesel is not a new fuel and is in the news from several years but the rate atwhich development has taken place till date is extremely slow. This is probably due to

presence of diesel, other alternatives such as solar, gasoline, hybrid cars, hydrogen, fuel cells.Therefore, I can strongly suggest that the pace of development in the next 50 years will not be

fast enough to completely replace diesel. Further, historical development does not suggestvery promising picture of using 100 percent biodiesel in the future.

Customer is well versed with using diesel and to change the mind-set for using biodiesel intheir vehicles, a systematic approach is required by the policymakers. This sounds like a planwhere small blends of biodiesel can be introduced and then at the later stage when customerhas accepted it well, 100 percent biodiesel can be used. This process will also takeconsiderable time. Classic example to emphasize this point is the non-acceptance of HondaHybrid cars by the Indian customers in the market even though the company reduced thelaunch price to increase the sales.

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International lobbying to earn profit by selling crude oil producing countries further weakenthe idea of using biodiesel instead of diesel. Economy of oil producing countries depend on

producing and selling the crude oil therefore these countries will not be willing to supportsuch programs.

Threats posed by market cannibalisation by introducing biodiesel in the market is anotherhurdle in the full replacement of diesel. In the present scenario, oil companies when earninghuge profits just by selling diesel do not want to take risk of losing money by introducing

biodiesel in the market. In case, sell of biodiesel picks up, diesel sales will go down althoughit will open up new area of earning profits. There is high risk that the same company whichintroduced biodiesel may not get the profit share since other companies can have lucrativeschemes to sell biodiesel.

As a researcher I would love to drive a car running on 100% biodiesel but strong motivationand action from all the responsible agencies and people is required to make it a reality in ashort span of time. It is true that biodiesel is a potential alternate fuel and will replace dieselone day but not in my life span.