Biodiesel Expansion
Bio diesel manufacturing is rapidly increasing nowadays. Bio diesel production has grown from 2 million gallons to 15o million gallons in the past 5 years in US. In the USA, bio diesel is manufactured from soy bean oil only. The soy bean feed production is limited and chickens and hogs are feeding with soy bean. So the usage of soy bean for fuel is limited and only the excess can be used in bio diesel manufacturing. Yet there are number of vegetable oils that you can use to produce bio diesel.
In India Jatropha curcas is used to manufacture bio diesel. For this purpose acres of unused lands are used for growing jatropha. This is a fast growing plant and it will grow even in draught conditions. You can use he oil seeds for bio diesel production and the remaining parts like leaf, barks etc can be used for industrial and pharmaceutical purposes. Therefore bio diesel expansion is fast in developing countries like India.
There are some other reasons for the bio diesel expansion all over the world. The first reason is that they are cost effective. When you compare with ordinary diesel the cost per gallon is comparatively cheap and we need not depend on other countries for importing diesel. Since bio diesel is domestically manufactured from vegetable oils and wastes from agricultural products they are cheap. Yet you can effectively use them in all diesel vehicles without modifications. Another reason is that they are environment friendly. Diesel produces harmful pollutions which may lead to cancer and other lung diseases. Diesel is the main reason for global warming. But bio diesel never produces harmful emissions and it can help in minimizing global warming. These two are the major reasons for bio diesel expansion.
Mostly bio diesel is manufactured from soy oil in US and rape seed oil in Europe. Yet there are more possibilities. You can use cotton seed oil, mustard oil, palm oil, corn oil etc. So you can use any oil which is abundant in your locality. Bio diesel consumption will increase bio diesel expansion. Gasoline distributors will add separate pumps for bio diesel only when it is sold in millions o gallons. People must get aware of bio diesel. You can add bio diesel to any of your diesel vehicles at fraction of ordinary diesel costs.
Bio diesel production may expand 100 times more by 2050. The demand for oil seeds that are essential for bio diesel production can be met by growing more oil seed plants like palm oil, sun flower oil etc instead of soy oil. You can also use non edible oil like neem oil which is abundant in Asian countries. This will help o expand bio diesel production.
In fact bio diesel production is growing day by day. There are number of plants engaged in bio diesel production in US. There are yet 50 plants to be constructed for bio diesel productions. You must remember that there are some hurdles to bio diesel expansion. Oil seed farmers may increase the price of their products. But bio diesel production will surely benefit the rural economy. Instead of spending in imported oils we can spend in oil seeds in domestic market. The reactor tank may be either plastic or steel. You can select any thing according to your wish.