Green Fuel Alternatives

Compressed Bio-Gas (CBG)

Bio-gas is produced naturally (through a process of anaerobic decomposition) from waste / bio-mass sources like agriculture residue, cattle dung, sugarcane press mud, municipal solid waste, sewage treatment plant waste, etc. After purification, the methane content in the gas gets enhanced and it is then compressed to form Compressed Bio-Gas.

Further, Compressed Bio-Gas is exactly similar to the commercially available natural gas in its composition and energy potential. With similar calorific value and other properties similar to CNG, Compressed Bio-Gas can be used as an alternative, renewable automotive fuel.

Given the abundance of biomass in the country, Compressed Bio-Gas has the potential to replace CNG in automotive, industrial and commercial uses in the coming years. In a significant push that has the potential to boost availability of more affordable transport fuels, better use of agricultural residue, cattle dung and municipal solid waste as well as to provide an additional revenue source to farmers, an innovative initiative titled SATAT (Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation) was launched by Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas wherein the PSU Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs, that is, IOC, BPC and HPC) invite Expression of Interest (EoI) from potential entrepreneurs to set up Compressed Bio-Gas (CBG) production plants and make available CBG in the market for use in automotive fuels.

Biodiesel

Biodiesel is an alternative fuel, having diesel like properties, synthesised by a simple chemical reaction of alcohols with vegetable oils. It is commonly made from edible oils like soyabean, rapeseed and palm oil in the world. However, non-edible tree borne oil seeds of Jatropha and Karanjia are material of choice for India. These trees are energy fixing, fast-growing and yield appreciable quantity of seeds.

IndianOil R&D has perfected a process to produce biodiesel from various non-edible oils, especially from Jatropha and Karanjia. The biodiesel produced has been tested for its properties and meets the stringent international standards. Extensive field trials have been conducted using 5 and 10% bio-diesel blends in collaboration with Indian Railways, Haryana Roadways, TATA, etc.

With a procurement of around 20 crore litres of Biodiesel during the period April 2024-February 2025, Indian Oil has achieved an average blending of 0.57% of Biodiesel in Diesel. As per the indicative targets given by GoI in the National Policy on Biofuels, 5% blending of Biodiesel in diesel is envisaged by the year 2029-30.

Apart from the Indian Oil R& D centre’s state-of-the art quality control laboratory, two more laboratories at Delhi and Vishakhapatnam have been equipped to check the quality of biodiesel, as per ASTM/BIS specifications. A reduction of 10 to 15% in smoke density has been observed with the use of biodiesel blends.