Commercialization of biodiesel in Pakistan
Source: Pakistan Science Club
By Faizan Wazir and Asia Noshin
WITH THE exception of hydroelectricity and nuclear energy, the majority of the worlds energy needs are supplied through petrochemical sources, coal and natural gas. All of these sources are finite and at certain usage rate will be consumed by the end of the next century. The depletion of the world petroleum reserves and increased environmental concerns has stimulated recent interest in alternative sources for petroleum based fuels. Biodiesel has arisen as a potential candidate for the diesel substitute due to the similarities it has with petroleum based diesel.Biodiesel defined as “a substitute for, or an additive to Diesel fuel that is derived from the oils and fats of plants and animals” or monoalkyl esters of long chain fatty acids derived from a renewable lipid feedstock, such as vegetable oil or animal fat, is becoming popular in developing countries as well as developed ones.
The European Union has set an objective to secure a market share for motor biofuels of 20% of the total motor fuel consumption by 2020. Fossil diesel blended with 20% biodiesel produced from soybean oil is available in the US market. Developing renewable energy is a national strategy of Pakistan, which does not have plentiful fossil oil deposits. Pakistan as a big developing country with rapid economic growth needs more energy than before. The oil sector is looking for indigenous sources to reduce its dependence on imported crude oil and there can be no better source than ethanol and Biodiesel.
The major hurdle in commercialization of this renewable motor fuel in countries like Pakistan is high cost of oil, reagents and equipments, non availability of good quality raw material and lack of expertise in this field.
Pakistan has wide resources of both edible and non edible oil yielding plants. Among edible oil yielding plants cotton, canola, sun flower, sesame, linseed, safflower and soybean are important while among non edible oil plants castor seed, jatropa, jojoba, different species of acacia, pongammia pinata and many halophytes are common. Although, Pakistan already face shortage of edible oil, but by making proper arrangements and bioengineering of the crops yielding non edible oil, will help in the production of biodiesel on large scale with in the country.
Experiments shown that biodiesel derived from non edible oil seeds can be used in the designs of diesel vehicles. It will also result in the utilization of waste land, drought proofing and energy security for the country. The commercialization of biodiesel in our country will lead to employment generation especially in rural areas and thus will help in reduction of poverty. Moreover, the availability of this fuel will open a new market for oil and fats in country so that both local and foreign investors will be attracted to make investment in this new field. Thus, it will also help in establishment of country economy.
Pakistan at present imports crude oil worth billions of dollars every year to fulfill the demand from consumers like factories and vehicles. By commercialization this renewable fuel; Pakistan dependency on foreign countries for petroleum import will be reduced. Moreover, the main advantage of renewable fuel is of its environment friendliness and all the exhaust gasses emitted are photosynthetic and will not affect the green house.
For commercialization of biodiesel, Government of Pakistan has to take some serious steps. The most important of which is the good advertisement of this beneficial fuel throughout the country. Government should facilitate the people which are interested in this field. It is important that government should advise the oil and gas sector to make blend of 20% biodiesel with petro diesel. Thus, on one hand pollution rate will be reduced and on the other hand our dependency on petroleum import will be decreased which is the need of hour.
Pakistan has vast areas which are not cultivable including sea shores, desserts, saline and waterlogged soils. It has been found that these areas are quite fertile for many xerophytes and halophytes which yield non edible oil and can contribute to commercial biodiesel production.
Research in the fields of biodiesel is in progress throughout the world and also on small scale in Pakistan. Although Pakistan is much backward in this field, yet in some institutes and universities small scale research is in progress. The main aim of research in this field is the development of suitable and cost effective materials and methods, improving the standard of existing raw materials in order to reduce cost benefit ratio. If our government takes serious steps and facilitates the research institutes, one can easily figure out that the day is not far away when our vehicles will run on this renewable and environment friendly fuel.
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