For a developing nation like India, the current energy portfolio is dominated by fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and petroleum products. Due to the rapid depletion and limited available resources, the price of fossil fuel increases. Also, fossil fuel induces climate change, environmental pollution, and rising global temperature. There is urgent need to shift from conventional energy to renewable energy source for sustainable and economic growth and to enhance a country’s energy security. Biofuel offers an attractive source of energy for the substitution of fossil fuels, and looking at the huge demand for diesel in all sectors of the economy, the biodiesel is being viewed as the best substitute for diesel. The other advantage for biofuel promotion in India is climate change mitigation through reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emission. This article provides the current status of biodiesel development in India and discusses the role played by the centre and state government in promoting second-generation feedstock (nonedible seeds) and third-generation feedstock (algae) for biodiesel production.

In this study, bioethanol was produced from Eichhornia crassipes (EC) plant and tested in diesel engine in order to understand the potential of this fuel. The blending of Eichhornia Crassipes bioethanol with diesel is done with the help of ultrasonic machine. For acquiring data, Kirloskar made single cylinder diesel engine of 3.5 kW rating was employed for experimentation. Bioethanol obtained from EC plant was blended in various proportions with petro-diesel and biodiesel. The properties of bioethanol produced from EC plant was measured based on ASTM standards. The experimental results revealed that 10% blend (90% petro-diesel and 10% bioethanol) was a clear stand out in terms of engine parameters such as enhanced brake power and appreciable brake thermal efficiency. Also the emission levels such as CO and unburned HC was comparatively lesser than other blends except for NOx which eventually depends on the engine construction.

The aim of present study is to optimise the performance and emission characteristics of compression ignition engine fuelled with biodiesel blended diesel fuel using response surface methodology (RSM). During engine trials, two parameters, viz. blend ratio and load torque, were varied and the responses like brake thermal efficiency (BTE), brake-specific fuel consumption (BSFC), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbon (HC), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and smoke opacity were investigated. Statistical tool like RSM was used to design experiments. Optimisation of parameters was performed using the desirability approach of RSM for superior performance and lower emission. The results revealed that at optimal input parameters (40% fuel blend and 15 Nm load torque), the values of performance and emission parameters in optimal solutions: BSFC (kg/kWh): 0.2252, BTE (%): 29.2885, CO (vol. %): 0.00757, HC (ppm): 5.7195, NO_x (ppm): 319.78, smoke (vol. %): 4.50 were found for the Mahua oil methyl esters blended with diesel.

Biodiesel as an alternative to fossil fuels has been developed consistently in last few years due to its several advantages such as renewable and biodegradable fuel, reduction of global warming, less air pollution, low sulfur content, low toxic emission, high cetane number, less water and soil pollution, and fewer health risks. In this paper, the effects of methanol-to-oil molar ratio, catalyst amount and reaction time on the transesterification of Karabi oil to biodiesel were investigated. Methanol with calcium oxide as a heterogeneous catalyst was used for the transesterification process at a temperature of 60 °C using different methods of biodiesel production such as mechanical stirring (MS) and ultrasonic cavitation (US). US techniques have shown a faster reaction rate than the MS method. The maximum biodiesel yield of 94.1% was obtained in 2 hours using a methanol-to-oil molar ratio of 12:1, a catalyst amount of 5 w/w% and a reaction temperature of 60 °C by the ultrasonic cavitation method, along with improved physiochemical characteristics and very reduced energy consumption.