Mr. Azam M. Khan India [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Dear Mr. Khan: Welcome to the group and I hope that many members will drop useful ideas that will help you cope with your energy problems. Other than producing your own oil seeds to make the oil, I believe that Dr. Karve has presented a way to make biogas production by a faster and more efficient method vs. the traditional cow-dung methanization process. In the Biofuels archives you may have access to his work. Probably you would like to look into the possibility of converting some biogas into Methanol to fill your needs of transesterification or, even perhaps, to exchange Methanol for oil or diesel. I believe making Methanol from biogas is not a difficult process. In any event, Mr. Khan, you will see many suggestions coming from the group. I would like to know how much do you get for each kilogram of clean castor seed you produce, and, if possible, what are the principal uses of castor in India. Wishing you all the best, Luis R. Calzadilla Contactos Mundiales USA Cali, Colombia [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: "ENVIRONSINDIA" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <biofuel@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Monday, August 16, 2004 3:24 AM Subject: [biofuel] New Member > > Hello everybody, > I have just joined this list and I must say that it is quite amazing! > My interest in biofuel is quite recent. I am based in Central India and have a farm of 36 acres where I cultivate aromatic grasses and steam-distill essential oils. I have also planted Castor in about 10 acres this year. > The problem here is the very erratic supply of electricity. Since I need to do a lot of irrigating, I have no alternative but to use a generator. I have installed a 8.75 kvA generator for one of my borewells. However, since this contraption guzzles about 2.5 lts. of diesel every hour, it was becoming too expensive to use. So, we converted it to work with LPG and now we can get it to work for about 30 hours in 14 kgs. of LPG. We also need about 4-5 lts. of diesel for the 30 hours to keep the engine lubricated. > That still leaves the problem of the tractor. Diesel here is quite expensive, approx US$ 0.60 per lt., and getting dearer by the day. I use about a couple of tousand lts. in the tractor in a year. That's why, biodiesel, if it can be cheaper, is the flavor of the season for me right now!! > I have been reading up on the "How to" sections of the "journeytoforever" site, but, I must say that I have still not quite gotten hold of the method. One of the problems that i can see straight away is the availability of the SVO, specially the used one. In India, one can't get used VO, cos nobody ever throws anything away. The cooking requirements of Indian food too leave very little oil as left-over. > Secondly, oils like groundnut or soyabean, which are the preferred cooking mediums here, are quite expensive to start with, like US$ 1.10 per lt., so unused oil will not make any cheaper diesel. > The Government is giving a lot of importance to bio-fuel. A lot is being said and done about using seeds of certain plants, notably Jatropha, to produce biodiesel. However, so far, I have not come across any process which can make this feasible on a small scale. In any case, one has to have the Jatropha seeds to start with and, short of growing the trees yourself, it is difficult for now. > Generating gas out of cow-dung is pretty well established and this does run generators and can be used as fuel for gas cookers, but it still leaves the area of tractors uncovered. > So, I will be very grateful if all you knowledgeable people out there can come up with ideas to help me out of my predicament and guide me through all the steps in words of one syllable. > Looking forward to hearing from you. > Azam M. Khan ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/FGYolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
