The Hindu Business Line : `Pongam oil' gaining acceptance as biofuel

GUDIYATTAM, in Vellore district of Tamil Nadu, could evolve into a hub for biofuel production, particularly pongam oil, which is recognised as one of the oils ideal for blending with diesel.

Oil mills here have traditionally been extracting pongam oil from pongamia seeds to cater to the leather industry's demand. Also, soap makers and lubricants manufacturers use this oil.

But with the recent interest in biofuels with the Centre and State Governments encouraging alternatives to fossil fuels, the oil mills find a new range of customers.

The Karnataka Government, which is experimenting with diesel blended with biofuels including pongamia oil, has sourced pongamia oils from these mills.

According to Mr A.A. Venugopal Chettiar, Proprietor, Bhuvaneshwari Oil Mills, though pongamia has not caught the fancy of the Tamil Nadu Government, it has taken off in a big way in Karnataka, where the transport department has operated buses on a diesel blended with 30 per cent pongamia.

The Government purchases about 400 tonnes of oil a year at about Rs 25-30 a litre.

The Andhra Pradesh Government is also exploring the possibilities and enquiries are on the increase. In Tamil Nadu, over 2,000 tonnes of pongam oil are produced annually, most of them in Gudiyattam, he said.

But with the local production of seeds yet to be organised, the mills here could stand to lose if biofuel production picks up a in a big way. Once the demand for pongam oil as a biofuel is established, oil mills in other States would set up facilities and seed supply to Tamil Nadu could be hit, he felt.

The major sources of pongamia seeds areKarnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh. In Punjab, over 10,000 trees are available but without the labour to pick the seeds.

Only about 50 per cent of the seeds are available to the oil mills while the rest are wasted. The reason: the seed is low cost and the wage cost for picking them is too high. The daily wage labourer has now options that give him about Rs 100 a day but the job of picking pongam seeds pays about Rs 30 - 40 since the seeds cost about Rs 6 - 7 a kg. This year, prices have picked up and they range around Rs 10 a kg.

According to Mr G.K. Nagaraj of Jayabharath Oil Mills, pongam is available in Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts in Tamil Nadu. Though he is yet to start supplying the oil as biofuel there have been enquiries. In Gudiyattam, the major production centre in Tamil Nadu, the mills process about 4,000 bags (80 kg each) a month.

According to scientists, the area of pongamia in Tamil Nadu must be assessed and the potential exploited. Pongamia was traditionally grown in paddy fields because their leaves are used as green manure and the trees fix nitrogen in the soil.

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