The Hindu Business Line : D1-BP Fuel set to extract bio-diesel from jatropha

D1-BP Fuel Crops India, a joint venture between the UK-based D1 Oils Plc and British Petroleum, expects to extract first batches of bio-diesel this year from its jatropha plantations in the North-East.

A refinery too, would come up there two years from now to process the extracted oil from the preliminary plants.

“We expect to extract substantial quantities the following year with about 10,000 tonnes,” Mr Samiran Das, Chief Executive Officer, told Business Line.

Mr Das is in the city in connection with Bio Asia-2008. The company focuses on producing bio-diesel oil from non-edible oils, particularly jatropha.

Jatropha acreage

As part of the parent company’s plans to establish one million hectares of jatropha plantation globally, with an investment of £80 million, D1-BP is targeting to have 3.50 lakh hectares of plantation in India in the next four years.

At present, the company has 90,000 hectares, with North-East contributing two-thirds. “We have added 62,500 hectares this year alone,” he said.

It entered into joint ventures with Williamson Magor, a leading tea producer in the North-East, and Mohan Breweries, a South-based liquor company.

Model plantations

“We are having different models to raise plantations. We have contract farming agreements in the North-East. We joined hands with panchayats and women self-help groups to reach out to the wastelands and do the preliminary collection of the grain,” he said.

Once sizeable plantation area is raised, the company would set up a chain of extraction units in different States.

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