Rly bio-diesel blending, dispensing introduced

Mangalore Today News Network

 Mangaluru, May 20, 2016 : Railway’s Palakkad Division has introduced blending and dispensing facility of bio-diesel at its Railway Consumer Depots(RCD)/Fuelling point at Palakkad in co-operation with Indian Oil Corporation.  HSD, High Speed Diesel will be mixed with bio-diesel up to 5% and used as fuel for diesel locomotives. This is the first of such attempts made by Southern Railway in the state of Kerala.

Naresh Lalwani, divisional railway manager inaugurated this innovative step at the RCD near Palakkad Junction station on May 19,  Thursday.     According to Palakkad Division release, Indian Railways encourage blending of bio-diesel 5% to 20%, with diesel fuel, to be used for its locomotives, aiming substantial savings in fuel cost. Railway pays Rs 48 for a litre of diesel when purchased in bulk amounts at present. However the cost of one litre of bio-diesel is only Rs.39 which is a saving of Rs.9 per litre.

The RCD at Palakkad dispenses 20,000 litres of diesel per day for locomotives. The Division proposes to blend 5% bio-diesel in the initial phase. This facility will be extended to the RCDs at Kannur and Mangaluru Junction within a short span of time.    The fuelling depots at Palakkad, Kannur and Mangaluru Junction together fuels about 1.60 lakh litres of diesel a day.

Biodiesel is made from an increasingly diverse mix of recycled cooking oil, agricultural oils, fatty acids, animal fats and algae and contains no petroleum - but can be blended at any level with petroleum diesel to create a bio-diesel blend.