Biofuel development in India centres mainly around the cultivation and processing of Jatropha plant seeds which are very rich in oil (40%). The drivers for this are historic, functional, economic, environmental, moral and political. Jatropha oil has been used in India for several decades as biodiesel for the diesel fuel requirements of remote rural and forest communities; jatropha oil can be used directly after extraction (i.e. without refining) in diesel generators and engines. Jatropha has the potential to provide economic benefits at the local level since under suitable management it has the potential to grow in dry marginal non-agricultural lands, thereby allowing villagers and farmers to leverage non-farm land for income generation. As well, increased Jatropha oil production delivers economic benefits to India on the macroeconomic or national level as it reduces the nation’s fossil fuel import bill for diesel production (the main transportation fuel used in the country); minimising the expenditure of India’s foreign-currency reserves for fuel allowing India to increase its growing foreign currency reserves (which can be better spent on capital expenditures for industrial inputs and production). And since Jatropha oil is carbon-neutral, large-scale production will improve the country’s carbon emissions profile. Finally, since no food producing farmland is required for producing this biofuel (unlike corn or sugar cane ethanol, or palm oil diesel), it is considered the most politically and morally acceptable choice among India’s current biofuel options; it has no known negative impact on the production of the massive amounts grains and other vital agriculture goods India produces to meet the food requirements of its massive population (circa 1.1 Billion people as of 2008). Other biofuels which displace food crops from viable agricultural land such as corn ethanol or palm biodiesel have caused serious price increases for basic food grains and edible oils in other countries

  • Biodiesel is a direct replacement for petroleum diesel and can be used in any diesel engine without modifications. Biodiesel blends are used in diesel cars, trucks, buses, off-road equipment, and oil furnaces across the country. The use of biodiesel can reduce a diesel engine's overall emissions up to 80 percent.
  • Biodiesel for Alternative Fuel Vehicles. Biodiesel is a clean-burning liquid fuel developed from renewable energy sources like vegetable oils and animal fats, which can be used to power vehicles in place diesel. Pure biodiesel, referred to as B100,.