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Despite huge efforts south of the border in India in promotion
of bio-diesel, efforts in Nepal are relatively new and currently
NAEF along with NAEF advisor Oliver Morf have begun fabrication
of a 300 liter processing unit. Several of the earlier private
sector initiatives here in Nepal have been attempts to set
up a source of bio-diesel by growing Jatropha (see Test production
of bio fuel begins). Rather than waiting for those efforts
to pay off and then look at bio-diesel's feasibility we decided
to build a small plant and attempt to source other types of
vegetable or animal oils that could jumpstart bio-diesel production
and provide an immediate market to farmers of biodiesel oil
crops . Cheaper edible oils such as palm, coconut, sal, or
inedible oils like prickly poppy (infamous for poisoning thousands
in India when used to adulterate mustard oil in the late 1980s
and 1990s) and castor should also be considered. Other issues
we want to investigate are whether the "hard" agents
necessary for processing could be replaced with more environmentally
friendly chemicals ( bio-ethanol could be substituted in the
processing for the "dino" sourced methanol and whether
sodium hydroxide could be replaced with potassium hydroxide).
We understand that the added demand from bio-diesel (particularly
in Asia and China) for edible oils such as palm and soybean
is pushing growers into new pristine tropical jungles for
plantation. Our stance on sustainable sources for vegetable
oils is very close to that of RSPO's in that oils should be
coming from present cropping area sources and no ecologically
fragile tropical forests should be felled for our oil needs.
Also, click here for our
BioDiesel Guide for Policy Makers and Enthusiasts to
find out biodiesel's, advantages, how it is made, and what
and how it is used (.pdf format, 14 pages).
Also join our new Bio-fuel Nepal Yahoo forum for sharing
and discussing with others Bio-fuels for Nepal.
Information released: September 10th, 2008
Some of our favorite bio-diesel links
BioFuel
Biofuel
at Journey to Forever
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