A good SWOT analysis of the biofuels industry in India by Jagpreet Walia. He says, “Many private players in the transportation sector have already adopted this renewable source and now various PSUs have also come up in adopting Biodiesel consumption initiatives to promote the steps taken by the government e.g. The Indian Railways has started to use the oil (blended with diesel fuel in various ratios) from the Jatropha plant to power its diesel engines with great success. Currently the diesel locomotives that run from Thanjavur to Nagore section and Tiruchirapalli to Lalgudi, Dindigul and Karur sections run on a blend of Jatropha and diesel oil.
But the rising land prices and low efficiency in oil production still remains a small hurdle.
The third generation biofuels are the next promising solution to the remaining problems. Biofuels derived from engineered microorganisms are considered as the third generation fuels.”
There are problems of course with biofuels, but the future is still encouraging
