Billed as a green fuel breakthrough in the aviation sector, the world's first flight by a commercial airline partly powered by biofuel touched down in Amsterdam today after a three-hour journey from the Heathrow airport here. Virgin Atlantic's Boeing 747 had one of its four engines connected to an independent biofuel tank that would provide 20 per cent of the engine's power. The flight did not carry passengers. According to Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson, using technology to develop greener fuel options will not only lower emissions, but also allow for other global warming issues to be tackled. "It's not necessarily going to be the silver bullet for the long-term future but will prove that a fuel like this can fly at 30,000 feet,' he was quoted as saying by the BBC. "The demonstration flight will give us crucial knowledge that we can use to dramatically reduce our carbon footprint,' he said. The biofuel was derived from a mixture of babassu nuts and coconuts. The three other engines were capable of powering the plane on conventional fuel had there been a problem. Earlier this month, Airbus used the world's largest passenger jet, the A380, to test another alternative fuel

Billed as a green fuel breakthrough in the aviation sector, the world's first flight by a commercial airline partly powered by biofuel touched down in Amsterdam today after a three-hour journey from Heathrow airport here. Virgin Atlantic's Boeing 747 had one of its four engines connected to an independent biofuel tank that it said would provide 20 per cent of the engine's power. The flight did not carry passengers. According to Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson, using technology to develop greener fuel options will not only lower emissions but will also allow for other global warming issues to be tackled. "It's not necessarily going to be the silver bullet for the long-term future but it will prove that a fuel like this can fly at 30,000 feet,' he was quoted as saying by BBC. "The demonstration flight will give us crucial knowledge that we can use to dramatically reduce our carbon footprint,' he said. The biofuel was derived from a mixture of babassu nuts and coconuts. The three other engines were capable of powering the plane on conventional fuel had there been a problem. Earlier this month, Airbus used the world's largest passenger jet, the A380, to test another alternative fuel

Some state governments, without waiting for a decision by the group of ministers (GoM) on bio-fuels, headed by agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, have gone ahead with their own programme of large-scale plantation of Jatropha. "We have launched our Jatropha plantation programme taking a cue from the Planning Commission's document, National Mission on Biodiesel. We are aware that the GoM on bio-fuels is deliberating the issue. The broad policy of the central government has already been enunciated in the Planning Commission document. The GoM is discussing incentives to be provided and the work of central government agencies in aiding implementation of the programme,' SK Shukla, executive director of Chhattisgarh Bio-fuel Development Authority (CBDA), told FE. The CBDA, which is headed by the chief secretary of the state, has identified 15.7 million hectare out of 201.5 million hectare revenue fallow land in different parts of the state for Jatropha. Chhattisgarh has 170.18 million hectare of degraded forest land in 17 out of 18 districts which can used for Jatropha plantation. "But for this, we need clearance from the Union ministry of environment and forests,' Shukla said. The Indian Railways also owns 7,309.557 hectare land along the tracks and other holdings amounting to 1,096.871 hectare, which can be used for Jatropha, he added. State government agencies have raised about 390 million Jatropha saplings in nurseries and have distributed them free to farmers for planting in 1,55,000 hectare in the last three years. In 2008-09, 200 million Jatropha saplings would be raised in nurseries. Chhattisgarh has also announced support prices for Jatropha seed at Rs 6,500 a tonne, Karanj seeds at Rs 6,000 a tonne and for Jatropha and Karanj oils at Rs 18 per litre. Also, it has framed a new policy for leasing out wastelands to investors. In addition, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is being used for Jatropha plantation. The Bio-fuel Authority of Rajasthan, too, has identified 2,106.8 hectares in 11 districts for Jatropha, said PC Chaplot, of the directorate of extension education in Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology. The state is also exploring the possibility of diverting 2% to 3% farm land for Jatropha in the form of hedges around fields for protecting crops, water harvesting as well as acting as a windbreak. In the south, Karnataka has set up an autonomous Bio-fuel Board with members drawn from institutions, agriculture universities, forest and agriculture departments, industry and NGOs for integrated development of the bio-fuel programme and formulating support prices for seeds, oil and oilcakes, KV Sarvesh, of the state agriculture department told FE.

The Hyderabad-based Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA) has said that plantation of different tree borne oilseeds in wastelands under different agro-climatic conditions can be taken up for production of bio-fuels. But pests control needs adequate attention. CRIDA has conducted on-farm experimentation in three districts in Andhra Pradesh, namely Anantapur, Mahabubnagar and Nalgonda alongwith the state government's rainshadow area development department. In general, the experiments showed the survival of Jatropha was about 95% after two years of planting and that of Pongamia was around 98% after a year of planting. "Experiments on pruning of Jatropha plants in different districts have shown good response to the treatment at a height of 45 cm and 60 cm from ground level by reflecting in increased number of branches (10-15 per plant) and also vigorous growth', said GR Rao of CRIDA. However, with a view to develop good plant growth, the inflorescene should be removed during the first year. It was observed that the pruning had reflected in more pest problems as pruned plants had more vigor and also because of pruning injuries, he said CRIDA suggested that legume intercropping should be taken up in the three-year gestation period of Jatropha plantation with a view to provide immediate income to the farmer and improving soil fertility. It experimented with such intercropping of pigeonpea, blackgram and horsegram in 2006. The spacing should, however, be at least 3m between rows of Jatropha while that for Pongamia at least 5x4m. Still wider spacing of 6x4m or 6x6m is preferred for Pongamia to get good growth. According to CRIDA study major pests were, however, observed on bio-fuel plants namely Semilooper (Archaea janata), red hairy caterpillar (Amsacta albistriga), leaf webber (Pempelia morosalis), stem girdler, grass hoppers, Defoliater, leaf and inflorescence webber (Pempelia morosalis), spotted bugs (Scutellera nobilis/Chrysocoris purpureus), scale insects (Megapulvinaria maxima), leaf miner, leaf blight and leaf galls (Eriophyes cherian). CRIDA initiated on-station trials with Jatropha way back in 1992 and on Pongamia since 2003. It identified 218 Jatropha species and over 197 Pongamia species in Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh and collected and screened germplasm on the basis of oil content in the seed and thereafter short-listed 42 Jatropha accessions and 23 Pongamia accessions for evaluation. "The screened accessions of Jatropha and Pongamia are being evaluated in progeny trials. Germplasm of these two species were exchanged with network partners, representing all state governments for multi locational trials,' said Rao He said that CRIDA has taken up standardized mass multiplication and other agro technologies for raising elite accessions of Jatropha and Pongamia and intiated trials on inter and intra specific breeding in Jatropha. The negative and positive interactions in bio-fuel plants based agro-forestry systems were being evaluated to develop a sound agro-forestry system suitable to dryland areas. Grafting in Pongamia standardization and performance of grafts vis-avis seedlings were being evaluated in the fields, he said and added that CRIDA has already designed a mini oil expeller by modifying the screw and oil chamber of traditional oil expeller to suit the needs of extracting oil from Jatropha and Pongamia.

With the government planning to start 20 per cent blending of bio-diesel with diesel, Indian oil companies are fast firming up their bio-diesel ventures. The state-run Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), for instance, is slated to announce a joint venture with the Government of Chattisgarh shortly to take up large scale jatropha farming across 36,000 hectares. Oil extracted from seeds of jatropha plant

George Monbiot Enthusiasm for biofuels is misplaced and masks the real solution to the problem of the globe's overdependence on oil

The worst fears about the impact of the rush for bio-fuels are coming true. Evidence that has now surfaced suggests that bio-fuels based on plant sources may actually aggravate, rather than alleviate, the environmental damage being caused by global warming. At least two recent studies done in the United States, and published in the latest issue of Science, bear this out.