Alternate Energy Development Board of Pakistan

Resource Potential of Biodiesel Project

Alternative Energy Development Board carried out the initial research on bio-diesel resources in Pakistan through private sector. There are many resources used for biodiesel production in the world. These resources can be classified on the basis of availability and their yield. In Pakistan these resources mainly classified due to availability from oil crops, waste vegetable oils and animal fats. Historically animal fats were used in Pakistan, having been replaced by vegetable oil due to increase in population and per capita consumption. By studying all these aspects biodiesel resources can be classified into following two classes.

• CLASS-I: BIO-DIESEL FROM OIL SEEDS

• CLASS – II: BIO-DIESEL FROM WASTE OILS

CATEGORIES OF CLASS - I

Due to diverse ecological conditions of Pakistan, lucky to have over a dozen oil seed crops of which it can afford to grow one or the other in all season of the year. Depending upon the historical cultivation and production the oil seed crops were classified into conventional (i.e. traditional), non traditional, industrial and wild crops.

CATEGORY A – CONVENTIONAL CULTIVATED OIL YIELDING CROP

• Rape Seeds • Ground Nut • Sesame Seeds • Rocket seeds

CATEGORY B – NON CONVENTIONAL CULTIVATED OIL YIELDING CROPS

• Sun flower • Soybean • Safflower

CATEGORY C – Industries Based Crops

• Linseed • Castor beans • Cotton seeds

CATEGORY D – Wild Plant Resources

• Pongame tree • Olive tree • Hemp oil • Oat seeds • Milk Thistle • Carthamus seeds • Jatropha

TABLE-1 SHORT LISTING / SELECTION OF RESOURCES FROM CLASS - 1

S.No. Botanical Name English Name Local Name Family 1 Pongamioa Pinnata Pongame Sukhh Chain Fabaceae 2 Brassica campestris Mustard Sarson Brassicaceae 3 Brassica alba White Mustard Chiti Sarson Brassicaceae 4 Brassica nigra Black Mustard Kali Sarson Brassicaceae 5 Brassica napus Canola Canola Brassicaceae 6 Ricinus communis Castor Bean Arond Euphorbiaceae 7 Helianthus annuus Sunflower Suraj Mukhi Asteraceae 8 Gossypium hirsutum Cotton Kappa Malvaceae 9 Jatropha curcas Jatropha Karanga Euphorbiaceae

Fig 1: Castor bean and castor plant Fig 2: Pongamia Pinnata (Sukh Chane) Fig 3: Jatropha seeds and plant in Pakistan AVAILABILITY OF CLASS – II RESOURCES Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) can be recycled, cleaned and reused as bio diesel. WVO is available in large quantities from restaurants, hotel chains, confectionaries and domestic cooking. WVO is one of the cheaper sources for biodiesel in developed countries, where the cooking oil is used only once. Pakistan is basically an agricultural country and due to diverse ecological conditions, the population is heavily dependent on agricultural products. For cooking purposes edible oil yielding crops and plants are cultivated on a large scale in the country. These edible oils are utilized in hotels, huts, local shops and every home of Pakistan. So these are the major sources for collection of WVO. According to one survey, average consumption of edible oil in Pakistan is 10 liters per month by each family. This gives rise to an estimated quantity of 240 million litres of WVO available in Pakistan every year (assuming that 10% of edible oil in Pakistan becomes waste). Estimating an 80% yield of Bio-diesel from WVO (as supported by our experiments), a minimum approximate quantity of 150 million liters of Bio-diesel from WVO can be produced in Pakistan. From the marketing point of view there is a chain of dealers for collection and further selling of WVO. Price for 1 liter of WVO from these sources may vary from Rs. 20 – 45, depending upon the quality and quantity of WVO (some hotels etc. reuse edible oil several times before disposing off their WVO, while others use them once or twice). There are minor constraints in collection of WVO, including cost constraints. But these can be overcome by developing strategies for coordination between dealers, stakeholders and users of WVO. Fixing of raw material rates by the GOP might be required, as will be subsidies on the production and sale of Bio-diesel.