Report on OCF 2003

Report on OCF (Oil Conservation Fortnight)  2003 aappeared in the newspaper

Union Labour Minister, Dr. Sahib Singh Verma has made a fervent call for efficient utilisation of petroleum products in the country. Launching the fortnight-long special and concerted campaign to spread the message of conserving oil at national level here today, Dr. Verma informed that conservation of 25 per cent of petroleum products would result in a saving of about Rs. 25,000 crore which can be better utilised for developing infrastructure, providing education, health care, drinking water and irrigation facilities and development of roads and highways in the country, etc. The Oil Conservation Fortnight 2003 (OCF 2003) is being observed all over the country during January 15-31 period by Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA) in association with oil industry. This period would be utilised to undertake an intensive multi-sectoral awareness campaign to bring home the message of oil conservation.
Dr. Verma called upon the children who had assembled in the morning to impress upon their parents, friends, etc., for adopting habits conducive to optimum utilisation of the Hydrocarbon Resources which has limited availability but are crucial in the day-to-day life as well as for sustainability of economy and society. He also emphasised the importance of conserving oil in view of the country's heavy import dependence which is evident from Rs. 78,000 crore oil import bill last year.
Shri M.S. Srinivasan, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Vice Chairman PCRA also reiterated the need for oil conservation which also result in environmental protection. He pointed out that the economy moves on energy and since the country is not self-sufficient in it, it is imperative that oil conservation remains a high priority. He informed that in addition to the holding of Rallies of Children this year's Conservation Fortnight is remarkable as "Save Oil Two-Wheeler Women's Rally 2003" has been organised, as by educating a women one can educate the entire family. Additional Secretary also flagged off the Publicity Van which carry the audio-visual Messages on conservation to people living in far-off and remote areas. Ms. Leena Mehendale, ED PCRA also spoke about the importance of oil conservation and said that conservation of crucial and scarce resources like oil is a bounden duty of every Indian.
During the inaugural function of OCF 2003, about 3000 school children and their teachers and others braved cold weather to take the solemn pledge for conservation of oil so that it lasts longer for the benefit of the country and avoid its unproductive and wasteful utilisation. The fortnight long special campaign aimed at reinforcing the message of the need for most efficient utilisation of hydrocarbon resources which is conveyed through the year by organising various programmes and events. Simultaneously, such campaigns are being held all over the country. This fortnight is utilised for intensifying the different campaigns for spreading awareness, educating the sectors like industry, transport, agriculture and the households to imbibe and adopt methods and techniques which give them maximum result by using minimum of energy.
PCRA was set up by the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas in 1978 to promote optimum utilisation of hydrocarbons through spreading awareness amongst masses about importance, methods and benefits of conservation of petroleum products. Through multi-directional approach, it promotes R & D in new technologies, equipment, appliances, additives, etc., including fuel substitution and promoting renewable energy sources. PCRA focusses on sectors like domestic, industry, transport and agriculture as they are bulk users of oil. It has completed R &D projects including development of Diya, Lantern, Nutan Stove, LPG Stove, offset burner, kerosene vapour recovery in textile industry, furnace redesign for steel rolling mills, lube and grease dispensing equipment etc. For effective communication to the target groups in semi-urban and rural areas, messages are made in regional languages.

 

Using ethanol in Petrol -- problem and solution

While I was in PCRA, I was associated with a research project  but only to the extent of believing its need importance and possibility. Actual work was carried out by Mr Ashok Bhaskarwar of IIT Delhi. 

The main work was around this problem --

If you mix ethanol in petrol, then ethanol can work as equally good fuel provided that it is 98% (or more) anhydrous. The ordinary ethanol which we produce (mostly in sugar factories) is only 88-90 % anhydrous. To take away water and make it 98% is very costly. But if we have the methodology for petrol-water emulsions that are stable ( in a certain phase they are) then they can use the less anhydrous ethanol and such method will be much cheaper. Mr Bhaskarwar  experimented with various emulsifiers and gave us results showing stable emulsions (their phase-curves) but their actual use for mixing up ordinary ethanol and then use in vehicles at petrol pumps, needed further experimentation at the level of oil companies and that could not be done despite the involvement of people like Dr Mashelkar, then DG CSIR and Mr Naik, then Minister of petroleum. The R&D lab of IOC was also of not much help.

Now once again with high petrol prices we need to invst in such research work.

बायोडीजल : अपार संभावनाएं

बायोडीजल : अपार संभावनाएं hindi

Sanrakshan Chetana 3

Sanrakshan Chetana 2

chat mail from muktikam

[Muktikam Phukan]
Report · 9:11pm
Madam, I've come back to OIL after a great inspiring & invigorating stint in PCRA. I've joined OIL's Noida office. I must thank you for giving the opportunity to grow & groom when you were in PCRA. Workink under you was the greatest & best time of my tenure in PCRA. While leaving PCRA I felt what PCRA lacks today. And I'd this crstal clear answer: PCRA never again had a vsionary of your calibre after you left. Thank you Madam with all sincerity.
[You]
Report · 9:19pm
Thanks Muktikam. With the support of all you technical stalwarts I was able to prove once again to myself and perhaps to many among you that mass education, skill education and not merely mass awareness was the key to sustainable energy conservation. I hope many of the PCRA colleagues will grab every opportunity to take up skill building.
[Muktikam Phukan]
Report · 9:20pm
Absolutely Maam. No doubt at all
[You]
Report · 9:22pm
And let me wish you all the best back in OIL. Hope u will be their new trainer on energy saving and skill building.
[Muktikam Phukan]
Report · 9:23pm
I'll try my best with all your blessinga maam. thanx
[You]
Report · 9:24pm
Bye Muktikam We will remail FB friends.

IASRD Key note address for Dhanbad seminar

Key note address for Dhanbad seminar.
--leena mehendale
Date
Friends, the havoc played by global warming is quite visible. It is bringing erratic changes in climate, making glaciers to melt at a higher speed – thus creating dangers of more floods, bringing Tsunami and so on.. Last year the temperature of some cities went up to 47 degrees C and in the coming years it is expected to rise further. We have to think as to what kind of climate or more importantly, what kind of planet we are going to leave for our children and grandchildren.
We have all read very fondly a story in our school days. The story of a person who finds a goose which lays one golden egg every day thus making him rich every day surely but slowly. Then he becomes greedy and kills the goose in the hope of taking out all the golden eggs in one go so as to become very rich instantly. But when he cuts the stomach of the geese, there were no eggs.
We all enjoyed reading about the fate of that foolhardy person and said "well -- he deserved the result of his greed." Are we not in the race of committing the same cardinal mistake today?
Let us look at the ways we are irreparably destroying our environment only to achieve "accelerated growth". Wanton unplanned urbanization which results necessarily from putting agriculture on back foot and heavily promoting industry in preference to agriculture, also leads to excessive fuel consumption for which we are exploiting the subsoil fuel reserves at a faster and still faster rate. For supporting city life we are destroying our green cover. Worse we are cutting and killing our hills, thus destroying an ecosystem which sustains the long-living trees that are required for balancing the seasons and bring timely rains. The silt flowing from these cut-hills will submerge all the river valley life-cycles in coming years. So it is not just the melting of glaciers we are facing but vanishing of our hills to. And I have not yet mentioned the amount of trapped carbon dioxide released by the virgin soils that are coming up-surface from these devastated hills.
We have all been taught in last 300 years after industrial revolution that growth of industrial sector is a measure of development. Consumption of energy per capita is the measure of development. Possessing more and more arsenals is a sign of strength. We have accepted these premises and do not question them. We do not ask what will be the final outcome of this wanton "greed for golden eggs". We have industrial effluents spoiling our water sources in the name of higher production -- higher GDP. But the result is snatching away and depleting natural resources from poor whose consumption requirements were lower by those people whose "industrial sustainability" depends on accelerated consumption besides leading necessarily to wastage, which is justified in the name of value addition. To give an example just look at this picture which we have forgotten with our current life-style. The picture is that a milled cloth takes about 80 liters of water for production of 1 meter of cloth while a handspun-handloom cloth does not need water at all. This is not to say that we do not need industrial large scale production but only to suggest thatif there is another technically available alternative then allowing both to coexist may be a good developmental model which we should always be open to try.
coming back to the question of jatropha and biodiesel it has been said many time that this is a green fuel and giving subsidy for it so that a good industry grows around it is a very worthwhile proposition. Govt of India in their royal style of more and more subdivision of business and work among ministers has come to a stage where any decision on promotion of green diesel cannot be taken without several departments consenting. We have ministry of petroleum, agriculture, rural development, industry, sc and technology, environment and finance which are the necessarily involved ministries and thee is no mechanism under which they can have continuous dialogue till the whole issue is discussed threadbare and a solution is obtained. The ministry of agriculture has to decide on plantation and seed collection policies as well as support price for the seeds. Agricultural research is needed in many areas. Industrial set up is necessary for ensuring oil extraction and trans-esterification. This further requires a proper policy for industrial incentives, tax moratorium and ensuring continuous supply chain as well as market chain. There will be issues of sales tax, octroi too. In absence of a proper market chain, there will be batch-wise production of green diesel which will be unnecessarily costlier and economically unviable. If CDM benefits are to be obtained, support of ministry of environment is also a must.
I am reminded that once a mail was received by a producer of biodiesel who had just then converted his otherwise idle machinery into an trans-esterification plant and had produced and stored about 4000 tonnes of biodiesel. When he received a query for a ship-full of biodiesel he claimed inability. This was an occasion for setting up a production-cum-coordination program. For this a SPV must be created with the lead of petroleum ministry. As a first step the ministry took the lead for declaring a purchase policy but it was not sustained. The committee of ministers has not met on the issue for a long time, largely because the govt has no coordination mechanism at the level of secretaries.
From bio-diesel let us look at a slightly different picture namely the bio-fuel. Indeed before the discovery of crude oil and the invention of current electricity the human race was using bio-fuel namely wood. But we are talking of a much more efficient and cleaner use of wood as a fuel. We are talking of burning finely-cut wood pieces in low-oxygen environment and the hot gases so generated to be used along with diesel in a diesel engine to generate electricity which can be used at source to pump water or to provide street lighting. Depending on scale their can be many more such uses the whole idea being to use the fuel wood much more efficiently. The babool tree which is all-too well-known is very suitable for this purpose.
All this is not to say that we do not need bulk production, or that we do not need big industries. All I am trying to impress is that unless we are going for massive decentralization and encouraging the use of energy at the source itself, we are wasting too much as transport losses which we cannot afford any more. Hence all methods of decentralized energy production must be examined, encouraged and put in practice, so as to maintain or improve our energy-availability pattern and yet prevent the damage to environment. Today we are looking for such greener models. Jay Hind.
----------------XXX-------------------------