First bio-diesel powered loco rolls out in Tiruchi

[ashok321]

First bio-diesel powered loco rolls out in Tiruchi - The Hindu

The first diesel locomotive powered by bio-diesel rolled out from here on Tuesday.

The eco-friendly initiative of the railways in using bio-diesel in limited quantity with high speed diesel to power diesel locomotives is expected to cut down oil bill and reduce pollution. With necessary infrastructure facility having been put in place, diesel locomotives that come for refuelling in the Diesel Loco Shed in Tiruchi would be topped up with blended fuel containing limited quantity of bio-diesel and high speed diesel.

A separate bio-diesel tank with a storage capacity of 20,000 litres has been established within the Diesel Loco Shed which maintains a fleet of over 125 diesel locomotives of different types including the 4,400 high horsepower newly manufactured ‘EMD’ locos.

Another huge tank to store blended fuel – a mixture of high speed diesel and bio-diesel has been set up with a 2.1 lakh litre storage capacity in the shed premises.

Five per cent of bio-diesel would be used in the diesel locomotives with the remaining being high speed diesel, say railway officials here. The Diesel Loco Shed in Tiruchi has been identified by the Southern Railway to put in place facility for using bio-diesel in diesel locomotives with the other shed being Erode.

Divisional Railway Manager, Tiruchi A.K. Agarwal flagged off the first bio-diesel powered high horsepower EMD diesel loco at a function held at the shed on Tuesday. The Senior Divisional Mechanical Engineer of the shed D. Rajamani said blended fuel containing bio-diesel and high speed diesel would be used in diesel locomotives that come for refuelling to the shed.

The shed plans to use 1.2 kilo litre of bio-diesel per day and thereby save 438 kilo litre of high speed diesel every year, say officials.

 

[cloud_9]

If anyone has seen IR staff refueling loco's those 438 litre savings are puny compared to the spillage that occurs everyday.

 

[Abba_Dabba_Jabba]

@anant_s Sir aapki kripa drishti daliye.

 

[anant_s]

@anant_s Sir aapki kripa drishti daliye.

budhdho ka mazaak bana rahey ho! Khair koi baat nahin

On Topic:
First, the title is factually wrong, Bio-diesel is already in use by Indian Railways (WDM 3A and YDM 4 class locomotives).

Second, its a good initiative, as in terms of fuel cost, Diesel costs more compared to similar traction provided by Electric

Indian Railway Perspective

Indian railways had big plans to plant Jatropha along its railway lines and thenin conjunction with IOCL produce Bio Diesel. Both failed to yield any positive results.
Now IR has set up two plants at Raipur (Chattisgarh) and Tondariapet (Tamil Nadu) to manufacture blended Bio Diesel (30Tons/day).
RDSO meanwhile carried out tests with this mixture and the results are as follows:

http://www.iroaf.indianrailways.gov.in/iroaf/uploads/files/1430384287137-Concept Paper - Letter to Board 03-05-13.pdf
As you can see the oil blend performs well. Now is the question of producing oil in sufficient quantities.
However with Crude prices going down, i'm not sure how much interest will IR still show.

 

[Abba_Dabba_Jabba]

@anant_s : Arey nahi sir, aapka majak kaise udaa sakte.

And thanks for the above info regarding bio-diesel engines..