Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan will launch the sale of bio-diesel at the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) outlet on the Vijayawada-Hyderabad highway at Gollapudi here through video-conferencing on Monday. The event will mark the World Bio-Fuel Day.
Leading the IOC team in Vijayawada will be General Manager (A.P and Telangana) Umakant Prasad Singh. He said in a press release that bio-diesel was an alternative to conventional diesel made from renewable sources such as non-edible vegetable oils.
The fuel extracted from jatropha and pongamia seeds are mixed at the rate of 5 per cent with normal High Speed Diesel (HSD). Currently, five outlets of IOC in Vijayawada retail bio-diesel at the same price as normal diesel.
General Manager (Operations) P.K. Yadav, DGM (Retail Sales) A.C. Ghosh and DGM (Operations) P.K. Chaterjee will attend the programme.
Bio-diesel can be mixed with petroleum-based diesel in any proportion and is considered ‘climate neutral’ because of its sequestration during consumption. Its use results in lower emissions of unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and particulate matter.
