Evaluation of Ethanol Diesel blend as fuel

substitute

EnerDieselTM use in Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation

Fleet

Executive Summary

India imports nearly 70% of its annual crude petroleum requirement, which is
around 110 million tons. The price ranges from US$ 50-70 per barrel, and the
expenditure on crude purchase is in the range of Rs.1600 billion per year. The
impact on the country's foreign exchange reserves is in a big way.

The petroleum industry now looks very committed to the use of ethanol as fuel,
as it is expected to benefit sugarcane farmers as well as the oil industry in the
long run. Ethanol (FUEL ETHANOL) can also be produced from wheat, corn,
beet, sweet sorghum etc. The best tool to fight vehicular pollution is ethanol as it
contains 35% oxygen that helps complete combustion of fuel and thus reduces
harmful tailpipe emissions. It also reduces particulate emissions that pose a
health hazard severely affecting children and the aged. It also reduces Co2
emissions; the highest contributor to global warming.

The use of E-diesel is a relatively new concept in the Indian transport sector. The
fuel under the brand name EnerdieselTM has been tried, tested and put to use
by one of the premier state transport undertaking; Karnataka State Road
Transport Corporation with technical know how from Energenics Pte Ltd,
Singapore; a supplier of alternative energy solutions and technologies.

A comprehensive evaluation of the use of EnerdieselTM on the bus fleet of

KSRTC was conducted. The preliminary approach was aimed at estimating the
contribution of air pollution emissions reduction and its impact on the air quality of
the environment. The economic benefits of EnerdieselTM use were also
evaluated. The focus was mainly on the reduction of PM; a major health hazard
to the humans especially the children and aged and Co 2 emissions; the highest
contributor to global warming.

The fourth part states the conclusions and also the future scope of E-diesel use
in India and also the impending benefits associated with its use.

ii
 TABLE OF CONTENT
Page
Executive Summary ii
Table of Content iii
List of Figures iv
List of Table iv
1. INTRODUCTION 1

2. ETHANOL PRODUCTION
2.1 Global Ethanol: Overview 2
2.2 Ethanol as fuel in India 3
2.3 Ethanol diesel: Indian scenario 3

3. KSRTC EXPERIENCE
3.1 Project Description 5
3.2 Fuel blending 5
3.3 Trial result 5
3.3.1 Fuel economy 5
3.4 Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) 6

4. FUTURE SCOPE AND CONCLUSION

4.1 Future scope 6

4.2 Conclusion 7

5. REFERENCES 8

LIST OF FIGURES Page

Figure 2.1 Ethanol Demand 2

LIST OF TABLE

Table 2.1 Reduction of Pollutants 4

APPENDIX-A Statistical Analysis report of Kmpl data of Depot-3, KSRTC 9

APPENDIX-B Cost Benefit Analysis of Using Ethanol Blended Diesel

(EnerdieselTM) by KSRTC 13

iii
1. Introduction

The burgeoning populace of humans has led to the ever increasing demand of use of
automobiles in the present era. The projected petroleum conservation in India for 2006-
07 is estimated at 175MMT.1 Due to the cheap availability of diesel over Petrol, the
number of diesel vehicles plying on our roads has increased exponentially. For example,
the overall fleet strength of the Government undertaken buses in our country is
approximately 1, 00,000 and growing day by day. This excludes the 77% share of private
operated buses and the innumerable number of other diesel vehicles used to transport
commodities.

With dwindling natural oil resources and the ever increasing threat of global warming
looming large, there is an immediate need for the use of a clean burning and a renewable
alternative fuel.

In rapidly developing nations like India, urban air pollution is chiefly and increasingly a
direct consequence of combustion of diesel for transport. Some research interest has been
shown in yet another renewable liquid energy source, Ethanol, and its potential role in
displacing increasing amounts of petroleum diesel, although its current use is confined
primarily as an additive to Petrol.

Ethanol is a renewable fuel produced from biomass materials such as sugar cane and
other high starch containing crops. Laboratory tests and in-the-field demonstrations have
indicated that ethanol-diesel blends offer measurable improvements in environmental
quality through reduced exhaust emissions. These ethanol-diesel blends are called E-
Diesel or sometimes Oxydiesel. One of the major impediment being addressed is that
ethanol does not readily combine with diesel fuel. Recent advances have produced a
flash-mixing blending agent that augment the assimilation of ethanol with diesel fuel.

2. Ethanol Production

2.1 Global Ethanol: Overview

There is an increased demand for ethanol on a global scale because of various direct and
indirect benefits. The Worlds appetite for oil is increasing in enormous proportions.
Colin Campbell, one of the worlds leading oil geologists states that, for every new

1
http://petroleum.nic.in/conscen.htm accessed 11th February 2007
1
barrel of oil we find, we are consuming four already-discovered barrels.2 The arithmetic
is definitely not on our side, and promises to get worse. Oil consumption is expected to
increase by at least two percent a year over the next few decades. A Pentagon paper on
abrupt climate change points out that global demand for oil will grow by 66 percent in the
next 30 years. But its unclear where the supply will come from.
There is an evident need for alternate fuels which can offset the dependence on the
renewable fossil fuels. Ethanol stands out as one of the best alternative since it is not only
cheaper than the fossil fuels but also they are renewable and upon combustion emits less
noxious gases into the atmosphere. Ethanol is widely acclaimed as a cleaner burning
environmentally friendly fuel. The increased demand for ethanol in the global markets
are pictorially shown in Fig 3.1

Reduces fossil
fuel
dependence
Cheaper, and import bill
renewable
environmentally
cleaner fuel
Increased
Demand for
Ethanol
Sugarcane:
Cheapest
source of
Direct correlation manufacturing
with oil prices

Fig 2.1 Ethanol demand3

2
Linda Mc Quaig, Its the crude, dude- Greed, Gas, War and the American way
3
http://www.pratappur.com accessed 6th February 2007
2
 2.2 Ethanol as fuel in India
India is the second largest producer of sugar cane in the world with a production level of
about 280 Million tonnes per annum. India stands fourth in the world in Ethanol
production with a production about 1.3 Billion liters per annum. The installed capacity in
India is about 2.7 Billion liters per annum in 278 distilleries; thus we utilize only 50% of
our capacity in ethanol production. The Ethanol production in India is mainly from
Molasses; the by product from sugar mills. On a world wide basis out of the total annual
production of 33.3 Billion liters of Ethanol, 68% is used as an automotive fuel, 21% is
utilized for industrial purposes and the remaining 11% is used for beverages. The entire
ethanol production was used for potable and industrial use in India until 2002 when the
Government of India came with a proposal that 5% of ethanol be doped with petrol.
Despite the mandatory blending of ethanol with petrol, the program is yet to take off full
steam due to anomaly in supplies and price of ethanol.

2.2 Ethanol diesel: Indian scenario

Ethanol diesel was introduced in India under the brand name EnerDiesel TM by
Energenics Pte Ltd, Singapore. This started as a trial basis on the bus fleet of Karnataka
State Road Transport Corporation, Bangalore, India.

EnerDieselTM comprises of 7.7% Ethanol, 91.8% Diesel and 0.5% of the company's
patented additive to provide a technical and commercially viable clear homogenous
and stable fuel that can be utilized in unmodified engines and existing fuel delivery
infrastructure.

The first bus to run on EnerDieselTM was flagged off on June 5th 2006, to mark the
occasion of World Environment Day amidst great aplomb. Benefits of EnerDieselTM
start from the first fill-up. The reduction of various polluting parameters is tabulated
below:

Parameter % Reduction
Min Max
PM 20 46
NOX 1.8 8.5
CO 12 23
SMOKE 50 70
Table 2.1 Reduction of pollutants
3
In addition to environmental benefits, there are other various advantages of
EnerdieselTM such as:

Enhanced lubricity
Added Cetane
Improved corrosion resistance
Outstanding static properties
Excellent response and power
Maintains clean distribution system
Maintains fuel economy
No engine modifications required
Increased life of engine and other components
Increased life of engine oil

3 KSRTC Experience

3.1 Project Description

After the successful demonstration of EnerdieselTM on its trial bus, KSRTC approved the
conversion of one of its entire depot with a fleet strength of 126 buses to Enerdiesel TM.
Depot-3 of Bangalore Central division, Bangalore was selected for the large scale
implementation. The requisite licenses to procure, store and use ethanol were obtained
from the Government of Karnataka. The conversion of buses in a phased manner started
in the month of September, 2006. By December, 2006, all the 126 buses were converted
into EnerdieselTM without any problems.

3.2 Fuel blending

The blending of ethanol and diesel is done onsite with computerized state of art dosing
equipment. The dosing units are microprocessor controlled and it delivers ethanol and
the additive at precise quantities into the existing fuel line. This will ensure hassle free
and highly accurate blending operations.

3.3 Trial results

As of January 31st 2007, the buses have clocked more than 3.2 Million Kilometers using
around 6, 33,947 liters of EnerdieselTM. Smoke emission checks were performed on all
buses prior to their conversion. The average values of smoke measured was around
40HSU. The smoke emission tests within a week of EnerdieselTM use showed a
4
reduction of around 30% and after 4 weeks the smoke levels have reduced to a
significant 60% decrease. The smoke emissions are in the range of 15-20 HSU after
continuous use of EnerdieselTM .

3.3.1 Fuel economy

Fuel economy is a major parameter to be considered in any alternate fuel trials. Ethanol
blends of 10% or 15% have shown some percentage decrease in the Kilometers per
litre(Kmpl). But EnerdieselTM s proprietary additive and the optimal percentage of
ethanol (7.7%) in the blend has resulted in an increase of Kmpl by 1.75%. This can be
corroborated by statistical analysis shown in Appendix-1

3.4 Clean Development Mechanism(CDM)

KSRTC is in the process of expansion of its fleet to EnerdieselTM. It has obtained the
necessary approvals from the Government of Karnataka to convert 20 of its depots into
EnerdieselTM. This is approximately 2500 buses which is nearly half the total fleet
strength of KSRTC.

The highlight is that this project has been approved by the World Bank for purchase of
carbon credits under the Clean Development Mechanism. The proposed agreement
between KSRTC and World Bank will bring in a significant sum to KSRTC by the sale
of its carbon credits in terms of CO2 reduction achieved by the use of EnerdieselTM in its
4000 buses.

The economic benefits is shown in detail in Appendix-2

4 Future scope and Conclusions

4.1 Future Scope

Compression ignition vehicles are ubiquitous due to their efficiency, reliability,
adaptability and cost effectiveness. The Indian market for diesel is large and more highly
fragmented than that of petrol. Virtually all heavy trucks and urban buses burn diesel
fuel. Regulatory standards for diesel engines are getting tougher and will push the E-
Diesel market as one of the primary drivers. A cost-effective way to achieve these new
standards is by using cleaner fuels. EnerdieselTM is an attractive option to fleet operators
5
because it offers an economical solution to bring fleet emissions within mandated levels
without expensive hardware retrofits, major modifications to refueling or fuel storage
infrastructures or substantial retraining of maintenance staffs.

Future growth is not limited to centrally refueled fleets and can be expanded into
commercial retail distribution and other diesel non-road markets such as, rail, marine,
Stationary power generation, mining and agriculture.

4.2 Conclusion
EnerdieselTM fuel blend has shown significant improvements over previous attempts by
other entities in Europe, US and Brazil. EnerdieselTM is a crystal clear, stable fuel that can
easily substitute No. 2 diesel on a one-to-one basis without any penalty in fuel economy.
The emissions profile for both particulate matter and NOx emissions promises to
significantly improve air quality and meet the regulatory requirements for fleets operating
on both new and older diesel engines in small-duty, medium-duty, and high-duty
configurations.

In full commercial use, EnerdieselTM promises to bridge the gap between the air quality
emission standards and engine technology. EnerdieselTM will help expand ethanol
markets and in turn it will act as a huge beneficiary to the Agricultural sector.
EnerdieselTM is a commercially viable alternative to regular diesel and it is currently
available for commercial use.
5 References
1. http://petroleum.nic.in/conscen.htm
2. Linda Mc Quaig, Its the crude, dude- Greed, Gas, War and the American
Way
3. http://www.pratappur.com
4. www.o2diesel.com
5. www.ethanolindia.net

Appendix-A
Statistical Analysis report of Kmpl data of Depot-3, KSRTC

6
Objective of the study: To compare the mileage of two set of the buses( one set running
on ordinary diesel and other set running on ethanol) during the period from Sep, 06 to
Dec, 06.

Approach: Two samples, each of 50 buses were taken from both the sets of buses (the
buses which were running on ordinary diesel and the buses which were running on
ethanol) during the period from Sep, 06 to Dec., 06 and data were collected. For both the
sets of buses, monthly mileage was calculated and then average mileage for the period
from Sep, 06 to Dec, 06 was calculated for both the sets. Finally the mean mileage for
both sets of sample buses was calculated. Then the T- test was applied for the difference
in population means. The steps for the tests are given below.

Null Hypothesis: Ho: Mean mileage of buses with ordinary diesel (1) = Mean mileage
of buses with ethanol (2)

Alternative Hypothesis: H1: Mean mileage of buses with ordinary diesel (1) Mean
Mileage of buses with ethanol (2)

Test Statistic:

t = X/ n1 - Y/ n2 s1/n1-1/n2 where X and Y are average monthly mileage of buses

on ordinary diesel and on ethanol respectively and n1 & n2 are number of buses in both the
situations.

Sample size for both categories= 50

Level of significance: = 0.05

Degree of freedom= 98

Calculation of Average Mileage before and after the use of ethanol:

Bus Average Mileage for the bus on Bus Average Mileage for the buses on
No ordinary diesel No ethanol
( in Km/ Litre) ( in Km/ Litre)
Sep Oct Nov Dec Average Sep Oct Nov Dec. Average

243 4.77 4.78 5.94 4.76 5.16 2816 4.97 4.72 4.56 4.82 4.77
244 4.62 4.70 4.62 4.74 4.67 7113 5.29 5.19 5.13 5.29 5.23
6957 5.10 5.18 4.94 4.92 5.01 7148 4.96 4.98 4.94 4.84 4.93
7019 5.27 5.29 5.27 5.32 5.29 7195 4.92 4.87 4.91 4.73 4.86
7050 4.92 4.92 4.90 4.82 4.89 7223 4.99 5.01 4.76 4.88 4.91
7119 5.23 5.19 5.01 5.24 5.17 7229 5.37 5.30 5.24 5.34 5.31
7147 4.82 4.84 4.71 4.70 4.77 7342 4.86 4.86 4.76 5.02 4.88
7169 4.92 5.02 5.03 5.11 5.02 7354 5.04 4.87 4.92 4.32 4.79
7194 4.75 5.02 4.65 4.72 4.79 7387 5.36 5.17 4.92 4.90 5.09
7222 5.00 5.05 4.87 4.59 4.78 7388 5.27 5.14 4.88 4.99 5.07
7223 4.99 4.57 5.22 4.98 4.92 7391 5.22 5.11 4.97 4.95 5.06
7394 5.27 5.29 5.13 5.23 5.22 7408 5.41 5.24 5.20 5.38 5.31

7
7397 4.90 4.95 4.87 5.05 4.96 7413 5.39 5.16 4.63 5.15 5.08
7423 5.37 3.49 5.24 5.14 4.62 7416 5.16 5.18 5.14 5.38 5.22
7232 4.86 4.59 5.12 4.98 4.88 7417 5.11 4.68 4.76 4.76 4.88
7444 5.19 5.08 5.23 5.04 5.12 7418 5.13 5.04 4.97 4.64 4.95
7447 5.14 5.05 4.99 4.94 4.99 7419 5.36 5.21 5.35 6.33 5.56
7455 5.26 5.29 5.16 5.42 5.29 7420 5.79 5.33 5.07 5.46 5.41
7458 5.16 5.19 5.16 5.28 5.21 7421 5.08 5.10 5.05 5.21 5.11
7511 5.30 5.13 5.12 5.19 5.18 7426 5.33 4.99 4.98 5.16 5.12
7521 5.11 5.05 4.90 4.93 4.99 7442 4.93 4.38 4.08 4.99 4.59
7537 5.03 5.03 5.10 5.48 5.16 7443 5.29 4.87 4.65 4.95 4.94
7629 5.14 4.91 5.01 4.94 5.00 7448 4.62 4.72 4.72 4.60 4.67
7636 5.23 4.98 4.92 4.92 5.01 7454 5.39 5.14 5.13 5.26 5.23
7637 5.44 5.25 5.26 5.17 5.28 7456 5.04 5.07 4.92 5.11 5.04
7663 5.24 5.09 4.87 4.57 4.94 7457 5.13 4.74 4.76 4.87 4.88
7669 4.93 5.12 5.17 5.11 5.28 7536 5.10 4.94 4.66 4.83 4.88
7723 5.03 5.11 5.05 4.82 5.00 7605 5.20 5.05 4.87 5.19 5.08
7767 5.03 5.22 5.04 5.33 5.15 7609 5.27 5.13 4.98 5.23 5.15
7900 5.03 4.94 4.64 4.62 4.81 7623 5.53 5.36 5.37 5.51 5.44
7983 4.69 4.86 4.35 5.31 4.80 7630 5.38 4.98 5.07 4.99 5.11
8079 5.06 4.73 4.84 4.65 4.82 7631 5.46 5.01 5.04 5.20 5.18
8080 4.47 4.91 4.97 5.19 4.88 7634 5.22 5.11 5.11 5.07 5.10
8081 4.47 4.82 4.85 4.93 4.77 7635 5.29 5.27 5.11 5.38 5.26
8110 5.05 4.92 5.00 4.79 4.94 7638 5.13 5.07 5.10 5.18 5.12
8137 4.80 4.77 4.68 4.66 4.73 7660 5.14 5.18 5.43 5.44 5.29
8138 4.82 4.82 4.61 4.68 4.73 7700 5.32 5.31 5.10 5.31 5.26
8139 5.03 4.62 4.91 4.71 4.82 7705 5.52 5.24 5.35 5.26 5.34
8140 5.02 4.97 5.03 4.90 4.98 7755 5.14 5.03 5.03 5.56 5.19
8141 5.02 4.97 5.03 5.06 5.02 7761 5.39 5.25 5.05 5.05 5.19
8220 5.19 5.04 5.14 5.11 5.12 7763 5.42 5.25 5.04 4.95 5.17
8221 5.02 5.11 5.11 5.06 5.07 7836 5.19 5.12 5.02 5.18 5.13
8236 5.46 5.27 5.27 5.40 5.35 8241 5.22 5.06 5.15 5.25 5.17
8238 4.91 5.00 4.78 5.01 4.93 8246 4.93 4.87 5.01 5.19 5.00
8239 5.19 5.35 5.21 5.20 5.24 8264 5.08 4.85 5.13 5.30 5.09
8247 4.81 4.89 4.88 5.22 4.95 8272 4.68 4.59 4.80 4.89 4.74
8266 4.92 5.09 4.82 4.81 4.91 8274 5.06 4.87 4.83 5.08 4.96
8273 4.70 4.98 4.73 4.69 4.78 8290 5.15 5.15 5.12 5.17 5.15
8291 5.28 5.04 5.07 4.93 5.08 8292 4.86 4.68 4.78 4.87 4.79
8303 4.55 4.53 4.46 4.51 4.51 8293 4.86 4.68 4.52 4.76 4.71

Calculation of mean mileage and standard deviation:

Bus No Average Mileage for Bus No Average Mileage for the

the buses on ordinary bus on ethanol ( in Km/
diesel Litre)
( in Km/ Litre)

243 5.16 2816 4.77

244 4.67 7113 5.23

8
6957 5.01 7148 4.93
7019 5.29 7195 4.86
7050 4.89 7223 4.91
7119 5.17 7229 5.31
7147 4.77 7342 4.88
7169 5.02 7354 4.79
7194 4.79 7387 5.09
7222 4.78 7388 5.07
7223 4.92 7391 5.06
7394 5.22 7408 5.31
7397 4.96 7413 5.08
7423 4.62 7416 5.22
7232 4.88 7417 4.88
7444 5.12 7418 4.95
7447 4.99 7419 5.56
7455 5.29 7420 5.41
7458 5.21 7421 5.11
7511 5.18 7426 5.12
7521 4.99 7442 4.59
7537 5.16 7443 4.94
7629 5.00 7448 4.67
7636 5.01 7454 5.23
7637 5.28 7456 5.04
7663 4.94 7457 4.88
7669 5.28 7536 4.88
7723 5.00 7605 5.08
7767 5.15 7609 5.15
7900 4.81 7623 5.44
7983 4.80 7630 5.11
8079 4.82 7631 5.18
8080 4.88 7634 5.10
8081 4.77 7635 5.26
8110 4.94 7638 5.12
8137 4.73 7660 5.29
8138 4.73 7700 5.26
8139 4.82 7705 5.34
8140 4.98 7755 5.19
8141 5.02 7761 5.19
8220 5.12 7763 5.17
8221 5.07 7836 5.13
8236 5.35 8241 5.17
8238 4.93 8246 5.00
8239 5.24 8264 5.09
8247 4.95 8272 4.74
8266 4.91 8274 4.96
8273 4.78 8290 5.15
8291 5.08 8292 4.79
8303 4.51 8293 4.71

9
Mean X/ n1 = 4.979 Y/ n2 = 5.0678
Standard S1= 0.1944 S2= 0.2080
Deviation

It is evident from the table that Mean mileage of the sample buses running on ethanol
increased.

Test for population mean:

Test statistic t = X/ n1 - Y/ n2 s1/n1 +1/n2
Pooled standard deviation s = (n1-1) S1 2 + (n2-1) S22 n1+ n2-2 where n1 and n2 are
number of buses on ordinary diesel and number of buses on ethanol.
S1= 0. 1944, S2= 0.2080, n1= 50, n2= 50
s = 0.2013
Test statistic t0 = - 2.205
From the t distribution table, t.05, 98 = 1.980 which means that calculated t0 falls in the
critical region, and so we reject null Hypothesis, that means there is a significant
improvement in the mean mileage of the buses running on ethanol.

Conclusion: It can be concluded statistically at significance level () 0.05 that the

mean mileage of the buses running on ethanol increased significantly.
Appendix-B

Cost Benefit Analysis of Using Ethanol Blended Diesel (EnerdieselTM) by KSRTC

Composition of Ethanol- diesel blend:

Sl.No Ingredient Composition ( % )

1 Regular HSD 91.8
2 Ethanol 7.7
3 Solubilizer 0.5

Costing of Ethanol diesel blend at present rate

Cost of regular HSD = `: 45.40 per liters

91.8% of Rs.45.40 = `: 41.67

10
Cost of Ethanol = `: 33.37 per liters

7.7% of Rs.33.37 = `: 2.57 per liters

Cost of Solubilizer = `: 200 per liters

Cost of Solubilizer to treat 1 liter

of HSD (0.5 ml) = `: 1.00

Net cost of Ethanol-Diesel Blend

(41.67+ 2.57+ 1.0) = `: 45.24

Cost savings per liter of HSD = `: 0.16

Annual consumption of HSD for 2010-11 =18.02 crores liters

Net cost savings = `: 28.83 crores

Carbon credits generated per annum = 44000 tons

Earnings from sale of credits = 44000 X $12/ton

X50(1USD = Rs.50)

= `: 2.64 crores

Net Cost savings to KSRTC per annum = `: 31.47 crores

11