Pune buses to run on biodiesel

A month-long field trial conducted on 10 selected buses drawn from the Swargate Depot of Pune Municipal Transport (PMT) buses on biodiesel was successful.

The biodiesel, developed under new technology and manufactured by Aurangabad-based Garware Chemical, resulted in higher mileage and negligible emissions according to Niranjan Kumar Sudanshu, general manager, Pune Municipal Transport (PMT).

PMT plys over 850 buses in service in the city and is planning to use the fuel in all the vehicles. Over a period of one year, the move is expected to save PMT Rs 1 crore, which it now spends over diesel and oil.

Apart from this, PMT will become the first public transport undertaking in the country to run buses on green fuel.

"We have already started producing bio-diesel at the rate of 100 tonne per day and the company plans to enhance the capacity to 500 tonne per day within the next six months time," said V N Nandapurkar, GM, marketing, Garware Chemical.

"Garware Chemicals is the first company in India to produce biodiesel on such a large scale on commercial basis. The fuel has also been tested at Indian Oil Corporation's R&D Centre at Faridabad and a prestigious laboratory. It has also passed the stringent BIS norms," he pointed out.