My Eco Energy's Indizel claims to be cleaner, more efficient alternative to diesel in India

My Eco Energy (MEE), an India-based company, claims to have a cleaner and more efficient alternative to diesel â€" Indizel. It is made of vegetable oils and is currently the only fuel in India that meets Euro-VI norms. According to Santosh Verma, the co-founder of My Eco Energy, Indizel is a direct alternative to standard diesel and can be used in all diesel-powered applications, including cars, trucks and generators, without any modifications.

The highlight of this product is the low sulphur ppm (parts per million). For a fuel to be BS-IV compliant (which is where we are at in India currently), it must have a sulphur content of less than 50ppm. According to MEE, Indizel's sulphur quantity is less than 10ppm. Verma claims that using Indizel will reduce the amount of particulate matter, or the black soot you see from your exhaust, by at least 90 per cent.

What's important to note is that there is some amount of fossil fuel going into the manufacturing of this fuel. The point, however, is that it uses far less fossil than your standard diesel. As Verma pointed out, the point of his fuel is not to eliminate the use of fossil fuels completely, but instead, to extend how long we can use fossil fuels while, at the same time, reducing the carbon footprint. But he claims that this isn't the only advantage of using his product. According to him, Indizel burns better than standard diesel too, which should improve the performance and efficiency of your car.

He also says that Indizel has better freezing points and flash points (the temperature at which it ignites) than regular diesel â€" around -40áµ'C (which is close to the freezing point of petrol) and around 70áµ'C (whereas regular diesel stands at around 36áµ'C). This makes transporting and storing his fuel a lot safer. This allows his company's distribution plan to be quite different.

The idea is to create three models for dealers â€" urban, sub-urban and highway. The urban module involves selling fuel in cans at small stores across the city where there is a space constraint. The sub-urban module will be more like the fuel stations you see within the city, while the highway module will be like the large fuel stations on highways with space for big vehicles, a convenience store, rest areas etc.

Verma says that he will sell his fuel at around Rs 2 less than whatever standard diesel costs on a particular day from his fuel stations. While there are currently around 10 such fuel stations in India, he says that there will be at least 40-50 stations pan India by the end of this year.