Strange, But It's True

So what’s the verdict? Is Ramar Pillai’s wonderfuel a feat of chemical sophistry or has he really struckblack gold? Till a few days ago, most sceptics would have dismissed the whole idea as humbug. But now, with a few scientists endorsing Pillai’s magical feat, more and more people are beginning to shed their "rational" prejudices.

Maybe it’s possible, they say. But almost reluctantly, since it flies in the face of well-established scientific principles. For one, the volume of the final solution is inexplicably more than what is begun with. Chemists say this defies the mass balance principle which forbids a change in mass as reactants turn into products. Therefore, it’s incredible how a meagre 50-60 gm of leaves and bark and a mix of lime juice, ash and secret chemicals can yield as much as 600 ml of liquid fuel. Where is this copious amount of carbon coming from? Surely not just from the herbs. Could it be from the surrounding air? Again, sounds implausible as air contains less than one per cent of carbon dioxide. Baffled scientists are reluctant to even hazard a guess. Remarks V.K. Bhatia, a chemist at the Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP): "Unless the facts of the matter are known, it’s really difficult to say anything. On the face of it, however, it sounds quite implausible."

Bhatia’s incredulity is understandable. For the last decade he has been trying, with mixed success, to commercially tap oil from what are called petro-plants. "The yields are so low as to be economically unviable," he remarks. The cheapest bio-fuel so far produced costs $30-40 per barrel, as against $20 per barrel of fossil fuel. In comparison, Pillai claims his "petrol" would cost less than $5 per barrel.

Efforts to commercially exploit petro-plants have met with mixed success. Italy was the first to grow hydrocarbon-producing plants way back in 1936. The idea was revived in the ’70s by Prof Melvin Calvin of the University of California, Berkeley. He identified plants of the Euphorbia species that yielded latex which could then be processed to yield crude oil. Following Calvin’s work, many countries launched efforts to identify promising petro-plants. Currently, Europe produces about 20,000 tons of biodiesel.

India began its biofuel project in 1979. Over the last decade, IIP, in collaboration with the Lucknow-based National Botanical Research Institute, has been working on seven most promising energy plants. "While we have established the technical feasibility of producing oil from these plants, commercial viability still eludes us," Bhatia explains. Not surprising, for the yield is as low as 15 per cent of the total biomass.

Besides being cheaper, Pillai’s fuel scores over these biofuels in at least three more significant ways. One, the herb grows faster (in two months) than the much-touted Euphorbia species. Two, unlike the majority of known biofuels, Pillai’s herbal petrol does not require cracking; it can be used straightaway to run vehicles. In fact, only one other species, Copaifera langsdorfi, identified recently in Brazil, produces oil that can be used to run a diesel engine directly. Three, it can be used to run both diesel and petrol-driven vehicles.

Bhatia may not agree, but the nationwide publicity of Pillai’s ‘petrol’ could provide the much-needed impetus to IIP’s bio-fuel project. Given Pillai’s success, it would be easier for IIP to get grants for making biofuels economically viable.

But that obviously will be long in the coming. For now, everybody seems to be preoccupied with Pillai’s wonderfuel. However, doubts persist about whether it can be mass produced or whether the secret herb can be sustainably harvested. Till these uncertainties are resolved, goods promised by this marvellous invention would remain a distant dream.