Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation is soon going to implement its environment-friendly bus service. Plans to blend ethanol with diesel to ply buses will now see the light of the day.
Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) is soon going to implement its environment-friendly bus service. Plans to blend ethanol with diesel to ply buses will now see the light of the day.
“We have been working on the idea to reduce pollution by blending 7.7% of ethanol in its denatured spirit form with one litre of diesel. To start with, we have identified 100 buses from our entire fleet, but the additional infrastructure which the buses need to be fitted with will take three more months,” said Arun J Chakravarthy, director (security, vigilance and environment), BMTC.
Two years ago, the group of ministers headed by Pranab Mukherjee recommended that 10% of ethanol to be used with other fuel inall states by October 2008.
If BMTC implements the recommendation, it would be the first transport authority in the country to do so.
In order to use ethanol, the buses need another tank besides the diesel tank and also a blender, which will squeeze the stipulated amount of ethanol for each litre of diesel and pump it in to the engine.
“We need a revamp of the infrastructure on the current fleet to go for this environment-friendly step. That will take three months and also a sanction from the government,” said Chakravarthy.
The BMTC currently operates 6,192 buses including the ordinary Suvarna, Big-10, Vajra and Vayu Vajra services. Buses made by Tata, Ashok Leyland and Volvo, procured by BMTC, do not have these structures built in.
“One or two more high-level meetings will perhaps give us an idea of when we can start working on the project,” said director of environment division, BMTC.
Karnataka State Pollution Control Board has in fact made studies on the Bus Days that there is a steep reduction of air pollutants like sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxides and suspended particulates.
However, the corporation has not been able to come out with an expected cost for adding infrastructure. It is, however, expected to begin the bidding process soon after clearance is received from government.
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