Advisor to Prime Minister for Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Dr Asim Hussain, visited bio diesel nursery of Pakistan State Oil (PSO) located in Karachi. During his visit MD PSO Kalim A. Siddiqui briefed the Advisor on the progress of this project and the road map for further development.
Dr Asim Hussain took keen interest in the project and appreciated PSO's efforts in identifying and taking initiative for its successful implementation. On this occasion Dr Asim assured full support from Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources for further development of this venture.
MD PSO informed the Advisor that PSO has selected non-edible plants like Jatropha Carcass for the production of bio diesel. Jatropha oil has very low sulphur contents (0.13 percent) versus (1 Percent) of petro diesel and it increases soil fertility.
The oil extracted from its seed blends well with petro diesel because of its unique characteristics. It has various other benefits such as medicinal use, environment friendliness and utilisation of barren land. At present PSO is carrying out trial production of bio diesel using Jatropha oil meeting standard specifications of diesel. For successful implementation of this project PSO is testing bio diesel in a diesel vehicle and is in the process of validating results with the automotive industry.