Breaking The Oil Addiction: Oil And Water Do Mix In India

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Emulsified fuel combines water and diesel oil. A privately held “special sauce” of additives is included in the mix to keep water and oil from separating like they normally would. Srinivasan Gopalakrishnan of Hydrodrive Systems and Controls said his molecular engineering process uses 25 percent water and 75 percent diesel fuel, better than several European emulsified fuels now on the market. They have no more than 20 percent water. A fuel that requires more diesel costs more.

Gopalakrishnan said the European fuel developers have to rely on government subsidies to cover their costs, as their emulsified fuels aren’t selling enough, despite their environmental goodwill. He also said the manufacturing process developed by Hydrodrive brings down the fuel cost to much below the cost of the conventional diesel, gasoline or kerosene, though he did not release any exact sales estimates.

Hydrodrive Systems and Controls has tested its fuel in India, the U.S. and Canada, but Gopalakrishnan is thinking big. He’s not offering the fuel itself, but instead a 14-year license on his technology in an entire emulsification plant. He said the savings thanks to emulsified fuel could pay for the cost of a plant in less than a year. Using the fuel in all India’s middle and heavy distillates, roughly 70 percent of imported crude, India could save about $8 billion a year.