Development and demonstration of Pongamia Oil based lantern for lighting for rural areas

In rural India, kerosene continues to be one of the important fuels for lighting purposes. More than half of Indian rural households have no access to electricity and those that are electrified still depend on kerosene because the electricity available is unreliable and has low/fluctuating voltages. Kerosene is burnt to produce a highly inefficient illumination. Most of the kerosene is imported and distributed under a subsidized rate to the people for lighting. This paper explores biofuel as an alternative that can be used for lighting as it can be easily available in rural areas. Presently, none of the existing lanterns/lamps are suitable for using bio oil as fuel for lighting purpose. This paper gives details of performance of existing kerosene lamps with different blends and how to modify/ develop existing lanterns or lamps to make them suitable to use Pongamia (Millettia Pinnate) oil as fuel