Int. J. Renewable Energy Technology, Vol. 8, No. 1, 2017 47 Copyright © 2017 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. An assessment of biodiesel feedstock conversion efficiency: a case study of decentralised biofuel production program in rural India Andrew Aaron Jungman, Mahadev G. Bhat* and Krishnaswamy Jayachandran Earth and Environment Department, Florida International University, Miami, USA Email: ajung001@fiu.edu Email: bhatm@fiu.edu Email: jayachan@fiu.edu *Corresponding author Balakrishna Gowda Forestry and Environmental Sciences Department, University of Agriculture Sciences, Bangalore, and Project Coordinator, Biofuel Park, Madenur, Hassan, India Email: gowdabk@yahoo.com Abstract: In response to a national ambitious biofuel policy, the Indian state of Karnataka launched a feedstock development program on the principles of decentralisation, sustainability, and multiple fuel sources. A network of farmers oilseed associations are being formed in order to encourage farmers to grow, pool and process a large number of small-scale oilseed productions. Success of such program depends on the conversion efficiencies of the feedstock at multiple stages and value added by-products. This study focuses on one of the program crops, Simarouba glauca, as a test case. The conversion efficiency of the village-level, decentralised production model was assessed and compared with the theoretical biodiesel production efficiency. The study indicated that the field-level feedstock conversion efficiency was less than that of the lab-scale set up. However, the fuel qualities of the Simarouba glauca biodiesel were found to be of standards required for fuel designation. The study shows that there is a significant potential for improving the field-level feedstock conversion efficiency through technical improvements and best practices in oilseed collection, curing and conversion. The study offers a few programmatic and policy suggestions for such improvements. Keywords: transesterification; India; technical efficiency; biodiesel; non-edible oilseed; Simarouba glauca. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Jungman, A.A., Bhat, M.G., Jayachandran, K. and Gowda, B. (2017) ‘An assessment of biodiesel feedstock conversion efficiency: a case study of decentralised biofuel production program in rural India’, Int. J. Renewable Energy Technology, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp.47–63.