Does the Alwar oil mill manual's 124,000 tonnes a year mean oil or mustard seed?

The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) Alwar manual gives capacity as 124,000 tonnes a year of oil, and the mills used 186 lakh kilowatt hours (kWh) on 12.4 lakh quintals of seed, also 124,000 tonnes. At the 35% kolhu and expeller shares that seed gives about 43,400 tonnes of oil (49,600 at 40%), so kWh per tonne differs almost threefold.

The figures the manual prints

• Capacity: around 124000 MT a year of oil, for the Alwar and Sawai Madhopur units together. MT is metric tonnes.
• Electricity: around 186 lakh kWh for processing 1,240,000 quintals of mustard seed. A quintal is 100 kilograms.
• Raw seed holds almost 40% oil. The manual's table of oil extraction gives the kolhu 15, the expeller 20 and the solvent plant 5, which add to 40.
• Size bands: large units above 120 MT, medium 50 to 120 MT, small below 50 MT, with no time unit printed.

One number, two meanings

• 1,240,000 quintals x 100 kg = 124,000 tonnes of seed.
• Oil from that seed: 35% from the kolhu and expeller is 43,400 tonnes. With the solvent step, 40%, it is 49,600 tonnes.
• If 124,000 tonnes of oil were the capacity, it would need about 310,000 tonnes of seed at 40% (3.1 million quintals), 2.5 times what the mills processed. That is possible if the mills ran at 40% of capacity, but the manual does not say so.
• Our reading: the two matching numbers suggest the capacity line may be seed tonnes. The manual does not say.

What it does to electricity per tonne of oil

• 186 lakh kWh over 43,400 tonnes is 429 kWh a tonne of oil (35% oil). At 40% it is 375. If 124,000 tonnes of oil were actual output it would be 150.
• Carbon dioxide at 0.675 kg a kWh: 429 x 0.675 = 289 kg a tonne of oil, which ties to the 0.29 kg per kg on the electricity page here. At 150 kWh it would be 101 kg.

Use your own three numbers

1. Seed crushed in the month, from weighbridge slips.
2. Oil packed in the month, from the filling log, kolhu and expeller oil on separate lines.
3. kWh from the month's electricity bill. Divide kWh by tonnes of oil.

kWh per tonne of oil, three readings

• Seed: 1,240,000 quintals x 100 = 124,000,000 kg = 124,000 tonnes
• Oil at 35%: 124,000 x 0.35 = 43,400 tonnes. kWh a tonne: 18,600,000 / 43,400 = 429
• Oil at 40%: 49,600 tonnes. 18,600,000 / 49,600 = 375
• If oil were 124,000 tonnes: 18,600,000 / 124,000 = 150
• Carbon dioxide (CO2) at 0.675, the financial year 2025-26 grid factor: 429 x 0.675 = 289 kg a tonne; 150 x 0.675 = 101 kg

Capacity, seed, kWh and oil shares are the manual's. The 35% is the kolhu and expeller shares added; the manual does not give a mill's actual split.

What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into monthly records, so your monthly kWh is on file next to your own seed and oil tonnes. It does not weigh seed or oil.

• Alwar mills: electricity per quintal of seed
• Edible oil mill carbon footprint per litre
• Do the Alwar manual totals add up
• Carbon calculators

Sources: Bureau of Energy Efficiency and Confederation of Indian Industry, Manual on energy conservation measures in the Alwar oil mill cluster (SAMEEEKSHA), Central Electricity Authority, CO2 Baseline Database for the Indian Power Sector (grid factor 0.675 kg CO2 per kWh, financial year 2025-26)

Last reviewed 2026-11-06. Figures are the manual's, from the Bureau of Energy Efficiency Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) programme. The manual does not say whether the capacity line is oil or seed; our reading is labelled as such.