Unlike conventional fuels like petrol and diesel, bio-fuels are produced locally and have a much lower impact on environment.
Bio-fuels got their first momentum in India in 2003 when the Planning Commission came out with a report showing India’s tremendous potential in a sector where Brazil and US took the lead with EU and China fast catching up. However, things got sluggish after the report ended with turf wars among the ministries involved- petroleum and natural gas, rural development, agriculture and new and renewable energy.
Bio-fuels are a new industry and thus needs direction and focus of all concerned for its continuous and steady growth.
Bio-fuels have several advantages over conventional fuels, e.g., diesel. An important factor is that these are produced locally, creating employment in rural areas while reducing the need for transportation. They have a much lower impact on environment than the conventional fuel. The cleaner burning renewable fuels also require a fewer visits and extends the life of the base station generator, reducing thereby operational costs.
Bio fuels in India are primarily made out of either molasses form sugarcane processing or from oil bearing plants like jatropha. While molasses yielded ethanol is used as a blend with petrol, jatropha and other oil-bearing plants can be turned into making of bio-diesel.
Ethanol, also known as ethyl alcohol, is used primarily as an ingredient in making alcoholic beverages. It can be produced form a variety of feed stocks such as sugar cane, bagasse, sorghum, potatoes, molasses, corn, wheat, wood, paper, straw, cotton, other biomass as well as many types of cellulose wastes.
Brazil is the leading producer of ethanol. The country contributes 37% of the world production. It is followed by the US and China. World consumption is expected to the tune of 25 million tones in 2006. Some of the major ethanol consuming countries are Brazil, USA, India, the EU, Japan, Mexico, China, Korea and Thailand.
India is reported to be the fourth largest producer of ethanol in the world and the second largest producer in Asia after China. The country produces around 460 million gallons of ethanol annually contributing around 4 per cent to the world production. India has the capacity to produce 713 million gallons per annum. There are about 120 ethanol making plants.
The major ethanol producing states in India are Uttar Pradesh, Maharasthra and Tamilnadu.
The waiver of excise duty on bio-fuel diesel in the latest Budget (2007-08) is timely fillip to pursue this nascent industry of national importance.
The government has made 5 percent blended ethanol in petrol compulsory despite lobbies believing even 10-15 percent blend was viable, reducing thus dependency on fossil fuels. The Bureau of Indian standards (BIS) is now preparing standard for 5 per cent blended petrol.
Initiatives to promote bio-fuels:
Setting up of marketing office in Brazil by Praj Industries. Pune-based Company Praj Industries is setting up a full-fledged marketing office in Brazil to tap the growing global market for ethanol, which is expected to cross 90 billion litres by 2010 from the current 59 billion litres.
New bio-diesel programme:
Minister of Science and Technology Kapil Sibal on May 31, 2007 launched the Stanford-India Bio-diesel Programme, a collaborative venture of the Department of Biotechnology and the Us-based Stanford University. The programme seeks to provide training to IIT engineers and engineering institutions to identify major health needs in India and develop solutions.
Tata Chem to manufacture bio-fuels.
Tata Chemicals Ltd, the country’s largest soda ash and edible salt maker, is broadening the business canvas by entering into manufacture of bio-fuels. The company will be setting up its first bio-ethanol plant in Maharashtra at a cost of Rs. 40-50 crore with a capacity of 30 kilo litres per day. It will initially use conventional technologies for the bio-fuel plant but would later leverage on the new technologies that come out of its R&D facility at Pune. The facility would focus on bio-diesel, bio-ethanol and nano-technology.
A recommendation of the Expert’s meeting at ASCI.
At a recently held Experts meeting at the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), Hyderabad, P.Radhakrishna, advisor to ASCI and coordinator of the Experts Meeting, said that the bio-diesel programme in the country should be centered around decentralized power generation for meeting needs of the local community and for agricultural operations.
The meeting presided over by Dr. M.V. Rao, MLC and chairman, Agricultural Research Foundation- Andhra Pradesh Netherland Board, discussed the problems and prospects of biodiesel manufacturing industry, the concerns of exporters, planters and investors and the possibility of village-based small power plants. For creating a nationally acceptable and well-coordinated programme for economic cultivation of bio-fuel plants like jatropha, it proposed to encourage large-scale plantations. The agricultural universities in the country, it says, should take up research activities to develop location specific varieties, hybrids and superior genotypes of biofuel crops like jatropha.
The Experts Meeting also recommended setting up of a technical taskforce for a mission ode approach to the orderly and time-bound promotion of vegetable oils as a source of energy for decentralized applications and a nationally acceptable and well-coordinated production programme for bio-fuels.
Setting up of a national bio-fuels mission. While inaugurating the bio-diesel plant set up by the sugar major Bannari Amman Sugara in the state of Kerala, honorable minister of state for rural development Chandrasekhar disclosed that a national mission on bio-fuels with special focus on plantation Commission.
The launch of the mission will be in two phases: While Phase I as a demonstration phase will involve plantation of jatropha in 4 lakh hectares of government / community / panchayat wastelands, Phase II, as a self-sustaining programme with plantation of jatropha in 11.2 million hectares both in government and private lands, will be used for production of bio-diesel to achieve target of 20 percent blending with petroleum-diesel. The recommendations and operationalising the demonstration phase.
Bio-energy Tech 2007:
A 2 day major national convention and exhibition on bio-fuels, more specifically on bio-diesel, was held at New Delhi from 5-6 January 2007. The convention was organized by Bio-Diesel Association of India and inaugurated by union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar. It was presided over by the union minister of state for new and renewable energy Villas Muttenwar. Keynote addresses were delivered by union minister for rural development Dr. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and minister for panchayat raj, sports and north east and union minister for state (PMO) Prithaviraj Chavan. Proceedings of the convention can be accessed at ‘www.bdai.org.in’
National body for bio-diesel producers:
With the main objective of encouraging bio-fuels, especially bio-diesel, and assuring sustainable agricultural growth, rural development, energy security and equal opportunity for the masses with over all environment protection, a Bio-Diesel Association of India has been formed. According to Sandeep Chaturvedi, President of the newly formed body, there is now a concerted move to achieve with one action a three-pronged objective-ensure energy security, support agriculture and sustain environment. This is sought to be achieved through silent revolution in bio-ethanol and bio-diesel. Further, he said that a comprehensive bio-fuels policy that judiciously balances the interests of the primary producers, processors and consumers can help boost bio-energy output, meet rising energy demand, help raise rural incomes and sustain the ecology through green fuels.
ICRISAT’s break through in ethanol production from sweet sorghum.
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in association with Rusni Distillery has initiated a first of its kind project to convert juice from sweet sorghum stalk into bio ethanol. It commissioned the 40, 000 litre per day fuel ethanol and extra neurtral alcohol distillation plant at Mohammed shahpur village in Medak District, Andhra Pradesh.
With the commissioning of the distillery costing $7 million, ICRISAT emerged as the first institute in the world that has facilitated a project that links a distillery producing ethanol from sweet sorghum to the poor and the marginal farmers of the semi-arid tropics. Sweet sorghum, being a water-efficient crop growth in the semi-arid tropics, can serve as an excellent source for ethanol while still meeting the food, feed and fodder needs of the small farmers.
RABOBANK- CII Report on bio diesel:
A recent report by Rabobank-CII on Bio Diesel: Glonal Trends Indian Opportunity says that India’s bio-diesel programme based on jatropha seeds is sustainable and has no threat to the food security. Further, it says that if 7 million hectares of land can come under annual cultivation of jatropha, it has a potential to produce 7 million tones of bio diesel consumption by 2011-12. These are some of the findings of the Report.
According to ms Susan Hansen, industry analyst with Robobank International and co author of the report, there is need for a national policy on bio diesel as current policies are neither long-term nor well defined. Since the bio diesel industry in the country is new there is need to create a large infrastructure and supply chain which can cater to the growing demand, she said.
S. Venkatraman, director (strategic advisor) for Rabo India Finance, also co author of the report, said that the sector needs more R&D so as to define benchmarks and best practices. More research needs to be undertaken to define these practices.
In his concluding remark, he said that there is no established world commodity market for jatropha (such as rape seed market), so a new supply chain from farmer to consumer should be set up. Guaranteed off take is needed if farmers are to be convinced to grow the plant.
ASSOCHAM paper:
According to a paper brought out by the industry body ASSOCHAM, permitting 10 percent of ethanol blending with petrol throughout the country can lead to a reduction of over Rs.2200 crore in foreign exchange in India’s import bill during the current fiscal. Currently, only 5 per cent of blending is allowed and that too in nine states. There is a need to execute it in the entire country.
The paper emphasizes that the minimum 10 percent ethanol blending with petrol can be effected with out incorporating any modification in them. This blending ration could then go up to over 90 percent and therefore India should allow liberal ethanol blending.
If 10 percent of ethanol is blended with petrol (ration 10:90), India could save around Rs 2257.80 crore worth of foreign exchange by March 2007. Gradually, the percentage of ethanol could be increased. In 2004, India produced around 1.3 billion litres of ethanol, which increased to 2.04 billion litres in 2005. But still India is lagging behind USA and Brazil, which contribute around 70 per cent of the world ethanol production. India’s share is just 4 percent of the total production of ethanol in the country.
Praj Industries in joint venture with Aker Kavaerner.
Bio fuel solution provider Praj Industries Ltd and engineering and construction service company formalized their strategic alliance into a 60:40 ration joint venture company known by the name Bio-Energy Europe BV. The new entity will be headquatered at Zoetermeer (the Netherlands)
Tamil Nadu to fuel jatropha cultivation. Tamil nadu, which plans to cultivate the bio diesel plant jatropha in over one lakh hectares in the next five years by planting 20 000 hectares every year, will promote bio diesel production units to every district, the state sericulture minister Veerapandi S. Arumugam said. Two plants in the private sector are to be commissioned this year.
Already jatropha is planted over 22,277 hectares in the state. Four companies intend to enter into contract farming of jatropha cultivation and setting up the extraction units. Apart from these, jatropha promotion is also done by many NGOs, SHGs and cooperative societies.
Mohan Breweries is investing Rs. 25 crore to set up a 33,000-litre-a-day capacity bio diesel plant. Coimbatore based Shiva Distilleries is investing Rs. 5 crore for a 3000 litre daily capacity of bio diesel. Both these plants are expected to start commercial production this year. The state government is keen to fetch remunerative price to the farmers by facilitating contractual arrangement with processing firms.
According to the state agriculture minister, commercial cultivation in the Tamil Nadu State is promoted not only as a cash crop but as a means of poverty alleviation and income generation in rural areas.
To produce jatropha seedlings in 2007-08, an amount of Rs. 4.98 crore has been sanctioned by the state government and Rs. 2.50 crore has been allotted to the Tamil Nadu Agriculture University. The State government is also seeking central subsidy for drip irrigation and drip fertigation of jatropha crops to maximize the production.
The Agricultural University has been conducting training programmes for the farmers, they have been exposed to topics related to crop improvement using new varieties and hybrids, production of quality planting materials, crop management, jatropha oil blending, bio diesel conversion and value addition to the by-products. The government is encouraging the cultivation of jatropha in the waste land owned by the farmers and to those poor families who were given land under the free land distribution scheme.
While molasses-yielded ethanol is used as a blend with petrol, jatropha and other oil-bearing plants can be turned into making of bio-diesel. |
