The Future of BioFuel in India

Since the time we have heard the word ‘fuel’, we have always been taught to think of it as a highly valuable resource, forever on the verge of extinction. Hence our brains have been auto-wired to use fuel conscientiously. Be it in a vehicle, in a cooking stove, for automobile, or simply for burning things, a fuel contains all the fire we ever need. Certainly then, man has always been striving to devise various ways to develop alternate fuel in the lab, fearing the day when we run out of fossils!

BioFuel is one such advancement in the field of fuel production. They are regarded as cleaner and greener alternatives to fossil fuels. They can be produced in a Bioenergy plant. Whether BioFuel will be able to fully replace the non-renewable fuel sources effectively, is a matter of time. Technically speaking, Biofuel is a universal term used for fuels derived from biomass, such as plants and organic wastes. They are mainly classified as first generation & second generation biofuels.

The first generation biofuels include sugar and starch-based ethanol, oil-crop based biodiesel, vegetable oil, as well as biogas derived through anaerobic & aerobic treatment plants. The second generation biofuels are an upgrade to the production of first-generation biofuels. In that, the raw materials are derived from the feedstock of lignocellulosic, non-food materials that include straw, bagasse, forest residues and purpose-grown energy crops on marginal lands. There are also third and fourth generations which are still undergoing heavy research. These technologies look fairly far fetched to become a practical and commercially viable reality as they insist on using algal biomass and solar energy to produce fuel.

Current Challenges

As of 2014, India’s biofuel production accounted for less than 2% of global production. Bio-ethanol and bio-diesel are the two biofuels that are commercially produced. In India, ethanol is predominantly produced from sugarcane molasses which is a byproduct of sugar production. The Ethanol production process in India, therefore, depends largely on the production of sugarcane. Sugarcane being a seasonal crop in India, the production is cyclical. Hence, ethanol production also keeps fluctuating from one year to another, often falling short of demand. This also affects the cost of ethanol.

 Regulatory Measures to tackle challenges

In spite of the production hurdles, biodiesel can provide a major boost for the energy security of our country. The govt. of India has come up with the National Policy on Biofuels 2018, which includes harnessing of biodiesel to meet the energy needs of the country. The purpose of this policy is to enable availability of biofuels in the market to increase its blending percentage. Currently, the ethanol blending percentage in petrol is around 2.0% and biodiesel blending percentage in diesel is less than 0.1%. The government has approved 20% blending of ethanol in petrol and 5% blending of biodiesel in diesel is proposed by 2030. Additionally, on World Biofuel Day, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) launched RUCO – Repurpose Used Cooking Oil, an ecosystem that will enable the collection and conversion of used cooking oil to biodiesel.

The Policy aims to increase bioethanol production and usage of biofuels during the coming decade. The biodiesel can work as an effective and great alternative for a growing country like India. It is indeed the future if we want to move towards becoming a clean and green nation.

THE NEED FOR INDUSTRIAL WATER TREATMENT IN INDIA

Wastewater, in general, is any water that is not fit for use. It is generated from two sources - domestic and industrial. The domestic wastewater consists of fluids emerging from human dwellings such as the kitchen, toilet, bathroom etc. This water, which consists mostly of edible content and detergents, can be treated naturally by the aerobic treatment plants. However, the Industrial wastewater, generated from the factories, plants, manufacturing units, and commercial activities contains harmful chemicals and heavy elements which require specialized industrial water treatment systems. If left untreated, this wastewater can wreak havoc on the ecological system.

For a developing country like India, untreated wastewater has been a long-neglected and common issue. According to the Central Pollution Control Board(CPCB) report, discharge of untreated and partially treated industrial effluents and sewage from cities is a major source of pollution in 323 rivers in India. This is in spite of the edicts stated under the Environment Protection Act, 1986, which requires industrial hazardous wastes to be disposed of in an environmentally sound manner. Water is much more scarce than we believe it to be. As such, it is not an option but a compulsion to recycle wastewater into reusable water. Let us know what benefits it serves to treat wastewater.

Safeguards the environment

By cleaning wastewater before releasing them into the river and streams, the flora and fauna are spared from getting destroyed.

Keeps diseases at bay

Impure water is a primary source of disease. Although water has self-healing properties, it cannot sustain unnatural levels of chemicals and heavy metal generated from industrial waste. Hence, well-treated water can avoid the spread of disease.

Avoids water loss

Did you know that only 2.5 percent of the earth’s water is fresh, while only 1% is drinkable which includes the water trapped in glaciers and snowfields? The rest is saline and ocean-based! If that’s the case today, then there is not even a need to stress about the importance of recycling water.  

Boosts tourism & strengthens the economy

Many rivers in India are considered holy and form the pilgrimage site for many a devout. These life-giving rivers not just provide a source of sustenance to those who consume it but also provides a means of livelihood to the traders of the area, in the form of tourists flocking the pilgrimage site. The government would make twice the money as they would earn from the tourists and also save on spending on the cleaning of rivers!

There are various ways to filter industrial wastewater. Praj, a leading name in wastewater treatment employs the latest techniques such as bio-methanation, recycle, reuse,  and zero liquid discharge system among others, for treating wastewater.  The benefits of treating wastewater are long-lasting and the effects play a crucial role in the very existence of our future generation.

Production of Ethanol using Dry Milling .

Ethanol is produced from biomass, primarily by fermenting the glucose derived from sugars obtained from sugar cane, sugar beet, and molasses, or starches obtained from corn, wheat, grains or using cellulose as raw materials. Industrial production of ethanol is majorly carried on using either the wet mill or dry mill process. Wet milling process involves separating the grain kernel into its constituents of germ, fiber, protein, and starch, before fermentation. Whereas in the dry mill process, the entire grain kernel is directly ground into flour. The starch in the flour is converted to ethanol during the fermentation process, creating carbon dioxide and distillers’ grain. In the USA, around 67% of ethanol is produced by the ethanol industry using the dry-grinding process. The various procedure involved in the ‘dry-milling’ process is discussed below.

Mash Formation

Screening is used to remove debris from the grains mass. These filtered kernels are then ground and mixed with water to form a slurry called ‘mash’.

Cooking

The mash is cooked, followed by the addition of enzyme which converts the starch into sugar. Yeast is then added to ferment the sugar which results in a mixture of ethanol and solids. The ethanol is extracted using the distillation & dehydration process. The solid which remains is dried to find its application as a distiller’s dried grain soluble or DDGS. DDGS is popularly used as a high-protein supplement in cattle, swine, poultry, and fish diets. Starch usually comprises of 25-30% amylose and rest is amylopectin. In order to metabolize this starch, yeast is used break it down into glucose, prior to fermentation.

Liquefaction

The slurry is then pumped through a pressurized jet cooker at high temperatures and held for a few minutes. The mixture is then cooled using a condenser. After the condensation cooling, the mixture is held for a few hours at a predefined temperature to give the alpha-amylase enzyme time to break down the starch. The slurry is then heated to reduce viscosity and to provide mechanical shearing to rupture starch molecule, especially of high molecular weight. The mash is further liquefied for at least 30 min to reduce the size of the starch polymer. This dextrinized mash is further cooked to facilitate the addition of glucoamylase to convert liquefied starch into glucose. To accomplish the saccharification of starch to glucose, glucoamylase is added in enough quantity.

Saccharification

Once inside the fermentation tanks, the dextrins are broken down to form simple sugars. Yeast is then added to convert the sugar to ethanol and carbon dioxide. The mash is afterward allowed to ferment for 48–72 hours, resulting in a mixture that contains about 10% ethanol as well as the solids from the grain and added yeast.

Fermentation 

After saccharification, cooling is done and mash is transferred to fermenter and yeast is added. The whole process requires 48-72 hours and can concentrate up to 10-12% of ethanol. CO2 released during this process can be captured and sold for the use in carbonated soft drinks, dry ice, and some beverages industries.

Distillation and Dehydration

Distillation is the process of separating ethanol from the solids and water in the mash. The fermented mash is pumped into the distillation columns where additional heat is added. The columns utilize the differences in the boiling points of ethanol and water as a milestone to boil off and separate the ethanol. By the time the product stream is ready to leave the distillation columns, it contains about 95% ethanol by volume. To carry out the separation of the remaining 5% water from ethanol, It is passed through a molecular sieve. This step produces 100% pure ethanol.