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.
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