BIO-FUELS

biofuels-are liquid or gaseous fuels produced from biomass resources and used in place of, or
in addition to, diesel, petrol or other fossil fuels for transport, stationary, portable and other
applications.
biomass- resources are the biodegradable fraction of products, wastes and residues from
agriculture, forestry and related industries as well as the biodegradable fraction of industrial and
municipal wastes.
bio-ethanol:- ethanol produced from biomass such as sugar containing materials, like sugar
cane, sugar beet, sweet sorghum, etc.; starch containing materials such as corn, cassava, algae
etc.; and, cellulosic materials such as bagasse, wood waste, agricultural and forestry residues
etc. ;
biodiesel:- a methyl or ethyl ester of fatty acids produced from vegetable oils, both edible and
non-edible, or animal fat of diesel quality; and ,
other biofuels: biomethanol, biosynthetic fuels etc.
--Biofuels have been around as long as cars have. At the start of the 20th century, Henry Ford
planned to fuel his Model Ts with ethanol, and early diesel engines were shown to run on peanut
oil. But discoveries of huge petroleum deposits kept gasoline and diesel cheap for decades, and
biofuels were largely forgotten. However, with the recent rise in oil prices, along with growing
concern about global warming caused by carbon dioxide emissions, biofuels have been regaining
popularity. Gasoline and diesel are actually ancient biofuels. But they are known as fossil fuels
because they are made from decomposed plants and animals that have been buried in the ground
for millions of years. Biofuels are similar, except that they're made from plants grown today.
There are various ways of making biofuels, but they generally use chemical reactions,
fermentation, and heat to break down the starches, sugars, and other molecules in plants. The
leftover products are then refined to produce a fuel that cars can use.
Production of Bio-ethanol(C2H2OH-same stuff as in alcoholic drinks) involves the conversion
of a feedstock crop into fermentable sugars through enzyme amylases. Yeast is then added to
ferment the sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The main crop used in bioethanol production
varies throughout the world in Brazil, sugar cane is preferred(some cars there can run on pure
ethanol rather than as additive to fossil fuels), in the USA its corn and across Europe its
predominantly wheat and barley. The Philippines have mandated a 10% ethanol mix in gasoline
since 2007. And biodiesela diesel-like fuel commonly made from palm oilis generally
available in Europe.

On the face of it, biofuels look like a great solution. Unfortunately, it's not so simple. The process
of growing the crops, making fertilizers and pesticides, and processing the plants into fuel
consumes a lot of energy. It's so much energy that there is debate about whether ethanol from
corn actually provides more energy than is required to grow and process it. Also, because much
of the energy used in production comes from coal and natural gas, biofuels don't replace as much
oil as they use.
For the future, many think a better way of making biofuels will be from grasses and saplings,
which contain more cellulose(it could be more efficient than current biofuels, and emit less
carbon dioxide). Cellulose is the tough material that makes up plants' cell walls, and most of the
weight of a plant is cellulose.
--National policy on Bio-fuels.
Renewable energy resources are indigenous, non-polluting and virtually inexhaustible. India is
endowed with abundant renewable energy resources. Therefore, their use should be encouraged
in every possible way. Indias energy security would remain vulnerable until alternative fuels to
substitute/supplement petro-based fuels are developed based on indigenously produced
renewable feedstocks. In biofuels, the country has a ray of hope in providing energy security.
Biofuels are derived from renewable bio-mass resources and, therefore, provide a strategic
advantage to promote sustainable development and to supplement conventional energy sources in
meeting the rapidly increasing requirements for transportation fuels associated with high
economic growth, as well as in meeting the energy needs of Indias vast rural population &
creating new employment opportunities.
The National Policy on Bio-fuels and its implementation has been approved by the Union
Cabinet(2008). The Indian approach to bio-fuels is based solely on non-food feed stocks to be
raised on degraded or wastelands that are not suited to agriculture, thus avoiding a possible
conflict of fuel vs. food security.
The salient features of the National Policy on Bio-fuels are:1.Bio-diesel production will be taken up from non-edible oil seeds(400 species of trees in the
Country) in waste /degraded / marginal lands. Bio-diesel plantations on community /
Government / forest waste lands would be encouraged while plantation in fertile irrigated lands
would not be encouraged. The focus would be on indigenous production of bio-diesel feedstock
and import of Free Fatty Acid (FFA) based such as oil, palm etc. would not be permitted.
2.An indicative target of 20% blending of bio-fuels, both for bio-diesel and bio-ethanol, by 2017
has been proposed.

3Minimum Support Price (MSP) for non-edible oil seeds would be announced with periodic
revision to provide fair price to the growers. Minimum Purchase Price (MPP) for purchase of
bio-ethanol and bio-diesel would be announced with periodic revision.
4.Employment provided in plantations of trees and shrub bearing non-edible oilseeds will be
made eligible for coverage under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme.
5Major thrust will be given to research, development and demonstration with focus on
plantations, processing and production of bio-fuels, including Second Generation Bio-fuels.
6.In view of the current direct and indirect subsidies to fossil fuels and distortions in energy
pricing, a level playing field is necessary for accelerated development and utilization of biofuels
to subserve the Policy objectives. Financial incentives, including subsidies and grants, may be
considered for second generation bio-fuels. If it becomes necessary, a National Bio-fuel Fund
could be considered.
7The National Biofuel Policy envisages that bio-fuels, namely, bio-diesel and bio-ethanol may
be brought under the ambit of Declared Goods by the Government to ensure unrestricted
movement of bio-fuels within and outside the States. It is also stated in the Policy that no taxes
and duties should be levied on bio-diesel & bio-ethanol.
8A National Biofuel Coordination Committee, headed by the Prime Minister, will be set up to
provide policy guidance and coordination.
9 A Biofuel Steering Committee, chaired by Cabinet Secretary, will be set up to oversee
implementation of the Policy.
10.The responsibility of storage, distribution and marketing of biofuels would rest with OMCs.
This shall be carried out through their existing storage and distribution infrastructure and
marketing networks, which may be suitably modified or upgraded to meet the requirements for
biofuels.
11.Plantation of non-edible oil bearing plants, the setting up of oil expelling/extraction and
processing units for production of bio-diesel and creation of any new infrastructure for storage
and distribution would be declared as a priority sector for the purposes of lending by financial
institutions and banks. National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development would provide refinancing towards loans to farmers for plantations. Indian Renewable Energy Development
Agency, small industries Development Bank of India, commercial banks would be actively
involved in providing finance for various activities under the entire biofuel value chain, at
different levels.
12.Investments and joint ventures in the biofuel sector are proposed to be encouraged. Biofuel
technologies and projects would be allowed 100% foreign equity through automatic approval
route to attract Foreign Direct Investment would not be open for FDI participation.

13.Import of biofuels would only be permitted to the extent necessary, and will be decided by
the National Biofuel Coordination Committee proposed under this Policy. Duties and taxes
would be levied on the imports so as to ensure that indigenously produced biofuels are not
costlier than the imported biofuels. Import of Free Fatty Acid will not be permitted for
production of biofuels. Export of biofuels would only be permitted after meeting the domestic
requirements and would be decided by the National Biofuel Coordination Committee.
--The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy has been designated as the co-ordinating Ministry
for biofuel development and utilization while specific roles have been assigned to other
concerned Ministries. In order to enable the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy to effectively
carry out its role as the coordinating Ministry for the National Biofuel Progamme, it will be
necessary for it to be suitably strengthened through augmentation of its manpower with the
flexibility of hiring external professional manpower and services.
An Indo-US MoU has been signed on biofuels with focus on joint R&D, particularly on second
generation biofuels such as, cellulosic ethanol and algal biodiesel. Another initiative with
research institutes and industry is on for development of high efficiency engines for use of
SVO(straight vegetable oil) for stationary applications.
--(Jan 2013)The government having cleared the import of the commodity, the public sector oil
marketing companies were reported to be moving jointly to float a Rs. 3,500-crore global tender
to source ethanol. The annual requirement is estimated to be about 1,000 million litres for a panIndia roll-out of 5 per cent blended petrol, which is already available in some States. 5%
blending of ethanol with gasoline has already been taken up by the Oil Marketing Companies 20
States and 4 Union Territories. 10% mandatory blending of ethanol with gasoline is to become
effective from October, 2008 in these States. countries like the United States now have
established doping programmes that involve up to 20 per cent ethanol.
India stands to save a huge amount of foreign exchange through the blending programme,
provided it gets ethanol at a viable price. There is also an environment & economical dividend as
Indias ethanol source is sugarcane unlike U.S.'s(food crops so no increase in food prices). It
ought to follow the example of Brazil, 51 per cent of whose fuel market is made up by sugarbased ethanol, making it the leading biofuel exporter and the second biggest producer after the
U.S.
Domestic ethanol consumption rose by 4.5 per cent to 2.08 billion litres(production- 2.1 billion
litres in 2012). However, only an estimated 400 million litres were available to be blended with
petrol. The liquor industrys insatiable appetite for ethanol is responsible, and powerful interests
that push for better price yields are having a field day. So if imports are allowed then pricing
formula should be mutually beneficial to all in long term otherwise the government ought to
consider an intervention to mandatorily channel a certain percentage of indigenously produced
ethanol for a requirement that is clearly in the national interest. States should also cooperate by
easing regulations. Meanwhile, sufficient lead time should be given to the auto industry to carry

out engine and other modifications to make vehicles compatible with still higher levels of
blended fuel.

--We(Virgin Atlantic) were the first airline to take a bio-fuel flight when everyone was saying it
couldn't be done. We need to make sure that there are global protocols on how the industry
develops bio-fuels such as by ensuring that we don't cut down forests, don't displace food crops
and don't use scarce water resources.
New Zealand bio-fuel company, Lanzatech, take waste gases from industrial processes which are
bad for the environment, reprocess them to initially make ethanol and then jet fuel. There is an
interesting statistic. If you just fitted these Lanzatech scrubbers on 65 per cent of the world's
steel mills, you will produce 15 billion gallons of jet fuel a year and that's over 20 per cent of
current global jet fuel consumption. Its early days yet and the trial plants are working but we are
looking to fix some industrial scale units. You could well see our Delhi and Shanghai flights
flying on bio-fuel in the next three years
--(oct 2012)The European Union (EU) has announced on October 17 that the amount of biofuels
that will be required to make up the transportation energy mix by 2020 has been halved from 10
per cent to 5 per cent therefore effectively revises the Renewable Energy Directive (RED), 2009.
A study conducted in 2009-2012 by the EU found that greenhouse gas emissions were on the rise
because of conversion of agricultural land for planting first-generation biofuel crops(such as
corn, sugarcane, and potato). It also became known that large quantities of carbon stock had been
released into the atmosphere because of forest clearance and peatland-draining.
The EU is now incentivising second-generation biofuels manufactured from crop residues
such as organic waste, algae, and woody materials that do not interfere with food-production.
The RED also required that biofuels which replace fossil fuels be at least 35 per cent more
efficient. The EU has now made more stringent; biofuels should be at least 50 per cent more
efficient by 2017, and 60 per cent more efficient after 2020. Research on high-performance
biofuels is still nascent. Focus is more on extracting fuel rather than efficiency from available
stock. The announcement also affirms that till 2020, no major changes will be effected in the
biofuels sector, and post-2020, only second-generation biofuels will be supported, paving the
way for sustained and focused development of high-efficiency, low-emission alternatives to
fossil fuels.
--Like the EU, the U.S. too has a biofuel-consumption target set for 2022. However, a U.S.
National Research Council report released on October 24 found that if algal biofuels, secondgeneration fluids whose energy capacity lies between petrols and diesels, have to constitute as
much as 5 per cent of the countrys alternate energy mix, unsustainable demands would be
placed on energy, water and nutrients.

--(Sep 2013)Oil import is the heaviest burden on Indias foreign exchange, at $144 billion last
year.
Brazil has already done it successfully, reducing petrol consumption by 30 per cent. Brazil is the
global leader with 16 million of the worlds total 27 million flexi-fuel vehicles in December
2011. The Brazilians are now moving into cellulosic ethanol technology, which uses waste
material and bagasse from sugar mills. The use of fuel ethanol has created a synergy between the
agriculture and energy sectors and a win-win for farmers, industry and government. It has also
improved the quality of air in Brazils cities as ethanol is less polluting than petrol.
Oil crisis
How did Brazil do it? In 1974, hurt by the oil crisis, the government brought together all
stakeholders sugar cane farmers, sugar mills, car manufacturers and oil companies besides the
ministries of agriculture, industry and energy and formulated a policy that would ensure
energy independence. Today, fuel ethanol is the centrepiece of Brazils energy, agricultural and
industrial strategy and Brazil is a role model for the world.
Brazil is working quietly to create a global ethanol market with standardisation of specifications
and market mechanisms in collaboration with the U.S. & encouragind and collaborating with
others. India has the potential to replicate the success of Brazil; we are the second largest
producer of sugar cane in the world. And the risk and investment involved in ethanol production
is far lower than in oil exploration and production.
Hostage to policy
Ethanol has been considered before. In 2006, the government of India launched a programme of
five per cent mandatory ethanol blending. But oil companies offer unattractive prices to local
ethanol suppliers even as they pay top dollar for foreign oil supplies. The ethanol producers
naturally prefer the better prices offered by chemical and alcohol companies as well as foreign
importers.
The mandatory blending should be increased to 10 per cent immediately, with the target of 20 per
cent in the next three years. New Delhi can compel the oil companies to invest in ethanol
production, so they have a stake in its development. The car manufacturers too must be brought
on board to modify the engines. Some foreign car makers in India such as Ford, GM,
Volkswagen, Honda, Toyota, Renault and Fiat are already producing flexi-fuel cars in Brazil, and
can easily do so in and for India.
Benefits
Ethanol will help farmers sustain their income during the cyclical bumper harvests and their
lower sugar prices, as is the prevailing situation this year. India will reduce its trade deficit and

foreign exchange outflow. And there will be less pollution. Most importantly, fuel ethanol will be
a sustainable, long term, India-centric solution.