By Sidhartha Bhatnagar
India is an energy deficit country and it meets bulk of its energy demand via import. This dependency will rise exponentially and is taking huge amount of capital out of India. Country depends heavily on the imports of oil, natural gas and coal. Various measures are undertaken by the Government in lowering the demand by encouraging the promotion of alternative energy sources. Bio diesel provides an excellent platform to lessen the dependency on fossil fuels and helping to re structure the cost of economics of oil. It has the ability to reduce the green house emission and provides opportunity of rural employment and income.
What is Bio-Diesel?
It is an alternative fuel similar to fossil fuel which involves the process of extraction of oil from seeds (Jatropha and Pongamia etc ) and are converted into bio disel with a process of transesterification . Biodiesel contains no petroleum, but it can be blended at any level with petroleum diesel to create a biodiesel blend. It can be used in compression-ignition (diesel) engines with little or no modifications. All the Blends are available to mix it with petrol diesel.
- 100% biodiesel is referred to as B100, while
- 20% biodiesel, 80% petro diesel is labeled B20
- 5% biodiesel, 95% petrodiesel is labeled B5
- 2% biodiesel, 98% petrodiesel is labeled B2.
Who are the Leaders?
Germany has been the torch bearer in leading the renewable sector landscape and even without surprise Country leads in the production and utilization in the usage of biodiesel. European Union (Germany, France, Italy and Spain) dominate the bio diesel follows by USA, Argentina, Brazil and Thailand. The basic reason for the domination of European Union is tax exemption, early investment support policy and good research on knowhow of the overall process.
Indian Context
India initiated its bio fuel production nearly a decade ago to lessen the dependence on fossil fuels and strengthen energy dynamics .Country began 5% ethanol blending E5 and formulated a mission to achieve B20 by 2011 .Due to problems of lack of supply, food security constraint, no government initiative, It commenced its bio diesel program in 2009 and policy proposes to implement B20 by 2017. The usage of Jatropha oil seeds as a primary feedstock for the production of non edible oil to produce bio diesel is the Governments agenda in the plan to reach the target. Jatropha is a small shrub that grows on waste land which requires less water availability and has the highest oil content and low gestation period. Largely the consumer of bio diesel includes Indian railways using diesel engines confined in southern part of India, DRDO and few state road transport corporations.
Advantages of Bio-diesel
- The country is vastly dependent on the imports of fossil fuels and using blending of bio diesel in petro diesel will help in trimming the gap and projects country to reduce the dependency.
- It will open a new sector for employment in the value chain of production. As expertise in the value chain will help in export of jatropha seeds to the other countries.
- It is eco friendly and helps in reducing the impact of harmful pollutants.
- Bio diesel can be blend with diesel which caters
Challenges involved in Bio-diesel sector
- India Is a food scarce country and there is conflict of farmers using land for the production of non edible oil over daily necessity goods which country has to prioritize first.
- Its 100% usage in engines may require modification in the engine which may not excite the consumer.
- Phase of bio diesel requires more R&D which has resulted its cost in a higher way.
- Economic viability of jatropha plantations is critical in retaining the interest of the farmers. Higher prices of seeds are being realized presently because of their demand for seedlings of new plantings.
Conclusion
Currently, Indias position in global biofuel map is not very prominent. Its passing through incubation stage. However, the country has ambitious plans to expand the biofuel sector. After analyzing the National Policy on Biofuel of the Government of India (Ministry of New & Renewable Energy). Firstly The Government should take steps in the direction of setting up regulating nurseries for certification of seeds and planting materials and to regulate the mechanism of cultivation. Secondly An up-to-date technology policy is central to bring in efficiency in production which is also cost-effective so that the industry would survive on its own without any subsidies or support. Lastly the focus on research has to be sustained to explore the feasibility of environment-friendly and economically sustainable feed stocks.
- Siddhartha Bhatnagar
References
1) http://www.cpast.org/Articles/fetch.adp?artnum=104
2) biodieselmagazine.com_files
3) http://www.egfar.org/sites/default/files/files/447_IFPRI_The-impact-of-climate-change-on-Zambia.pdf.
4) Biofuel Use in International Markets: The Importance of Trade
5) http://unctad.org/en/Docs/ditcbcc20091_en.pdf
6) An assessment of biofuels industry in india by joseph b gonsaleves, 18 oct 2006
7) An economic assessment along the jatropha based biodiesel value chain in india-agricultural economics research review(volume 23-2010)
9) Jatropha biodiesel in India
10) http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/documents/india/BioenergyprogrammeIndia-DBTDrRenuSwarup.pdf
11) https://www.gtap.agecon.purdue.edu/resources/download/3331.pdf
12) http://www.svlele.com/biodiesel_in_india.htm
13) http://www.bdai.org.in
The author is currently pursuing MBA in Energy and Infrastructure from School Of Petroleum Management, Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University Gandhinagar, Gujarat. He has completed B.Tech (I.T.) from Jaypee University of Information Technology, H.P. and was engaged with Infosys as Senior Systems Engineer. He believes India is energy scarce country and it needs personnel who can understand the complexity in this secto. A deep research mindset, voracious reading, and ability to simplify things will prove handy and that is where his contributions incline.