In news Minister for Road Transport and Highways inaugurated the country’s First Private LNG Facility plant at Nagpur.
The Ministry emphasized on the importance of alternate biofuels for diversification of agriculture towards the energy and power sector.
It has designed a policy that encourages development of imports to substitute cost effective pollution free and indigenous ethanol, bio CNG, LNG and hydrogen fuels.
The ministry is constantly working on different alternative fuels where the focus is on preventing surplus in rice , corn and sugar from going to waste.
What are Biofuels?
Any hydrocarbon fuel that is produced from an organic matter (living or once living material) in a short period of time is considered a biofuel.
Biofuels may be solid, liquid or gaseous in nature.
These can be used to replace or can be used in addition to diesel, petrol or other fossil fuels. Also, they can be used to generate heat and electricity.
Main reasons for shifting to biofuels: Rising prices of oil, benefits farmers and can be locally produced that helps cut down on import dependence of crude oil.
What are the Categories of Biofuels?
First generation biofuels: Made from food sources such as sugar, starch, vegetable oil, or animal fats using conventional technology. Examples: Bioalcohols, Biodiesel, Vegetable oil, Bioethers, Biogas.
Second generation biofuels: Produced from non-food crops or portions of food crops that are not edible, e.g. stems, husks, wood chips, and fruit skins and peeling. Examples: Cellulose ethanol, biodiesel.
Third generation biofuels: Produced from micro-organisms like algae. Example- Butanol
Fourth Generation Biofuels: Produced from crops that are genetically engineered to take in high amounts of carbon and then harvested as biomass. These fuels are considered as carbon negative as their production pulls out carbon from the environment in excess of the amount that they emit during combustion.
What are the Recent Initiatives by India?
Pradhan Mantri JI-VAN Yojana, 2019: To create an ecosystem for setting up commercial projects and to boost Research and Development in 2G Ethanol sector.
Reduction in GST: The Government has also reduced GST on ethanol for blending in fuel from 18% to 5%.
Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT): The scheme aims to set up Compressed Bio-Gas production plants and make CBG available in the market for use as a green fuel.
Repurpose Used Cooking Oil (RUCO) launched by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) aims for an ecosystem that will enable the collection and conversion of used cooking oil to biodiesel.
