The Government is exploring options of moving the apex court in the country to seek a redressal from the recent Green tribunal order to ease out 10-year-old diesel-fuelled vehicles from the capital city even as the Transport Ministry takes initiatives to bring in biofuels in the public transport system.
Addressing the session on “Biofuels in Road Transport” at the Bio-Fuels Roundtable-2015 organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in the capital on April 15, Mr. Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road, Transport and Highways, said: “The Transport Ministry will make efforts to bring in biofuels, including ethanol, biodiesel and bio-CNG, for public transport in Delhi to reduce carbon emissions having an adverse impact on climate change. Bio-fuels can be socio-economic change agents as it would address crucial issues of farmer suicides, agri surpluses in the sugar, wheat and rice industries and the fuel economy. Higher use of biofuels will directly help reduce petrol and diesel imports currently estimated at about Rs. 6 lakh crores.”
He said the recent Green tribunal decision would necessitate concentration more on biofuels to ensure safety from pollution. Highest priority needs to be given to biofuels which are an alternative to our agricultural problems. Diversification of agriculture towards energy is very essential for ‘Make in India’ and for rural and agricultural economy.”
Citing an example where technology innovation has led to employment generation, he said: “Conversion of biomass and biowaste to pellets can be a good option for gas and can give employment. One of the projects which has been implemented in Nagpur entails using cotton stalk and segregating municipal waste for making pellets. Today, we have 12 factories employing 15,000 youth for making pellets which are being used in 1,000 restaurants with special stoves.”
Further, “in Stockholm, methane is being taken from sewage water to make bio-CNG which is being used to run buses. We are also forming a joint venture company to make biogas from sewage water and run buses on bio-CNG. There is an opportunity to convert the existing buses to run on electric power or biofuels. Now is the time for us to convert our transport, particularly in metros, to biofuels or electric, which will result in huge savings of fuels and give a good rate of return.”
Highlighting a pioneering initiative, the Minister said: “The Haldia port started manufacturing 3 lakh litres per day of biodiesel which is being used in trucks and railway engines. It is the first green port in India where we will use only biodiesel.”
Stressing the need to focus on technological innovations, Dr. Renu Swarup, Senior Adviser, Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology, observed: “R&D has been given a special place in the biofuels policy. If a country like India, with the largest diversity and quantity of biomass, cannot have sufficient ethanol to meet its targets, there is cause for concern. The answer lies in new technologies, and while there are technologies ready, the challenge lies in the feedstock options. We need to experiment our technologies on a variety of feedstock. Commercial plants need to be set up with multi-feedstock options.”
Talking about feedstock options, she added: “We need to look at algae as a feedstock. India has a distinct advantage as far as algae is concerned as we have the largest biodiversity strains available for algae – nearly 2,000 strains have been collected and are being given to industry for testing. India is on the track to develop a roadmap for synthetic biology.”
Emphasising the importance of the use of alternate fuels in transport, Dr. P.S. Anand Rao, Executive Director, Association of State Road, Transport Undertakings (ASRTU), in his address on Promoting Low-Carbon Road Transport in India, said: “The best tool to fight vehicular pollution is ethanol as it contains 35 per cent oxygen and reduces particulate and CO2 emissions. Ethanol can reduce emissions by as much as 75 per cent and can also result in savings in fuel cost of $149.2 billion.”
Discussing the impact of vehicular emissions on the climate change, Mr. V.K. Srivastava, Additional Director, PCRA, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, said: “Road transport is the biggest GHG producing segment accounting for about 64 per cent of the diesel consumption in India. A 50 per cent cut in GHG emissions/mile is feasible by 2030 from conventional technologies and biofuels.”
Dr. A.K. Dhussa, Former Adviser, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, said: “There is a large potential for bioenergy in general – 36000 MW generation possibility and 107 million tonnes of biofuels which is enough to replace about 80 per cent of product consumption for transportation. Benefits worth Rs. 2 crores accrue for every 3,000 tonnes of biofuels used. Recently in a key policy decision, bio-CNG has also been approved as a transport fuel.”
To ensure adequate availability of ethanol, support is required for pre-commercial projects based on indigenous technologies for ethanol production, he added.
In his welcome address, Mr. Pramod Chaudhari, Chairman, CII National Committee for Bio-Energy and Chairman, Praj Industries Ltd., said: “The time has come for bio-based economy. The most important is the need for flexibility of feedstocks. Ethanol can be made from a variety of feedstock – sugarcane, sweet sorghum, etc. A consistent policy and a roadmap for promoting biofuels can give an impetus for taking biofuels to the next level. A bio-Energy Mission or a Task Force is required to take the momentum forward in an organised manner.”
Mr. G.S. Krishnan, Regional President, Novozymes South Asia Pvt. Ltd., in his concluding remarks, said: “The mandate for ethanol blending in India has to be immediately increased and a roadmap to achieve the 20 per cent level in the next 3-5 years has to be formulated. Further, the need for supporting 2 G ethanol production is important.”