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HomePosts Tagged "Biomass"
Biofuel industry, India, Nature, Opinions, Sustainable Energy

 By Ramakrishna Y B, Former Chairman, National Working Group on Biofuels, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas

India’s fastest growing economy is fuelled by energy. India’s energy consumption has more than doubled since 2000 and is growing rapidly. Oil and gas account for over 35 per cent of the total energy consumed in the country. Over 87 per cent of oil and around 44 per cent of gas consumed in the country are imported. India is the third largest consumer of oil after the US and China. The successful implementation of National Policy on Biofuel will not only help steadily move towards energy self-reliance but will help boost the rural economy, employment generation, additional income to farmers and create a clean and green environment in the process fulfilling the objectives of Aatmanirbhar Bharat, Make in India and Net Zero initiatives.

The NDA government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the Biofuel Programme in 2014. It was a shocking and surprising revelation that implementation of Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) was hovering around just 1.4 per cent on pan India basis as against a target of achieving 20 per cent blending by 2017.  A National Working group was constituted in 2015 by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoP&NG) to draw a new road map and suggest ways for effective implementation of the program. A Biofuel cell was also created in MoP&NG. Biofuel substitution was identified as a highly potential opportunity to achieve the Prime Minister’s target to reduce fossil fuel import by 10 per cent by 2022.

National Policy on Biofuel 2018

The Government of India took a decision to shift the Biofuel Programme from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) to MoP&NG in early 2018. MoP&NG soon came up with a New National Biofuel Policy – 2018. The policy aimed to utilise, develop and promote domestic feedstock for production of biofuels thereby increasingly substituting fossil fuels contributing to energy security. It also aimed at climate change mitigation apart from employment generation in a sustainable way.

The goal of the policy was to achieve about 20 per cent blending of ethanol in petrol and about 5 per cent blending of biodiesel in diesel by 2030.  This goal will be achieved by

Reinforcing ongoing ethanol/biodiesel supplies through increasing domestic production

Setting up 2nd generation bio refineries

Development of new feedstock for biofuels

Development of new technologies for conversion to biofuels

Creating suitable environment for biofuels and its mainstreaming

The NBP-2018 allows ethanol production from B- Molasses, sugar cane juice, sugar syrup, crops such as sugar beet, sweet sorghum, corn, cassava, rotten potatoes and surplus & rotten food grains unfit for human consumption. These initiatives came as a boon to the sugar industry bogged down with excess sugar production, unattractive domestic and international prices, and accumulated dues to sugarcane growers. Even the government had to spend several thousand crores of rupees to subsidise the export of sugar to sail over the excess sugar production to an extent of 6-8 million metric tonnes (MMT) a year in the market. Sugar mills, while balancing the sugar production to ensure meeting domestic demands, started building additional distillery capacity and fully utilising the under-utilized capacities. 

There has been a lot of debate about the policy allowing the food grain for production of ethanol. The food vs. energy security arguments re-surfaced. The policy was a well thought out exercise. India is the largest producer and exporter of cereals globally. Having met its own and export demand more than 40 MMT of food grain was declared unfit for human or animal consumption. The rationale was to divert this surplus for ethanol production. Several interventions are being offered to grow sugar beet, sweet sorghum and especially corn involving the farming community in the marginal and under productive arable land. Broad basing the feedstocks for first generation ethanol also resulted in investment decisions to set up several hundred grain based standalone distilleries.

Growing ethanol supplies

Government of India policies coupled with the overwhelming response from the sugar industry, independent distilleries and not in the least aggressive blending programme by Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) resulted in achieving the 10 per cent blending target five months ahead of the target date of October 2022.  As of date (June 2024) the pan Indian blending has crossed 15 per cent  and E20 is being sold through 14000 retail outlets. All these new initiatives are expected to help reach more than 15 billion litres per annum of first-generation ethanol by 2025. It is estimated that the country needs about 10 to 11 billion litres of ethanol to achieve a 20 per cent blending target by 2025. The surplus ethanol will be marketed as E100 (there are already 350 retail outlets selling E100) and diverted for Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) production.

The commitment demonstrated by all the stakeholder has given the confidence to the government of India to advance the 20 per cent blending target from 2030 to 2025. With a 10 per cent blending target achieved in May 2022, India enters into the league of three nations to have achieved this milestone besides Brazil and the United States of America.

To read more click: https://agrospectrumasia.com/e-magazine

 By Ramakrishna Y B, Former Chairman, National

Agrotech, Climate, Company News, Environment, India, Sustainability, Sustainable Energy

ADB’s support will fund the construction of five 14.9-megawatt biomass power plants in the districts of Bikaner, Churu, Hanumangarh, Jhunjhunu, and Sikar in the state of Rajasthan

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and SAEL Industries Limited have signed loan agreements of up to 7.5 billion Indian rupees (around $91.14 million) to promote the generation of biomass energy using agricultural residue, helping diversify India’s energy mix and reduce carbon intensity. 

ADB’s support will fund the construction of five 14.9-megawatt biomass power plants in the districts of Bikaner, Churu, Hanumangarh, Jhunjhunu, and Sikar in the state of Rajasthan. Around 1.5 billion Indian rupees for each power plant will be provided to subsidiaries of SAEL Industries: Chattargarh Renewable Energy Private Limited, KTA Power Private Limited, Sardarshahar Agri Energy Private Limited, TNA Renewable Energy Private Limited, and VCA Power Private Limited. 

“Establishing biomass power plants that can repurpose agricultural residue will help protect the environment while contributing to the government’s goal of expanding renewable energy sources and reducing carbon dioxide emissions. It will also help increase the income of local farmers through sales of agricultural residue and reduce the burning of agricultural waste, contributing to the improvement of air quality,” said Ashok Lavasa, ADB Vice-President for Private Sector Operations and Public–Private Partnerships. “ADB’s assistance will have a powerful demonstration effect for biomass power by helping reduce risk perceptions and by creating awareness of its benefits and potential for use in other rural communities and developing member countries.”

The power plants will convert about 650,000 tons of agricultural residues into electricity and are expected to generate 544 gigawatt-hours of energy per annum, helping avoid up to 487,200 tons of carbon dioxide annually. Local farmer incomes will rise through the sale of agricultural residue. The project also aims to purchase agricultural residue and other goods and services from at least 100 women-owned microbusinesses and 10 women’s self-help groups.

“By collecting the crop stubble to be used as fuel in our waste-to-energy plants, we help combat one of our nation’s greatest health issues, while simultaneously creating local employment and generating extra income for farmers and local entrepreneurs. We are happy to have ADB partnering with us in these efforts,” said Jasbir Singh, SAEL Industries Chairman and Managing Director.

ADB’s support will fund the construction of

Company News, India, Start ups

The start-up to co-fire biomass in its Thermal Power plants

BiofuelCircle, Indias first digital marketplace for biomass and biofuels wins the National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) Startup Grand Challenge to Create a Digital Marketplace for Biomass. 

Through this challenge, NTPC identifies a start-up company which will collaborate with it to fulfill its ambition to co-fire biomass in its Thermal Power plants. A pilot project will begin with two of NTPC power plants to help create a farm-to-furnace ecosystem.

Elaborating further, Suhas Baxi, Co-founder and CEO, BiofuelCircle said, “We are delighted to work with NTPC to fulfill a shared vision of creating organised and reliable rural supply chain for biomass. Our model has been recognised for its focus on rural enterprises and farmer participation, in creating a viable supply chain. At maturity, Indian power sector can consume farm waste from more than 5 million farmers across the country. We are excited to be at the cusp of a major green energy revolution in India.”

The start-up to co-fire biomass in its

AgroPolicy, Environment

Farmers are getting additional income by selling the stubble/ biomass for conversion into torrefied/ non-torrefied biomass pellets

The Union Power Secretary recently chaired the second meeting of the Steering Committee for SAMARTH i.e. National Mission on Use of Biomass in coal-based thermal power plants. The meeting was organised to assess the status of Biomass utilisation in Thermal Power Plants in the country; SAMARTH (Sustainable Agrarian Mission on use of Agro Residue in Thermal Power Plants).

The agro-residue/ biomass earlier considered as a waste product has now begun to produce zero-carbon electricity for the citizens of the country. In turn, farmers are getting additional income by selling the stubble/ biomass for conversion into torrefied/ non-torrefied biomass pellets. For overall monitoring of the Mission and to facilitate the Mission on inter-ministerial issues/constraints, a Steering Committee under the chairmanship of Secretary, Ministry of Power (MoP) has been constituted.

Till date, approximately 59,000 metric tonnes (MT) of biomass has been cofired in thermal power plants in the country, while tenders for 12 million metric tonnes (MMT) are at different stages of process for short term & long term duration. Out of this, the biomass co-fired in the NCR region stands at 21000 MT and tenders floated in the region are about 5.50 MMT. Contracts have already been awarded for more than 11 lakh MT of biomass pellets.

Under the National Mission on Use of Biomass in Thermal Power Plants, advertisement, awareness campaigns and training activities are actively being pursued. Hoardings in public places and advertisements in popular newspapers in the northern states of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh have already started. More advertisement campaigns are planned in 2022 especially in the months leading up to the paddy harvesting season.

Continuing with the market development efforts and encouraging budding entrepreneurs, the National Mission has conducted two farmers’ training and awareness programmes held at Faridabad, Haryana and Nangal, Punjab recently. Both programmes witnessed active participation by the farmers wherein the farmers were sensitised on the negative impact of crop residue burning on the soil productivity and avenues to supplement their income by participating in the value chain of biomass co-firing in TPPs. Another two programmes were held at NPTI Badarpur and NPTI Nagpur for pellet manufactures.

Pellet vendors were apprised of the latest technologies in the palletisation process and the issues and challenges faced by them in venturing into this relatively new field were gathered and assessed. The Mission has been actively pursuing the issues raised by vendors in the Executive and Steering committee meetings held with the government across Ministries and such programmes will be continued in future. The proposed website of the Mission was reviewed and would be launched shortly with a new logo for SAMARTH.

Farmers are getting additional income by selling