A Review of National Biofuel Policy in India: A Critique- Need for Promotion of Alternative Feedstocks

Abstract

The last one to two decades have seen several countries stipulating a mandatory requirement of 5-10% blending of biofuels with petrol and diesel. The mandatory blending has triggered a rapid growth in the biofuel sector. Several governments have put in place biofuel policies that have a bearing right from the production of biofuels crops at the farm to their conversion into transport-grade biofuels to be utilised for blending purpose. This paper highlights the salient features of India's biofuel policy and discusses how it influences the economic viability of ethanol production and its commercialisation in the country. The Government of India provides a wide range of policy incentives to promote biofuels as an alternative energy source. The policy challenges affecting biofuel development are discussed under the framework adapted from the Global Subsidies Initiative of Steenblik (2007) showing the existing policies and distortions along the biofuel supply chain to promote alternate feedstocks. For long-term sustainability of ethanol production for blending mandates, this paper explores the options to augment bioethanol production using alternative feedstocks like sweet sorghum that is grown in the drylands and policy support required for its promotion, which will benefit all the stakeholders of the bioethanol supply chain in the long run.

Sorghum: A Multipurpose Bioenergy Crop

“…The economic and financial viability analysis has shown that feasibility of ethanol production from sweet sorghum stalk depends on the ethanol and feedstock pricing in addition to the recovery rate of ethanol. As an illustration, with a marginal improvement in recovery to 4.9% from the current level of 4.5%, and feedstock price fixed in 2012 was at US$20 t −1 of stalk, ethanol production became attractive at 50 cents L −1 when the administered price of ethanol in India was 48 cents L − (Basavaraj et al, 2012). The sweet-sorghum-to-ethanol scenarios, though positive, throws up mixed results.…”

“…The demand management of ethanol includes decisions to cap ethanol supply on considerations of fairness in distribution of ethanol to accommodate the needs of other sectors (potable and industrial). It was also recommended by the policymakers that the size of the ethanol blending program should be linked to the availability of feedstocks (Government of India, 2009;Basavaraj et al, 2012). Lower availability of molasses, and consequently higher prices in countries like India, has also affected the cost of ethanol production, putting ethanol blending programs at stake.…”

Biobutanol: New era of biofuels

“…Energy is a critical input for economic growth and sustainable development in both developed and developing countries. The world's energy requirement for transportation is mostly fulfilled by non‐renewable fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas, and oil, which are expected to play a dominant role in energy scenario in future as well . The continuous rising demand of fossil fuels is expected to force nations to seriously consider using renewable, economical, and non‐polluting alternative sources of energy such as bioethanol, butanol, and biogas etc.…”

“…The world's energy requirement for transportation is mostly fulfilled by non-renewable fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas, and oil, which are expected to play a dominant role in energy scenario in future as well. 1,2 The continuous rising demand of fossil fuels is expected to force nations to seriously consider using renewable, economical, and non-polluting alternative sources of energy such as bioethanol, butanol, and biogas etc.. 3 Consequently, there have been increased R&D efforts w.r.t. bioconversion of agricultural waste biomass into biofuels.…”

A field survey on abundance of biofuel plant species in Alur Taluk of Hassan District, Karnataka, India

“…Utilizing the available resources for production of Biofuel is the need of the hour. Biofuels in the form of liquid fuels derived from plant materials, are entering the market, driven mainly by the need to reduce climate gas emissions, but also by factors such as oil price spikes and the need for increased energy security (Basavaraj et al, 2012). The challenge is to support biofuel development, including the development of new cellulosic technologies, with responsible policies and economic instruments to help ensure that biofuel commercialization is sustainable.…”