Bio-fuel growth potential
Minister Pradhan highlights bio-fuel growth potential.
India’s Bio-Fuel business has the potential to grow to Rs.1 lakh Crore over the next 10 years from present Rs.6,500 crore, projected Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Petroleum & Natural Gas.
Speaking at the National Conference on the World Bio-Fuel Day in New Delhi on August 10-12, he said increased use of bio-fuels can help reduce the import of crude oil by 10 per cent by 2022, an official energy management target.
A lot of work has been done in Ethanol Blending Programme, Bio-Diesel as well as using the Bio-waste for converting to energy in the last two years but more needs to be done speedily.
Pradhan pointed out that Bio-fuel Programme has the capacity to provide better remuneration for farmers, address environmental concerns, reduce dependence on imports and help in foreign exchange savings.
The Government is willing to provide conducive policy environment to support development of bio-fuel but import of raw material or waste cannot be allowed, he said.
The Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MoP&NG) is preparing a road map to accelerate the implementation of bio-fuel program by increasing its consumption in the country.
MoP&NG has adopted a four-pronged approach and is running following programmes: Ethanol Blended Petrol Programme (EBP) – Ethanol blending in Petrol, Second Generation Ethanol (2G Ethanol) – Ethanol production from celluloses and lignocelluloses material including Chemical route, Bio-diesel Blending Programme – Bio-diesel blending in Diesel, and Waste/Plastic to Fuel.
India has taken several initiatives in the field of bio fuels in the last two years. Several policy interventions and clearing of many hurdles in implementation of National blending targets have been under taken by Government of India. Ministry of Petroleum Natural gas
The ministry has given a big push for the Ethanol blending program and is close to achieving 4% blending during the current sugar year. The bio diesel blending program which was started a year ago on 10 August 2015 as a pilot in 5 cities has now been extended to 6 states.
Blended bio-diesel blended is sold at 2,200 retail outlets in the country.
The government has also allowed production of ethanol from alternate routes, said an official statement.
The National Conference on “Energy Security for India – Creating a Bio-fuel Economy” was organized as part of the Bio-fuel World Day. fii-news.com
