India is stepping up efforts to extend manufacturing of biofuels because it pursues sustainable sources of energy to fulfill rising demand and decrease its carbon emissions.

On the sidelines of the G20 Leaders’ Summit held in New Delhi this month, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the Global Biofuel Alliance – with India, the UAE, Singapore, Bangladesh, Italy, the US, Brazil, Argentina and Mauritius serving as members.

The group’s ambitions embrace co-operation and expertise growth to advertise using biofuels.

India is striving to cut back its dependence on pricey imports of crude oil and achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2070.

“India is highly dependent on imports for meeting fuel needs, which leads to high import bills, fuel price volatility with resultant subsidies and energy security concerns,” says Purva Jain, an vitality analyst on the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

“Use of biofuels could help tide over these challenges.”

The launch of the Global Biofuel Alliance “reflects India’s commitment to clean fuels” and it “can serve as a critical knowledge and technology platform”, she says.

“There are needs for technological advancements in the sector and the alliance can bring together capital and scientific resources to work on those.

“It can also help share learning from different countries to ensure higher uptake of biofuels globally.”

With the launch of the alliance, India has taken a “very important step” in direction of increasing using biofuels, which can assist to deal with a few of the challenges that the nation, and the world, are going through, says Manish Dabkara, chairman and managing director of consultancy EKI Energy Services, which gives local weather change and sustainability options.

“India, like the rest of the world, is responding to the clarion call of an alarming state of global warming and has been focusing on reducing its dependence on fossil fuels,” he says.

“The focus of the renewable energy world has largely been on solar and wind energy.

“However, in recent years, biofuels have drawn a lot of attention as a potentially fruitful direction in the search for long-term fixes. This shift in emphasis is caused by the realisation that biofuels have the ability to industrially address energy supply and security.”

In latest years, India has targeted on boosting the function of biofuel within the nation’s vitality combine.

“As India strives to meet its climate and environmental objectives, expanding biofuel usage becomes a crucial component of its strategy to combat climate change and reduce its carbon footprint,” says Ashvin Patil, founder and director of Biofuels Junction, a Mumbai-based firm that manufactures and aggregates stable biofuels.

An additional advantage for India is that the manufacturing of biofuels creates employment alternatives in rural areas, serving to to alleviate poverty and promote financial growth, says Mr Dabkara.

The predominant type of biofuel produced in India is ethanol, which comes from sugar cane and is used for transport as a mix with petrol in vehicles and different autos.

This is one thing that the federal government has been selling, with India reaching its purpose of 10 per cent ethanol mixing in petrol final yr.

The authorities is now aiming to attain 20 per cent ethanol mixing in petrol by 2026.

Emissions from autos is a big problem for India, because it has a few of the world’s most polluted cities.

Biofuels can play an necessary function in offering a low-carbon answer in transport, together with trucking, delivery and aviation, based on the International Energy Agency.

A major enhance in biofuels manufacturing is required globally to assist deliver down carbon emissions, it says.

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Biodiesel, which is created from vegetable oil or recycled cooking oil, and biogas are different forms of biofuels that India produces.

Last month, Reliance Industries unveiled a plan to arrange 100 compressed biogas crops. In July, Adani Group additionally mentioned it was planning to arrange 5 biogas amenities over the following 5 years.

With “Reliance Industries and Adani Group … looking to foray big time into the Indian biogas sector, this shall be a major boost”, says Gaurav Kedia, chairman of the Indian Biogas Association.

“More particularly, with the industry reaching a scale upon investments from these conglomerates, the upstream supply chain of raw material for biogas plants, which currently turns out to be a limiting resistance for the industry, shall get streamlined.”

But the prices of manufacturing biofuel should be lowered to make it extra engaging to industries, consultants say.

“Biofuels are more expensive than fossil fuels due to the high cost of feedstocks and the production process,” says Shailendra Singh Rao, founding father of Creduce, which gives companies within the subject of local weather change and carbon asset administration.

“The technology for producing biofuels is still in its infancy. This can result in efficiency and sustainability challenges.”

Another concern that he highlights is that “the production of biofuels requires land, which is a scarce resource in certain regions of the globe. This may result in competition with food production and other vital land uses”.

Inside the Dubai manufacturing unit changing used cooking oil to biofuel – in photos

Producing biofuels may be water-intensive and the manufacturing of biofuels from meals crops can probably result in meals shortages and better meals costs, says Mr Rao.

However, India’s standing as an agrarian economic system “uniquely positions it as a prime candidate” for the event of biofuels, based on Mr Patil.

“The abundant and diverse agricultural production across the country provides a ready-to-process feedstock in large quantities, including sugar cane, corn, and various oilseeds, fostering a sustainable biofuel industry.”

Biofuels have the benefit of being “locally produced, providing price stability and shielding India from commodity price volatility”, he says.

To handle a few of the challenges arising from some biofuels, similar to meals safety, India ought to enhance its concentrate on “second-generation” biofuels, consultants say.

These are created from the non-edible components of crops, such because the stalks of wheat and corn.

“The focus should also be on using second-generation biofuels that do not rely on agricultural crops and use agricultural residue and municipal solid waste,” says Hemant Mallya, a fellow at India’s Council on Energy, Environment and Water.

“The current challenge is that second-generation biofuel technologies, which are less water intensive, are either not fully mature or not cost-competitive. Biofuels also require extensive supply chains to collect biomass that does not currently exist.”

With the brand new world alliance, India has a possibility “to develop and refine technologies for second-generation biofuels along with the alliance partners”, says Mr Mallya.

“The objective should be to reduce the production costs such that parity is achieved with fossil fuels.”

According to Mr Dabkara, “advanced biofuels, like cellulosic ethanol or algae-based fuels, often require cutting-edge and capital-intensive processes, rendering them less competitive with fossil fuels in the current market”.

“Achieving cost parity with conventional fuels necessitates continuing innovation, research and economies of scale,” he says.

Despite their benefits, biofuels alone wouldn’t be enough to fulfill all of India’s rising vitality wants.

“They are more likely to complement other renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power, along with hydroelectricity, which can provide a broader range of energy solutions,” says Mr Dabkara.

Updated: September 18, 2023, 4:30 AM