In what may provide a big boost to the fledgling biofuel economy in the country, a study undertaken by industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has clearly established that biofuels in India are indeed environment friendly and can help in reducing the country?s carbon footprint in a big way.
The Indian transport sector accounts for 7-8% of the country?s greenhouse emissions. This figure is projected to rise sharply in coming years as the transport sector is growing fast. That makes a strong case for mandatory blending of bio-fuels like ethanol and bio-diesel with petrol and diesel for use in vehicles.
But the government has failed to come out with a clear policy in this regard. One of the reasons: questions have been raised about green credentials of bio-fuels and also about their effectiveness in reducing carbon footprint.
?There are two main criticisms of biofuels: first, whether they really add energy and second, whether they can help in reducing carbon footprint,? says Pramod Chaudhari, chairman, CII national committee on bio-fuels who was closely involved with preparation of the report.
Feedstocks like molasses, sweet sorghum, bagasse, rice straw and jatropha were included in the study ?Estimation of Energy & Carbon Balance of India.?
The study has found that energy gain and carbon reduction potential of biofuels produced from these feedstocks, though varying in extent, are positive.
For example, the net energy ratio of bio-fuels ? that is, the ratio of energy output obtained from the end use of the biofuel and energy input used for the production of biofuel ?produced from molasses is 4.57% while their carbon emissions are 75% less compared to fossil fuels.
The net energy ratio of biofuels produced from agri-residues like bagasse and rice straw is between 3.32-4.39%. Biofuels produced from jatropha also offer similar-sized energy gain. Meanwhile, carbon reduction potential of biofuels produced from agri-residues is estimated at 68-70%.
Sweet sorghum comes on top of the list, with net energy ratio and carbon reduction potential of bio-fuels derived from it estimated at 7.06% and 86%. However, its production in the country is limited.
The net energy balance ? that is, the energy supplied by biofuels and co-products at the end use minus the energy required during various manufacturing stages of biofuels ? for all these feedstocks is also positive. Meanwhile, all of them were also found to have negative carbon balance, which is defined as net quantity of greenhouse gases emitted or avoided to the atmosphere during the various stages of manufacture, distribution and end use of fuels. CII undertook the study with support from the department of biotechnology.