…How to make biofuel

GOI is pushing to ramp up its biofuels mission. Not a day too soon, yet not hard enough. Biofuels, yes, are a strategic national priority. The speed with which it will be adopted, by car makers and consumers, is also dependent on GOI’s roping in private players to join the mission – farm to biorefinery to voluntary switch to E-20. But first, even the biofuels mission needs to shift its focus, from using food crops to produce ethanol – sugarcane, maize – to using crop residue. Fertilisers, in the main, chemical urea, for food crops are mostly imported. So, the first counter to biofuels is that depending on imported fertilisers just loops back to square one of instability.

The solution to that also is biofuels. Waste-based biofuels kill two birds with one, er, biorefinery – they produce fuel (ethanol) and can replace imported chemical fertilisers (urea) with organic ones at the farm level. If India were to meaningfully move away from food crops to using crop residue – think cane stubble and bagasse, rice and wheat straw, corn cobs – it will harvest a multiplier effect. Processing farm residue, nothing goes to waste. India generates more than 500mn tonnes of agricultural residue each year, that could, per some estimates, yield over 40bn litres of ethanol-equivalent. Biogas slurry – the waste after producing biogas – is excellent organic fertiliser. This, in turn, will help slash GOI’s crippling fertiliser subsidy bill, estimated at a staggering Rs 2.4L cr this year. And, free farmers from imported chemical fertilisers that kill soil nutrients. That starts a vicious cycle – farmers then need more fertilisers.

GOI must invest in waste-based biorefineries that produce fuel, fertiliser, animal feed, and energy, all from material that would otherwise be burned or dumped. But none of this is of use if the transition is forced on industry and people. Car makers must ensure vehicles are compatible with ethanol blends, consumers assured of cost savings, and private players shown advantages of initial investment – biorefineries to car makers.

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