Biomass Conversion: Untapped Reservoir of Clean Energy?

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Urban Areas’ Initiatives

Biomass in urban areas and commercial applications: Crop residues and agro industrial wastes are used through biomass gasification technique for both electrical and thermal energy. Several industries, like sugar, paper and pulp, fertilizers, food processing etc., require electrical as well as thermal energy for their operations.

These requirements can be met through different energy sources or a single source. The simultaneous production of power and thermal energy from a single source is termed as cogeneration. The government

is providing assistance for setting up of Biomass Gasification and Biomass Cogeneration (non-bagasse) Projects.

Energy from Urban Waste

Programme for energy recovery from urban waste: According to a recent estimate, about 42 million tons of solid waste and 6000 million cubic metres of liquid waste are generated every year by our urban population. A total of eight projects for energy recovery from urban waste i.e., an aggregate capacity of 19.05 MWeq have already been set up.

Biofuels: Biofuels are a type of fuel whose energy is derived from biological carbon fixation. It includes fuels derived from biomass conversion as well as solid biomass, liquid fuels and various bagasses. Biodiesel and bio-ethanol can be used as diesel additive and gasoline additive respectively.

Biofuel development in India mainly centres around the cultivation and processing of Jatropha plant seeds, which are very rich in oil (40 per cent). Jatropha oil can be used directly in diesel generators and engines.

20 Percent Biofuels by 2017? An Ambitioned Agenda

While a target of 20 per cent blending of biofuels in diesel and petrol by the year 2017 has been indicated in the National Policy on Biofuels announced in December 2009, a mandatory target of five per cent blending of ethanol with petrol and recommendatory target of five per cent blending of bio-diesel with diesel is in force since October 2009. Indian Railways has already started using Jatropha oil mixed with diesel for meeting the fuel requirements.

The recent BP Review of World Energy shows that renewable energies witnessed a 19 percent growth in 2011 (making it the ninth year of double digit growths for renewables in series). Biofuels alone rose by more than 13 percent, an increase that would have been even sharper if it had not been for a period of bad weather during summer 2011 in Brazil.

* The author is the Assistant Director, Press Information Bureau, India

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