Cabinet approves new policy for biofuels

Cabinet approves new policy for biofuels

Biofuels; ethanol

News:

1. The Union cabinet has approved the National Policy on Biofuels, 2018

Important Facts:

2. Salient features of the policy:

• Categorizes biofuels as:

a) First Generation (1G), which produce bio-ethanol from molasses and bio-diesel from non-edible oilseeds.

b) Second Generation (2G) ethanol that can be produced from municipal solid waste

c) Third Generation (3G) fuels like bio-CNG.

• Expanded the scope of raw material for ethanol production to include sugarcane juice, sugar beet, sweet sorghum, corn, and cassava, damaged food grains like wheat, broken rice, and rotten potatoes unfit for human consumption. At present, ethanol is mainly produced from molasses.
• Allows use of surplus food grains for production of ethanol for blending with petrol with the approval of National Biofuel Coordination Committee
• Provides a viability gap funding scheme for 2G ethanol Bio refineries of Rs.5000 crore in 6 years in addition to additional tax incentives, higher purchase price as compared to 1G biofuels.

3. Expected benefits:

• Reduction in India’s oil import dependence
• Provide additional income to farmers by disposing off their surplus stocks
• Cleaner environment- reduce green house gas emissions by reducing crop burning & conversion of agricultural residues/wastes to biofuels