Annually on August 10, World Biofuel Day is celebrated to build awareness regarding fossil fuels as an alternative to conventional fossil fuels and show the multiple efforts performed by the government in the biofuel sector.
Bio-fuels are primarily green fuels that are environment-friendly, and their usage would address the global crisis about the containment of carbon emissions.
It is a biodegradable, sustainable, renewable, and environment-friendly fuel. Biofuels have the advantages of overcoming import dependency on crude oil, extra income to farmers, a cleaner environment, and employment production in rural areas.
In India, the biofuels program is also in synergy with the Indian Government initiatives for Swachh Bharat, Make in India, and enhancing farmers’ income.
Table of Contents
World Biofuel Day: History
On August 9, 1893, Sir Rudolph Diesel, the creator of the diesel engine, ran the mechanical engine with Peanut Oil for the first time.
According to history, his study experiment had prophesied that vegetable oil will replace fossil fuels to fuel different mechanical engines in the next century. In a bid to mark this amazing achievement, World Biofuel Day is celebrated each year on August 10.
World Biofuel Day: Significance
The special day aims to decrease dependency on biofuel and adopt alternative energy sources and effective control of fuels.
The day is celebrated to create awareness about the significance of non-fossil fuels as an alternative to conventional fossil fuels.
The Government of India signed the National Policy on Biofuels in June 2018. It has the goal of reaching 20 percent ethanol-blending and 5 percent biodiesel-blending by the year 2030.
Government Initiatives to encourage Biofuels
The blending of biofuels:
- Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) program, simplifying the procurement procedures by Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), improving the provisions of Industries (Development & Regulation) Act, 1951, etc. are a few of the actions taken to encourage the blending of biofuels.
Initiatives by Department of Ministry of Science, Technology, and Biotechnology
- Rise of 2G Ethanol and transfer of the technology to OMCs.
- Advancement of Indigenous Cellulolytic Enzyme for the generation of biofuels.
- Strengthened the international collaboration to stimulate change in Sustainable Biofuel through multilateral programs like Biofuture Platform and Atal Innovation Mission (AIM).
Pradhan Mantri JI-VAN Yojana, 2019
The project aims to build an ecosystem for producing commercial projects and promoting development and research in the 2G Ethanol sector.
GOBAR DHAN scheme, 2018
It aims at managing and converting solid waste and cattle dung in farms to valuable biogas, compost, and bio-CNG, thus keeping villages clean and raising the income of rural families.
- It was begun under Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin).
Repurpose Used Cooking Oil (RUCO)
It was begun by the FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) and proposed an ecosystem that will enable the collection and conversion of utilized cooking oil to biodiesel.
National Policy on Biofuels, 2018
- It increases the range of raw materials for ethanol production by enabling the use of sugarcane juice, sugar-containing materials like sugar beet, and starch-containing materials like corn, broken rice, cassava, which is unfit for human consumption.
- The Policy enables the use of excess food grains for ethanol production for blending with petrol with the permission of the National Biofuel Coordination Committee.
Way Forward
- Promotion of the use of biofuels in transport in nations like India will support overcoming the crude import bill.
- India is a huge agricultural economy, and there is a vast number of agricultural residues available. Therefore the scope of composing Biofuels is enormous in the country. Biofuels can support agricultural and rural development in the form of new money crops.
- Attempts for creating sustainable biofuels should be performed by ensuring the use of wastelands and municipal waste produced in cities. An accurately planned and implemented biofuel solution can offer both food and energy.
World Biofuel Day: History & Significance