5 minute read
SAMIR SOMAIYA
CMD, GODAVARI BIOREFINERIES LIMITED
BIOREFINERIES AND ALTERNATE FUEL
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India Capable of Producing 21 Billion Litres Ethanol by 2025
above the existing 3-3.5 billion litres that are budgeted to be produced using molasses (B and C) and also some amount of sugarcane juice/syrup directly). This would bring a total of 1G (first generation) ethanol from sugarcane to 7 billion litres. Sugarcane is not the only source of 1G ethanol. The government has implemented policies to encourage the use of other feedstock to make 1G ethanol. Crops that can be used for this are maize, sweet sorghum, sugar beet amongst others. The government expects that 5 billion litres of ethanol can be produced using surplus grain. Ethanol distilleries often work alongside the sugarcane crushing cycle. As a result, their capacities are not fully utilized. The addition of these crops as feedstocks to add to existing distilleries will enable distilleries to produce more ethanol by only adding some process steps to make the different feedstock ready for fermentation. In addition, India is blessed with having large quantities of cellulosic biomass that can be also converted to ethanol
India is facing various challenges such as climate change (called 2G or second generation). Celand energy security which needs to be addressed and be- lulosic biomass is available in various ing an agrarian nation with millions of small farmers, forms such as sugarcane bagasse, rice India needs to provide meaningful livelihoods to its pop- straw, maize stalks and more. ulation. Renewable energy can help address these three Every sugar mill generates surplus challenges. bagasse. The typical bagasse saving is
India has an abundance of sunlight. This sunlight can 6% on cane crushed. If India crushhelp us generate solar power, but also help the crops es 320 million tons of cane, we grow be a source of energy. Renewable energy, as opposed to energy derived from fossil fuels, helps combat and mitigate climate change. Sugarcane is one such crop. India makes more sugarcane than it needs for sugar. The 40% this is equivalent to 19.2 million tons of wet bagasse. Conservatively, this translates to 19.2 million tons of wet government has recognized this sugarcane “The government has set an bagasse will approxisurplus as a source of energy. Energy from aggressive target to produce mately generate 1.92 sugarcane comes to us in three forms - etha- 25 million tons of biogas by billion litres ethanol nol as a biofuel, bio-CNG and bio-electricity. 2025 meeting 40% of India’s @10 % of wet bagasse.
All three have tremendous potential to meet gas requirement” Today, India genour energy needs for mobility as well as home erates over 92 million needs. tons of crop residues. Some of these such as rice straw are
The Ethanol Opportunity burned causing pollution in Northern
India is expected to produce 31 million tons of sugar this year, parts of India. If this was also converted that is 6 million tons more sugar than it needs for domestic con- to ethanol, then by a similar analysis as sumption. If all this sugarcane were converted to ethanol, that described above, that would yield 9.2 bilwould yield an additional 3.6 billion litres of ethanol (over and lion litres of ethanol.
Combined, all the above efforts would add to 7+5+9.2 i.e. 21.2 billion litres of ethanol. The government estimates that to blend 20% ethanol into petrol and gasoline in 2025, 12 billion litres of ethanol are required. 21 billion litres would exceed 30% blending. 2G ethanol will not happen overnight. Certainly not by 2025, but it is important to note that this possibility exists, and this technology is being demonstrated
globally. It will mature and then a greater blend, or more ethanol will be available as our energy consumption increases. It is also important to note that ethanol has a higher octane number, and therefore, when added to petrol, the combined fuel burns more cleanly having lower emissions than if other anti-knocking additives were used.
Bio-CNG
India has many other sources of biomass that can be used to generate compressed biogas. It is estimated that over 62 million tons of biogas can be produced from various renewable sources. Through the SATAT programme, the government has set an aggressive target to produce 25 million tons of Biogas by 2025 meeting 40% of India’s gas requirement.
One such source of biogas is sugarcane press mud. Press mud is produced in large quantities in a sugar mill and
can be a source of generating biogas. The yield of biogas is approximately 5% on press mud. A typical sugar mill generates 4% press mud on cane crushed. At 320 million tons of cane crushed, this equals 12.8 million tons of press mud, which would generate 0.64 million tons of 96% methane containing biogas. 1 BCM (billion cubic meter) of compressed biogas is approximately 0.73 million tons of the same. India imports a large quantity of its gas needs (19.87 BCM in 2017-18). So the press mud from the sugar industry could alone meet 5% of the India gas imports.
Electricity
Every sugar mill makes surplus electricity as it generates steam to meet its process needs. This electricity is exported to the grid, and can be used to meet the growing power needs of the country, and be a source for mobility as cars move towards electric vehicles. Every sugar mill generates electricity as a co-product by using efficient high pressure boilers and turbines. Each sugar mill can export about 30 Kwhr/ ton crushed of electricity while crushing cane (excluding saved bagasse). 320 million tons of cane will mean 9.6 million Mwhr of electricity. An electric car can give mileage of about 7 km/Kwhr. This equates to about 67 billion km of distance travelled. Petrol gives on average 10 km/l. This translates to 6.7 billion litres of petrol saved. To put this number in context, India consumed 42 billion litres of petrol in 2019.
Hydrogen economy
Electricity also lends itself to make hydrogen via electrolysis of water. Hydrogen is a clean fuel and will play an important role in the future.
Climate Change
Finally, all the above are made using renewable resources. Crops consume carbon dioxide as they grow and mitigate climate change. Fossil resources are used in making inputs that are used in farming, but the use and development of drip farming alongside agroecological practices such as the use of Panchagavya and other traditional methods make for a still greater mitigation of climate change and carbon footprint.
Godavari Biorefineries is at the forefront of these initiatives. The company has recently expanded its ethanol capacity from 200 kLpd to 400 kLpd and is now targeting a further expansion. The company is also exploring the making of BioCNG to meet future energy requirements of India.
