Rotten Potatoes: That’s the Government’s Answer to Your Rising Fuel Bill

Aviation Fuel (Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)), BioRefineries/Renewable Fuel Production, Feedstocks, Field/Orchard/Plantation Crops/Residues, India, Opinions, Policy, Sustainability

September 3, 2018

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by Garima Singh (Economic Times) … While the government is hoping the rally in global rates declines soon, it is also looking at alternatives to lessen future pinches. This explains its current interest in rotten potatoes.

You heard it right. India often overproduces potatoes which find no buyers. The common spectacle of protesting farmers throwing potatoes on roads after over-production can now become a rarity as the government plans to turn rotten potatoes, besides other plant waste and residue, into biofuel.

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In India, diesel constitutes 72% of transportation fuel followed by petrol at 23%. The remaining fuels are CNG, LPG, etc. The domestic crude oil production is able to meet only about 18% of the demand. The rest of crude is imported. Being import-dependent, India’s fuel economy is greatly sensitive to international trends. Though India can produce only a limited amount of crude, it has a large potential for producing biofuel.

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According to the government, mixing of one crore litre of bio-ethanol in petrol saves Rs 28 crore of foreign exchange on oil imports.

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Biofuel will not help India cut its dependence on oil import but also contribute to preserving the environment as it causes less emissions than fossil fuels.

What India has done so far ?
Though the Spicejet flight brought the biofuel potential to the fore, the government has been promoting biofuel for more than a decade.

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However, ethanol blending percentage in petrol is around 2 per cent and biodiesel blending percentage in diesel is less than 1 per cent. That’s mainly because limited production of biofuel.

The future roadmap
In May, the Union Cabinet approved the National Policy on Biofuels 2018 which includes several steps to boost biofuel production and blending. It proposes an indicative target of 20 per cent blending of ethanol in petrol and 5 per cent blending of biodiesel by 2030. A major step towards boosting production is the permission to make biofuel from sugarcane juice, sugar-containing materials like sugar beet, sweet sorghum, starch-containing materials like corn and cassava, damaged food grains like wheat, broken rice and, of course, rotten potatoes.

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The new measure will also help with the problem of a lot of foodgrain going waste due to various factors. However, the use of crop waste and surplus foodgrain for ethanol production will also require a well-oiled biomass supply chain. Another challenge would be storage. READ MORE

‘Feedstock available for 15% ethanol blending’ (The Hindu Business Line)

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