Mains Practice Question
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Topic
What do you mean by bioenergy, and how is it generated? Discuss how it will aid in meeting India’s energy needs.
Introduction
A simple introduction to this answer can revolve around a general statement about bioenergy.
Biomass has always been an important energy source for the country and it is renewable, widely available, carbon-neutral and has the potential to provide significant employment in rural areas.
About 32 per cent of the total primary energy use in the country is still derived from biomass and more than 70 per cent of the country’s population depends upon it for its energy needs.
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has initiated several programmes for the promotion of efficient technologies for their use in various sectors of the economy to ensure the derivation of maximum benefits.
Biomass materials used for power generation include bagasse, rice husk, straw, cotton stalk, coconut shells, soya husk, de-oiled cakes, coffee waste, jute wastes, groundnut shells, sawdust, etc.
For efficient utilization of biomass, bagasse-based cogeneration in sugar mills and biomass power generation have been taken up under the biomass power and cogeneration programme.
Body
You may incorporate some of the following points in the body of your answer:
Process
The thermochemical processes for the conversion of biomass to useful products involve combustion, gasification or pyrolysis. The most commonly used route is combustion.
The cycle used is the conventional Rankine cycle with biomass being burnt in a high-pressure boiler to generate steam and operating a turbine with the generated steam.
The exhaust of the steam turbine can either be fully condensed to produce power or used partly or fully for another useful heating activity.
In India, the cogeneration route finds application mainly in industries. The sugar industry has been traditionally practising cogeneration by using bagasse as a fuel.
Aid in meeting India’s energy needs
The two most common biofuels are ethanol and biodiesel:
Ethanol: It is produced by fermentation of residues of crops like corn and sugarcane. The ethanol after fermentation is mixed with petroleum, which dilutes the latter and reduces the emissions. Ethanol-10 or E10 is the most common blend in which 10 per cent composition is Ethanol.
Biodiesel: It is produced from used cooking oil, yellow grease or animal fats. During its production, cooking oil or fat is burned with alcohol in the presence of a catalyst, which produces Biodiesel.
National Policy on Biofuel, implemented in 2018 aims at promoting the production of biofuels under the “Make in India” program.
The main amendments approved to the National Policy on Biofuels:
(i) to allow more feedstocks for the production of biofuels,
(ii) to advance the ethanol blending target of 20 per cent blending of ethanol in petrol to ESY 2025-26 from 2030,
(iii) to promote the production of biofuels in the country, under the Make in India program, by units located in Special Economic Zones (SEZ)/ Export Oriented Units (EoUs),
(iv) to grant permission for the export of biofuels in specific cases.
Conclusion
Your conclusion should be short.
The amendment proposal will pave the way for Make in India drive thereby leading to a reduction in the import of petroleum products by the generation of more and more biofuels.
Over 800 biomass power and bagasse/Non-bagasse cogeneration projects aggregating to 10205.61 MW capacity have been installed in the country for feeding power to the grid.
States which have taken leadership positions in the implementation of bagasse cogeneration projects are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. The leading States for biomass power projects are Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.
Other Points to Consider
1. Limitations of Biofuel
2. Challenges in implementation
11-Aug 2023
