In news:
- Union Cabinet approved a national policy on biofuels.
Key pointers:
The new policy seeks to help farmers dispose of their surplus stock in an economic manner and reduce India’s oil-import dependence.
Scope of raw material for ethanol production expanded
The policy expands the scope of raw material for ethanol production by allowing use of –
- sugarcane juice
- sugar containing materials like sugar beet, sweet sorghum
- starch containing materials like corn, cassava
- damaged food grains like wheat, broken rice
- rotten potatoes [that are] unfit for human consumption
Policy allows use of surplus food grains for production of ethanol for blending with petrol with the approval of National Biofuel Coordination Committee.
The policy provides for a viability gap funding scheme for second generation (more advanced) ethanol bio-refineries in addition to tax incentives and a higher purchase price as compared to first generation biofuels.
Important Value Additions:
- A biofuel is a fuel that is produced through contemporary biological processes, such as agriculture and anaerobic digestion, rather than a fuel produced by geological processes such as those involved in the formation of fossil fuels, such as coal and petroleum, from prehistoric biological matter.
- Earlier Bio-fuel policy had proposed indicative target of 20% blending of biofuels, both for bio-diesel and bio-ethanol, by 2017.
- Ethanol run bus launched in Nagpur under ‘Green Bus’ Project
Article link: – The Hindu
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