The complex path to biofuel sustainability

General Studies Paper 3

• Any hydrocarbon fuel that is produced from an organic matter (living or once living material) in a short period of time (days, weeks, or even months) is considered a biofuel.
• Biofuels may be solid, liquid or gaseous in nature.
• Solid: Wood, dried plant material, and manure
• Liquid: Bioethanol and Biodiesel
• Gaseous: Biogas
• These can be used to replace or can be used in addition to diesel, petrol or other fossil fuels for transport, stationary, portable and other applications.
• They can be used to generate heat and electricity.
• Some of the main reasons for shifting to biofuels are the rising prices of oil, emission of greenhouse gasses from fossil fuels and the interest in obtaining fuel from agricultural crops for the benefit of farmers.

Different Categories of Biofuels:

Biofuels in India:

• In India, biofuel is synonymous with first-generation (1G) ethanol, which is primarily sourced from food crops.
• The policy target in India of achieving 20% ethanol blending with petrol (E20) by 2025-26 is expected to be met almost entirely by 1G ethanol made from sugar cane and foodgrains.
• Second-generation (2G) ethanol made from crop wastes and residues
• It is unlikely to contribute much to achieving this target due to several challenges related to the feedstock supply chain and scaling up.

Growing a crop for energy may not be a sustainable strategy for India:

• India’s crop yields have already stagnated, and global warming is expected to reduce yields
• The same area under cultivation (arable land) will produce less with time but will need to suffice for a growing population.
• Strategy to meet blending targets cannot depend on surplus crop production.
• University of Michigan Study: It projected that the rates of groundwater depletion could triple during 2040-81 compared with the current rate.
• This is attributable to temperature rise and the resultant increase in crop water requirements.
• With such limited resources, food production should be prioritized over fuel.
• The agriculture sector is one of the hardest-to-abate in terms of direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
• Increasing GHG emissions from this sector for motor fuel production in order to decrease GHG emissions from the transport sector
• It is an unnecessary balancing loop that would achieve little net benefit.

Steps that need to be taken:

• The ethanol blending policy has been a good strategy to deal with the surplus sugar production.
• For Surplus sugar production: reduce surplus sugarcane cultivation.
• Increasing farmer income is often waved as a white flag but sugarcane being a remunerative crop has more to do with government intervention
• Any unassuming crop could be made as remunerative as sugar cane if so desired.
• ‘Sustainable’ biofuels need to be produced from crop residues and other wastes, with low water and GHG footprint.
• The Global Biofuels Alliance that was formed at the G-20 Summit in New Delhi is expected to strengthen the development of sustainable biofuels, in addition to promoting ethanol uptake.

Way Forward

• The Energy Transitions Commission report on ‘Bioresources within a Net-Zero Emissions Economy: It recommended that biomass should be prioritized for use in sectors where there are limited low-carbon alternatives.
• Long-haul aviation and road freight segments, wherein complete electrification might take longer to achieve
• They could make the cut, whereas petrol vehicles (for which ethanol blending is currently being targeted) would probably not.
• According to the International Energy Agency: To achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 globally, sustainable biofuel production needs to triple by 2030 to fuel modes that have few other mitigation options.
• Although 1G ethanol is unlikely to fit the bill, 2G ethanol could be counted as a sustainable fuel, especially if the production is decentralized, i.e., crop residues do not have to be transported large distances to a central manufacturing plant.
• But this might affect achieving economies of scale for the 2G plant.
• Balancing economies of scale with the energy needs (and costs) of biomass collection and transport across large distances is a major challenge.
• The Global Biofuels Alliance could help drive innovation and technology development in establishing an efficient biomass supply chain and smaller-scale decentralized biofuel production units.
• Achieving true sustainability is complex, especially with respect to biofuels.
• Any strategy should be carefully examined in the context of the larger ecosystem to avoid unintended negative consequences.