Indra’s Drishtikona (Viewpoint)

Ethanol, Bio-diesel, and Biomass: Energy Alternatives and Rural Employment

Posted : September 19, 2005 at 12:23 am [IST]

Energy security is already one of the prime concerns of the country where we are dependent almost 80% on import. Rural unemployment is equally serious concern. Perhaps new researches in ethanol, bio-diesel, and biomass can solve both of the problems, if the government proceeds with the right policies and incentives for these alternative sources of energy.

Arun Firodia, the chairman of Kinetic Engineering shows keen interest in alternative energy sources. In a recent article in ‘The Times of India’, he talked of the potentials of ethanol

Ethanol:

Ethanol is a byproduct in sugar factories. One tonne of sugarcane produces 100 kg of sugar (worth Rs 1,000) and 50 kg of ethanol (worth Rs 900). But if the entire one tonne of sugarcane is fed directly into a distillery, it can produce 500 kg of ethanol (worth Rs 9,000).

India, as policy, has started with a 5% ethanol blend with petrol, which can be increased to 10 & 20% progressively. Brazil is already successfully using 50% blend! With new technology it may be possible to use even 100% pure ethanol in car engines. Technology is also available to produce ethanol from grain and stem juice of crops like sweet sorghum (meethi jowar), barley and maize. A distillery can extract 380 litres of ethanol (worth Rs 6,880) from one tonne of such crops.

So, the production of ethanol as a main product in an independent distillery can be a good commercial proposal. These distilleries can easily pay double the price of sugarcane or for other crops to a farmer. So while ethanol can substitute or reduce the use of petrol, it can also transform the fortune of farmers.

Our petrol consumption last year was eight million tonnes. For a 5% blend, India would have required only four lakh tonnes of ethanol last year when our petrol consumption was 8 million tones. Eight lakh tonnes of sugarcane, or just 0.3% of our total sugarcane production could have produced this quantity or just 5% of total jowar and maize production (21 mmt) if fed directly to the distilleries could have met the requirement.

Some further researches can help in improving the yields. A farmer in Maharashtra has achieved sugar-cane output of a record 355 tonnes/hectare through better farming techniques, as against the present 60-70 tonnes/hectare.

Bio-diesel: Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI), backed by Daimler Chrysler and Hohenheim University of Germany ran a test with a diesel Mercedes car manufactured at Daimler Chrysler’s Pune plant. The fuel used was Jatropha Methyl Ester (JME)- basically the extract of ‘Jatropha Curcus’, a wild plant that can grow even in wasteland. JME’s phosphorus and sulphur contents were lower and its Citan number, a measure of ignition quality, was higher than the amount required in Europe and the US. JME produced lower engine noise and was stable even in very high temperatures of deserts. It fulfilled most of Euro-4 emission norms with reduced hydrocarbons and particulate. Fuel consumption (15.5 kpl in test conditions and 13.5kpl in normal driving conditions) was at par with fossil diesel. Roughly the price for JME will be about Rs 24 per litre quite comparable to fossil diesel. CSMCRI has already perfected the JME purification process to meet the global quality and environmental standards.

With so good a performance, there can’t be any question about the potentials of Jatropha. Beside Daimler Chrysler and Hohenheim University, National Small Industries Corporation, HPCL, and Indian Institute of Petroleum, many other research institutes are working for debugging the JME potential, as it can bring a revolution in energy security along with providing a lot of employment in rural area.
Over 30 million hectares of a total of 130 million hectares of wasteland in India is available for Jatropha cultivation in India. Jatropha cultivation is already covering1 million hectares and can increase to 4 million hectares by next year. On an average, one hectare of land yields 7.5 tonnes of Jatropha seeds or about 2.5 tonnes of oil. And there is scope for improvement in yield with further researches.

Biomass: is another source of energy for rural India that can bring a revolution. The methane gas from cow dung or other biological wastes generated in families can provide energy for cooking and lighting, if purified and compressed can run diesel engines, and as byproduct can produce organic manures cutting down the cost of fossil oil based chemical fertilizers.

All the three can solve the rural energy problems to a great extent and provide useful employment, and make the people go above the line of poverty ($2 per day earning). Besides these effects, the rural India will look neater too. These initiatives require huge change of mindsets both of the government at the center as well at local level. But if taken in right earnest, the initiatives can empower millions to self-employment. I find huge lot of land lying idle in rural India called as government land. I wish this could have been leased to the people of under-priviledged class to plant trees such as Jatropha and other commercial ones.

- Indra

Category: Rural development |