Indian Biodiesel Scenario - Opportunities & Challenges by Jai Uppal, Consultant B.Sc. Chem. Engg., M.S.E. (Michigan, USA) F.I.E.. L.M.I.I.Ch.E., L.M.I.M.A. (Advisor -Renewable Energy) ( Winrock International India) yahoo.com (M) Petrofed – April 13, 2006

Drivers of growth Biodiesel Drivers - EU (Germany) Rural Employment and use of land – post WTO scenario Energy Security EU – mandated use of Biofuels Tax exemption on Biofuels to compete with petro-products General Public opinion in favour of Renewables

Indian Biodiesel Program Name of Biodiesel started making appearance at Indian Seminars in 2000 ‘Report of the Committee on Development of Biofuel’ – Planning Commission, GOI Emphasized on Biodiesel Recommended Stage I ‘Demonstration Project’ use Jatropha curcas on 400,000 ha (0.5 Mill T BD) Nation-wide investment $ 300 mill Recommended Stage II – 11 mill ha (13 mill T biodiesel) for 20% blend.

Indian Biodiesel Program Large number of small inefficient plants set up more as pilot plants Shortage of feedstocks. However, in estimated 125,000 ha of Jatropha planted Demonstration project started with initial grant of $11mill for nursery raising rest expected this year First 10,000 TPA plant expected production by Q3 100,000 TPA plant construction started Another 100,000 TPA DMT plant proposed to be modified Research on Jatropha being taken up 34 Agri univ & R&D centers

Challenges Vision and Policy Constraint on availability of feedstock Import of feedstock (CPO) not encouraged as can be (mis)used in edible oil Indian farmer protected by high tariff of nearly 80% How to balance production of feedstock and oil extraction and Biodiesel? Jatropha cultivation not well documented or researched – high yield varieties to be created, package of practices to be finalized for each agro- climatic zone. Comparison with other non-edible oil seeds to be done

Indian Biodiesel Potential 10 to12 mill Ha of degraded lands can provide Biodiesel for 20% blend (12 mill Tonnes per year). Biodiesel with a potential consumption of million litres can have a retail turnover of more than Rs 450, 000 million per year. It can provide huge rural employment potential of 40 to 50 million families and transform the rural economy Remote village electrification and power for agriculture application – Energy grown & used by village. Max benefit to rural economy

CDM Benefits to Indian Economy Afforestation/Reforestation – carbon sequestration - 12 mill ha – 120 mill tonnes CO2 Earning $5/T - $ 600 mill Per tonne of Biodiesel used the potential reduction of CO2 is estimated to be between 2.5 tonnes (USA) to 3.0 tonnes of CO2 per tonne per tonne used depending on soya and Jatropha For 10 mill tonnes Biodiesel production by 2012, potential reduction of CO2 of about 251,000 tonnes Earning potential for India by the year 2012 in carbon trading (CERs) - US$ 125 million

Indian Program Feedstocks Non–Edible: - –Jatropha curcas –Karanj (Pongamia pinnata) –Castor –Sal –Mahua –Simarouba –Recycled/waste oil/fat

Options of Feedstocks for India India a net importer of edible oil and imports increasing. The price of edible oil very high in India – Rs 40 per litre Productivity low Edible oil not an option except used/RVO Non-edible oil Karanj Oil – Present price of oil about Rs per litre in South India – where oil is used (Karnataka State Roadways – blend of 2%)

Jatropha curcas Ratan Jyot, chanrdajyot, physic nut Fruiting – 2 to 4 years – major advantage Maturity – 5 to 10 years – major advantage Life – 50 years – productive life 35 years Small – plants per ha – 1100 to 2500 Yield in reasonable conditions – 3 to 5 TPHa Oil content – 30 to 45% Oil yield – 1 to 2 tonnes per ha Soft shell easy to decorticate manually Good Boundary plantation TBO Alien species

Jatropha curcas Advantages: - Short duration of the fruiting and maturity Hardy plant – not browsed by animals High oil content Excellent fence and boundary plantation Chosen for ‘Demonstration Project’ because of early fruiting and hardy nature Disadvantage – very little scientific data on high yielding variety, agriculture practices – R&D required

Indian Land Resource availability Productive (irrigated) land to avoided – wastelands/degraded lands good option Wasteland availability – 60 mill ha (old) Latest Wasteland Atlas of India 2005 – 55 mill ha Forest land – 69 mill ha – 31 mill ha degraded –scrub forests 11 mill ha Non-forest land – 5 types – 22 mill ha

Indian Wasteland Availability Category of Wasteland as in Wastelands Atlas/Ownership Total Area in India Mill. Ha Gullied/Ravinous-Shallow, Mainly Community, Govt Land With Scrub/Community (Government / Panchayats) Land without Scrub.3.74 Saline/Alkaline-Slight / Mainly private0.41 Shifting Cultivation – abandoned /Community1.22 Degraded Forest –Scrub /Government10.84 Total32.29

Other types of land not utilized Other types of land: Railway, canal, roadside, Ponds, household, passages, Boundary of farm fields Agro-forestry land Fallow land

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