Insights into Next-generation Biofuel Strategies and Policy Considerations in India

While India is the third largest consumer of energy in the world, its per capita energy usage is about one-fourth of China and one-tenth of the U.S. Both traditional and renewable energy including solar, wind, ocean, and tidal energy, biomass, hydrogen, etc. would need to complement each to meet India’s growing demand for power in the future. However, this review particularly focuses on harnessing the renewable energy from biomass that is widely available in a country like India. India needs to develop and implement green and clean technologies suitable for indigenous conditions (a) to meet the growing demands, (b) to reduce the dependency on foreign imports of oil and coal, and (c) to reduce CO2 emissions to help contain global warming. Green and clean technologies using renewable resources need to be developed, customized, and implemented on a massive scale. The review rather than just targeting the scientific community as the audience, also identifies industrial stakeholders as potential readers, both nationally and internationally hence, the Indian political perspective is also presented to encourage interaction between the industry and academia. This review presents a critical analysis of the National Policy on Biofuels (NPB) 2018, along with a comparison with biofuel policies of other nations, the Biodiesel Blending Program (BBP) and Ethanol Blending Petrol (EBP) programs, and various challenges and opportunities suggesting future reforms. Biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel produced from different feedstocks as promoted in the National Biofuel Policy 2018 of India are critically discussed in this review. Attention is also paid to fuels derived from lignocellulosic biomass along with the microbial biofuel production route, in addition to single-cell oil. The two major gaseous biofuels, biogas and biohydrogen, are also briefly discussed in the Indian context. Highlights