Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the national standards body of India, is committed to complementing the country’s green initiatives through development of relevant standards. Through an official release, BIS announced that the Indian standards will significantly complement the objectives of the Global Biofuels Alliance (GBA), which was recently announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the G20 Leaders’ Summit held in New Delhi. It is a declared multilateral platform.
The BIS release quoted Shri Pramod Kumar Tiwari, Director General, BIS, as saying, “The Global Biofuels Alliance (GBA) announced by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi during the G20 Summit is a step towards achieving clean energy goals. “This is a historic step in the ongoing global efforts.” We, at the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), being the National Standards Body of India, are committed to support this pioneering initiative of the Government of India through the development of relevant Indian Standards and essential quality parameters/performance specifications.”
The release also highlighted key standards that will assist stakeholders including manufacturers, traders and other entities operating in biofuels or related sectors. Supporting the objectives of the Ethanol Blending Program and GBA, the release said BIS has developed the following nine Indian Standards on Biofuels:
IS 15464:2022 Anhydrous ethanol for use as blending component in motor gasoline – Specification
IS 15607:2022 Biodiesel B-100 – Fatty Acid Methyl Ester FAME – Specification
IS 16087:2016 Biogas (Biomethane) – Specification (First Revision)
IS 16531:2022 Biodiesel Diesel Fuel Blend B8 to B20 Specification
IS 16629:2017 Hydrous Ethanol for use in ED95 automotive fuel – Specification
IS 16634:2017 E85 Fuel (Mixture of Anhydrous Ethanol and Gasoline) – Specification
IS 17021:2018 E20 fuel – Blend of anhydrous ethanol and gasoline – As fuel for spark ignited engine driven vehicles – Specification
viii. IS 17081:2019 Aviation turbine fuel (kerosene type, Jet A – 1) containing synthesized hydrocarbons – Specification
IS 17821:2022 Ethanol as fuel for use in positive ignition engine driven vehicles – Specification
The release also informed that in addition, development of standard on Paraffinic (Green) Diesel derived from 2G feedstock is also in progress. BIS believes that with the help of these standards, increase in biofuel production capacity can be achieved and this will provide multi-dimensional benefits. The release also said that ‘this will not only help in meeting the target of net zero by 2070 and 50% energy through renewable sources, but will also help in Make in India, Self-reliant India, Waste to Wealth, increase in farmers’ income. It will also contribute to achieving many other objectives like increasing.
Notably, during the 18th G20 Summit chaired by India in New Delhi, G20 leaders launched the Global Biofuel Alliance (GBA) – a platform of 30 countries and international institutions to facilitate the adoption of biofuels. GBA is an India-led initiative towards the goal of sustainability and clean energy. Its objective is to achieve worldwide development and deployment of sustainable biofuels through national policy formulation, market development, development of technical competence and adoption and implementation of internationally recognized standards and codes of practice.
The United States, Brazil and India – reportedly the major producers and consumers of biofuels. These three countries combined account for 85% of ethanol production and 81% of consumption globally. The global ethanol market was valued at US$99 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5% till 2032, creating a huge opportunity for Indian industries and increasing the income of farmers in the Indian ecosystem. Will contribute to employment generation and overall development.
According to an estimate, currently about 98% of the fuel requirement for the transportation sector in India is met by fossil fuels and the remaining 2% by biofuels. India’s petroleum imports caused a loss of about $55 billion to the exchequer in the year 2020-2021. More recently, the Russia-Ukraine war has increased global oil prices and oil and gas imports with increased prices have further burdened the Indian economy. Blending up to 20% ethanol with gasoline would save approximately $4 billion.
Hence, Indian Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) are working towards provisioning new distilleries for the production of 1G and 2G ethanol and Indian automakers are developing engines compatible with ethanol blended fuels. The government has also launched interest subvention scheme for jaggery and grain based distilleries to promote ethanol production. It is also anticipated that flex fuel vehicles, which are capable of using up to 85% ethanol blended gasoline, and are already operational in the United States and Brazil, will soon enter India.
(Source: PIB)
