Context: Recently, the Central government has allowed the conversion of surplus rice, available with the Food Corporation of India (FCI), to ethanol. The development comes at a time when loopholes in the Public Distribution System (PDS) are keeping people away from getting free or subsidised grains.

Key Points

• Ethanol produced from the excess rice will be used for utilisation in making alcohol-based hand sanitizers and blending in petrol. Ethanol is one of the most variable alternatives amongst biofuels.
• The National Biofuel Coordination Committee(NBCC) took the decision which will lead to utilisation of part of a huge stockpile of 30.57 million tonnes (MT) of rice which is almost 128% more than the buffer stock and strategic requirement norms.
• At present, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has huge rice stock from previous years excluding the unmilled paddy lying with millers on behalf of FCI.
• Using surplus rice for ethanol will address the concern of about 750 million litres of grain-based distillery capacities lying idle, due to the lack of feedstock.
• The National Policy on Biofuels, 2018 allows conversion of surplus quantities of food grains to ethanol when there is a projected oversupply of food grains.

Criticism of this move

• This move has been criticised on the grounds that how can the government waste food stock for fuel when the considerable number of the population doesn’t have food and is suffering from malnutrition.
• In recent past, the government decided to give 5 kg wheat or rice and 1 kg of preferred pulses free of cost to 800 million people, under the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA) in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
• However, many poor people are unable to get the benefit out of it, due to loopholes in the PDS network. For example, a large chunk of ration card holders may not be eligible for the free grains, as they are not covered under the NFSA.
• The NFSA, based on the 2011 census, had not factored in the population increase in over nine years, leaving a huge number of people out of its ambit.

About Biofuels

• 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. Also, 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 the greenhouse gases from fossil fuels and the interest for obtaining fuel from agricultural crops for the benefit of farmers.

First generation biofuels:

• These are made from food sources such as sugar, starch, vegetable oil, or animal fats using conventional technology.
• Common first-generation biofuels include Bioalcohols, Biodiesel, Vegetable oil, Bioethers, Biogas.
• Though the process of conversion is easy, but use of food sources in the production of biofuels creates an imbalance in food economy, leading to increased food prices and hunger.

Second generation biofuels:

• These are produced from non-food crops or portions of food crops that are not edible and considered as wastes, e.g. stems, husks, wood chips, and fruit skins and peeling.
• Thermochemical reactions or biochemical conversion process is used for producing such fuels.
• Examples include cellulose ethanol, biodiesel.
• Though these fuels do not affect food economy, their production is quite complicated.
• Also, it is reported that these biofuels emit less greenhouse gases when compared to first generation biofuels.

Third generation biofuels:

• These are produced from micro-organisms like algae.
• Example- Butanol
• Micro-organisms like algae can be grown using land and water unsuitable for food production, therefore reducing the strain on already depleted water sources.
• One disadvantage is that fertilizers used in the production of such crops lead to environment pollution.

Fourth Generation Biofuels:

• In the production of these fuels, crops that are genetically engineered to take in high amounts of carbon are grown and harvested as biomass.
• The crops are then converted into fuel using second generation techniques.
• The fuel is pre-combusted and the carbon is captured. Then the carbon is geo-sequestered, meaning that the carbon is stored in depleted oil or gas fields or in unmineable coal seams.
• Some of these fuels are considered as carbon negative as their production pulls out carbon from environment.

About National Policy on Biofuel,2018
Goal: Achieve 20% blending of ethanol in petrol and 5% blending of biodiesel in diesel is proposed by 2030.
Keyfeatures
The Policy categorises biofuels as:

• “Basic Biofuels” – First Generation (1G) bioethanol & biodiesel
• “Advanced Biofuels” – Second Generation (2G) ethanol, Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) to drop-in fuels
• Third Generation (3G) biofuels, bio-CNG, butanol etc.
• The Policy expands the scope of raw material for ethanol production by allowing use of Sugarcane Juice, Sugar containing materials like Sugar Beet, Sweet Sorghum, Starch containing materials like Corn, Cassava, Damaged food grains like wheat, broken rice, Rotten Potatoes, unfit for human consumption for ethanol production.
• The Policy allows use of surplus food grains for production of ethanol for blending with petrol with the approval of National Biofuel Coordination Committee.
• Under the policy, a viability gap funding scheme for 2G ethanol Bio refineries of Rs.5000 crores in 6 years in addition to additional tax incentives, higher purchase price as compared to 1G biofuels will be provided
• The Policy encourages setting up of supply chain mechanisms for biodiesel production from non-edible oilseeds, Used Cooking Oil, short gestation crops.