The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Use of biofuels in automobiles stressed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 03, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Use of biofuels in automobiles stressed

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, NOV.2. The setting up of an "All India Renewable Energy Research Centre" and supportive Government policy as part of increasing the production and utilisation of ethanol blended petrol in India were underscored by a biotechnology expert here on Tuesday.

Speaking on "Biofuels for automobiles" at the valedictory session of the three-day international conference on biotechnology, Jay K.Shetty, senior director, Genencor International Inc., USA, pointed to the various "strategic, social and environmental" advantages in using biofuels, including the renewable nature, lower dependence on imported oil, creation of jobs in rural areas, promotion of local farming and low investment per job.

Raw materials

Dr.Shetty, who worked on various aspects of enzymes biotechnology and holds more than 35 patents, said that India was blessed with most of the agricultural raw materials required for fuel alcohol--sugarcane, wheat, rice, rye, barley, corn and sorghum. China and the USA were mostly dependent on corn and Europe on wheat.

He said that India was one of the largest producers of sugarcane in the world and had more than 400 distilleries producing alcohol using molasses.The alcohol production today was 1.5 billion litres and fuel grade alcohol was 300 million litres at five per cent blending. With the annual petrol consumption of 6.5 billion litres and the oil import bill costing Rs.400,000 crores, he said that import reduction by 10 per cent could save significant amount.

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