Biofuel push

The new policy widens the range of feedstock

The new National Biofuel Policy 2018, aimed at boosting production of environment-friendly biofuels from farm and other waste and reducing dependence on imports for energy security, is fairly pragmatic. The main point of the new policy is that it seeks to widen the range of feedstock for ethanol production from the present sugar-molasses to other waste such as rural and urban garbage and cellulosic and lignocellulosic biomass in line with the waste-to-wealth concept. The permissible feedstock includes sweet sorghum, sugar beet, cassava (tapioca), decaying potatoes, damaged grain such as maize, wheat and rice, and, most importantly, crop residue such as