Biofuel policy in India: A review of policy barriers in sustainable marketing of biofuel

Global warming issue due to the combustion of fossil fuel pushes the world to produce renewable and environmental friendly energy from sustainable feedstock. There are several measures on different levels to reduce the global warming including clean energies from wind, solar, and biomass. There are different aspects in bringing these technologies into a reality including development of technology, economic feasibilities, environmental sustainability and finally, support from the government in the form of effective policies and public awareness. Adequate R&D efforts could overcome all the factors but only an effective policy could drive those efforts to reality. Therefore, in this connection this review initially addresses the present state of energy demand, progression of biofuel sources and the bottlenecks in microalgal biofuel production and commercialization. The biofuel policies are essential to change the world’s dependence on fossil fuels for a better tomorrow. Hence, this review addresses the salient features of National Biofuel policy of India that helps in regulating the biofuels production and their marketing. As a part of Policy implementation, government of India introduced several schemes and programs in last two-decades, which includes mandate blending of ethanol with gasoline, diesel with biodiesel, for the future clean energy vision, and incentivizing bio-based products/fuels. In addition, participation of both federal and state governments for clean energy initiatives, capital investments and tax credits were described in detail. Many policies lack easy outreach among public and industries, which needs marketing by the government that secures a clean energy future in India. Though India is in the process of evolution, it might be quite difficult to enact a dedicative legislation to deal with the challenges of biofuel marketing. Therefore, recent initiatives and scope were summarized in this review for future endeavors

Experimental insight into co-combustion characteristics of oxygenated biofuels in modified DICI engine

The co-combustion of fuel has substantial advantages when compared to normal combustion and it requires very little modification. In this perspective, ethanol supplement co-combustion with biodiesel is proposed. The co-combustion characteristics were studied by manifold induction of vaporized ethanol and direct injection of waste cooking oil biodiesel. A vaporizer system was fabricated to produce vaporized ethanol in a volumetric basis (10% and 20%, respectively). It was revealed from the experiments that with co-combustion of oxygenated biofuels, the combustion advanced and peak pressure shifted to TDC. The pressure rise rate decreased with the increase of vaporized ethanol induction and the maximum rate of pressure rise reduction was noted with biodiesel-20% ethanol induction which was 4% lower than biodiesel-10% vaporized ethanol induction. On the other hand, the maximum rate of heat release rate (60.24 J/degrees CA) was seen in biodiesel with 20% ethanol induction. Furthermore, the co-combustion studies disclosed a two-stage heat release pattern (low temperature and high temperature reactions). It was observed that the increase in ethanol concentration extended low temperature region by 1 degrees crank angle and retarded high temperature region by 3 degrees crank angle

Recent developments and strategies in genome engineering and integrated fermentation approaches for biobutanol production from microalgae

© 2020 Elsevier LtdThe major hurdles causing difficulties in mechanized transportation are the depletion of fossil fuels and the high cost of alternative plant-based substrates for producing biofuels. To solve these issues, biofuels were emerged as effective alternatives to reduce pollution caused by the emission of greenhouse gases. Among biofuels, biobutanol is gaining attention as a feasible, renewable, cost-effective, alternative fuel. But the usages of conventional agricultural crops as feedstock are sensitive and controversial due to the growing concern over the availability of food worldwide. Microalgae are an excellent resource to overcome these challenges, which grows on both the sea and freshwater. Microalgae reducing their land usage with agriculture, and there is no food and fuel conflict exist. In addition, microalgae utilize inorganic carbon from the atmosphere for growth; hence they can reduce the emission levels as well as produce clean energy. Therefore, microalgae as third-generation feedstock came into practice due to their fast growth rate and higher carbohydrate content. The main focus of the present review is to discuss in detail about the major challenges faced as a feedstock, genetic engineering strategies adopted and future perspectives to improve the production of biobutanol from microalgae

Synthesis and utilization of biomass-derived sulfonated heterogeneous catalyst-BT-SO3H for microalgal biodiesel production

The study investigates the potential of utilizing banana trunk-derived porous activated biochar enriched with SO3H- as a catalyst for eco-friendly biodiesel production from the microalga Chlorella vulgaris. An extensive analysis, employing advanced techniques such as XRD, FTIR, TGA, XPS, NH3-TPD, BET, SEM-EDX, and TEM, was conducted to elucidate the physicochemical properties of BT-SO3H catalysts. The synthesized catalyst demonstrated its efficiency in converting the total lipids of Chlorella vulgaris into biodiesel, with varying concentrations of 3%, 5%, and 7%. Notably, using a 5% BT-SO3H concentration resulted in remarkably higher biodiesel production about 58.29%. Additionally, the fatty acid profile of C. vulgaris biodiesel indicated that C16:0 was the predominant fatty acid at 24.31%, followed by C18:1 (19.68%), C18:3 (11.45%), and C16:1 (7.56%). Furthermore, the biodiesel produced via 5% BT-SO3H was estimated to have higher levels of saturated fatty acids (SFAs) at 34.28%, monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) at 30.70%, and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) at 24.24%. These findings highlight the promising potential of BT-SO3H catalysts for efficient and environmentally friendly biodiesel production from microalgal species

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) for bioelectrochemical treatment of different wastewater streams

Wastewaters generated from several industrial sources containing organic substrates present a vital basis for harnessing bioenergy. Aerobic wastewater treatment methods, for instance, activated sludge process and trickling filter are unsustainable due to constant energy requirements for aeration, and sludge management. Currently, Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) technology presents an appropriate alternative for energy positive wastewater treatment and permits synchronized wastewater treatment, bioelectricity production, and resource recovery via bioelectrochemical remediation mediated by electroactive microbes. The added advantage of using MFC technology for effluent treatment is that several bio-based processes including removal of biochemical and chemical oxygen demand, nitrification, denitrification, sulfate removal and removal of heavy metals can be carried out in the same bioreactor. Thus, MFCs can both substitute and complement the conventional energy-intensive technologies for efficient removal as well as the recovery of sulfate, nitrogen, and phosphate without any tertiary treatment. Thus, the present review covers the recent advances in the utilization of microbial fuel cell technology for the removal of organic as well as recalcitrant pollutants from a wide range of industrial and domestic effluents with the simultaneous production of low-cost energy. Further this review discusses the hybrid systems developed in integration with conventional treatment systems to make the process energy neutral and thus pave a way to scale-up the MFCs for sustainable wastewater treatment. Moreover, some critical challenges related to the field applications of microbial fuel cell technology dealing with a wide range of effluents, have also been analyzed and presented