Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad Researchers are using computational methods to understand the factors and impediments in incorporating biofuels into the fuel sector in India. This work has been spurred by the increasing need to replace fossil fuels by bio-derived fuels, which, in turn, is driven by the dwindling fossil fuel reserves all over the world, and pollution issues associated with the use of fossil fuels.
The model developed by the IIT Hyderabad team has shown that in the area of bioethanol integration into mainstream fuel use, the production cost is the highest (43 per cent) followed by import (25 per cent), transport (17 per cent), infrastructure (15 per cent) and inventory (0.43 per cent) costs. The model has also shown that feed availability to the tune of at least 40 per cent of the capacity is needed to meet the projected demands.
A unique feature of this work is that the framework considers revenue generation not only as an outcome of sales of the biofuel but also in terms of carbon credits via greenhouse gas emission savings throughout the project lifecycle, a statement here said on Thursday. This research was led by Dr Kishalay Mitra, Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Hyderabad with his Research Scholar Mr Kapil Gumte.
The results of this work were recently published in the prestigious peer-reviewed Journal of Cleaner Production. This Research Paper also won the 'Best Paper Award' during the Sixth International Conference on Advances in Control and Optimization of Dynamical Systems held at IIT Madras earlier this year, which was attended by large sections of the whole process systems engineering community of India.
Dr Mitra and his team analysed the bio-supply chain network through computational studies. Highlighting the need for such research, Dr. Kishalay Mitra, Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Hyderabad, said, "In India, biofuels generated from non-food sources is the most promising source of carbon-neutral renewable energy. These second-generation sources include agricultural waste products such as straw, hay and wood, among others, that do not intrude upon food sources.
