i.On Occasion of the World Biofuel Day (10th August) in 2019, various Central Ministries such as Petroleum and Natural Gas, Steel, Health & Family Welfare, Science & Technology and Earth Science initiated an EoI Scheme for ‘Procurement of Biodiesel produced from UCO’ .
ii.It was aimed at creating an ecosystem for collection and conversion of UCO into Biodiesel and develop entrepreneurship opportunities.
iii.India has set a target to achieve 5% blending of Biodiesel in Diesel by 2030.
EoI Scheme
i.The initiative has been carried out in 2 phases,
- Under Phase 1 – 11 EoIs were floated between August, 2019 to November, 2020 for 200 locations.
- Under Phase 2 – EoIs have been extended for one more year up to December, 2021 for 300 locations across India.
ii.Under the initiative, OMCs (Oil Marketing Companies) offered periodical incremental price guarantees for 5 years & extended off-take guarantees for 10 years to prospective entrepreneurs.
- IndianOil has issued 23 LOIs for Biodiesel plants with a capacity of 22.95 Crore Litres.
- IndianOil received 51 KL of UCO-Biodiesel at its Tikrikalan terminal in Delhi as of March, 2021.
- IndianOil is constructing 8 Biodiesel plants across Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh.
iii.The scheme has the following benefits
- The initiative aims to boost Biodiesel supply and play a major role in reducing import dependence and generating rural employment.
- It will help in diverting the use of unhealthy used oil from the food chain to a more productive purpose.
Biodiesel
It is an alternative fuel which is similar to conventional or fossil diesel, except that it is carbon neutral.
- It can be produced from vegetable oils, animal fats, tallow and waste cooking oil.
- It is rapidly biodegradable and completely non-toxic.
- India has set a target of 10 %(10% of ethanol mixed with 90% of petrol) blending by 2022 & 20 % blending by 2025.
Recent Related News:
i.April 12, 2021, Ethanol-blending in Petrol in India reached more than 7.2 per cent for the First Time.
About Indian Oil Corporation (IOC):
Chairman– Shrikant Madhav Vaidya
Headquarter– New Delhi
About Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG):
Union Minister – Dharmendra Pradhan (Rajya Sabha, Constituency – Madhya Pradesh)