Lack of raw materials, high cost hit biofuel production in Karnataka

The poor supply of raw materials and lack of infrastructure to process biofuel in the state has defeated the very purpose of formulating a biofuel policy in Karnataka (2009). In 2016, the Union government considered Karnataka’s policy as a base model to formulate its policy for the country.

However, the neglect by successive state governments and poor allocation of funds for research work, strengthening of procurement chain, and infrastructure to produce the biofuel, have meant that the state is currently not even able to produce 10% of its total capacity.

At present Karnataka has three major private biofuel manufacturing units in Tumakuru, Bengaluru, and Bagalkot. The installed capacity of these units is one lakh litres per day. However, there have hardly been a few days in the last many years where the units have generated more than 15,000 litres of biofuel per day.

This apart the state government has set up four biofuel parks in Dharwad, Hassan, Kalaburagi, and Bengaluru and 34 Bioenergy Research Information and Demonstration Centres (BRIDC) in every district to create awareness among farmers, entrepreneurs, and those who wish to conduct research. However, according to sources the majority of these BRIDCs have not produced even a single litre of biofuel in the last 7 to 10 months.

Take for example the Biopark at the University of Agriculture Sciences, Dharwad, which has generated only four litres of biodiesel in the last seven months. “We need at least four to five kg of Honge seeds (Pongamia Pimmata) to generate one litre of biodiesel. However, due to lack of supply of raw materials, the machines are lying idle,” said H Y Patil.

Biofuels are ecologically important in reducing carbon footprints, as they hardly emit greenhouse gases during combustion. They also help farmers in increasing their revenue through this allied cultivation. The non-edible oil seed plants also help in improving the moisture content in the fields. Taking all these into consideration the union government had formulated a policy of blending nearly 25% of biofuels in fossil fuels by 2030. The country also achieved its target of blending 10% of biofuel in petrol and diesel by 2020. However, a majority of this biofuel was generated by ethanol, a byproduct of sugarcane, a water-guzzling crop.     

Unorganised sector

Karnataka State Bioenergy Development Board manager Dayananda G N says the government has been making efforts to increase the production of raw materials and processing of biofuel. “However, as the sector is unorganised, we are not able to complete the supply chain,” he said. The board has planted over 9 crore tree-borne oilseeds such as amoora, surahonne, hippe, neem, simarouba and 11 other species of plants on barren lands, degraded lands, farm bunds, and other places across the state; yet the units are not getting raw materials.

Manjunath H N Devaiyya, Manager at S N Entrepreneurs, Tumakuru, said his unit has a capacity to generate 20,000 litres of biofuel per day. However, currently, they are producing 3,000 litres of biofuel per week. “As we are not getting raw materials from Karnataka we are procuring used cooking oil from other states.”

Shantanu, a biofuel manufacturer at Bagalkot, said biofuel production can become profitable if we produce in bulk. There is a need for policy change at the state government level to ensure that used cooking oil is supplied to such units instead of soap and glycerin that can survive on other raw materials.  

They requested the government to invest in research work, modernisation of units, and streamlining of the supply chain.