Future prospects and

challenges of Bioethanol
production
Christy davy
Dona joseph
Namitha nirjathan
Megha madhu
 Bioethanol
• The bioethanol is a alcohol made by fermentation. It is fuel
used as a petrol substitute for road transport vehicles.
Bioethanol fuel is mainly produced by the sugar fermentation
process, although it can also be manufactured by the chemical
process of reacting ethylene with steam.

• The main sources of sugar required to produce ethanol come

from fuel or energy crops. These crops are grown specifically
for energy use and include corn, maize and wheat crops
 Challenges
• In India, sugarcane molasses is the major resource for bioethanol
production and inconsistency of raw material supply holds the
major liability for sluggish response to blending targets.

• Technically speaking, blend wall and transportation-storage are the

major challenges towards the biofuel targets. Blending wall is the
maximum percent of ethanol that can be blended to fuel without
decreasing the fuel efficiency.

• Various vehicles are adaptable to various blending ratio based on

the flexibility of engines. The technology for the engine
modification for flex fuel is not new but making the engines
available in India along with the supply chain and calibrating the
engine for Indian conditions is the halting phase. The commonly
used motor vehicles in the country are not effectual with flex fuel.
• Ethanol being a highly flammable liquid marks obligatory
safety and risk assessment measures during all phases of
production, storage and transportation. The non-uniform
distribution of raw material throughout the country, demands
a compulsory transportation and storage, especially inter-
state movement, encountering diverse climatic and
topographic conditions.
• Major ethanol consumers in India are potable liquor sector
(45%), alcohol based chemical industry (40%), the rest for
blending and other purposes. The yearly profit elevation in
major sectors is a dare to an economical ethanol supply for
Ethanol Blending Programme.
• Regulatory and policy approaches on excise duty on storage
and transportation of ethanol and pricing strategy of ethanol
compared to crude oil are to be revised and implemented
effectively.
• Diversifying the feedstock's (especially use of lignocelluosic
biomass) and advanced technology for domestic ethanol
production in blending sectors are to be fetched out from
research laboratories to commercial scale.
• Above all the knowledge of economic and environmental
benefits of biofuel like reduction in pollutants and import bills
and more R&D into drop in biofuels, need to be amplified for
the common man.
 Future prospects
• Production of fuels, especially bio-ethanol from lignocellulosic
biomass, holds remarkable potential to meet the current
energy demand as well as to mitigate greenhouse gas
emissions for a sustainable clean environment. Present
technologies to produce bioethanol largely depend on
sugarcane and/or starch based food materials.
• The use of sugarcane and food grains to produce bio-ethanol
has caused significant stress on food prices and food security.
In this regard the non-edible biomass resources such as fruit
waste, agriculture residues, oil cakes, Bamboo etc have been
considered suitable for ethanol production.
• Due to excessive use of fossil fuels, mainly in urban areas, has
resulted in depletion of their resources.
• In the present demand for renewable, sustainable sources of
energy to overcome the burden on world energy crisis,
bioethanol have presented exciting options.
• Bio-ethanol is one of the important alternatives being
considered due to the easy adaptability of this fuel to existing
engines, less greenhouse gas emissions and because this is a
cleaner fuel with higher octane rating than gasoline [1,2].
Presently ethanol are blended with conventional gasoline in any
proportion.
• Developing country, India has a positive outlook towards
sustainable and renewable energy technologies and to
supplement its energy requirements it is committed to the use
of renewable sources
• The lignocellulose biomass is a largest potential feedstock for
ethanol production, which includes materials such as
agricultural residues such as crop straws, rice straw, wheat
straw, non-edible oil cakes, fruit waste, grasses, bamboo etc.
These feedstock's could be an attractive alternative for
bioethanol production and hence disposal of these residues .
Most important, thing is lignocellulose biomass do not
interfere with food security.
• Edible feedstock's such as corn-starch and sugarcane molasses
are commercially used for bioethanol production.
• India is a fast growing economy with an inherent increase in
demand for energy. While keeping a huge population and
limited energy resources in mind, the nation is looking for
alternative renewable fuels to support the pace of growth.
• India is one among the largest producers of ethanol and
currently all commercial ethanol production in the country
uses molasses as feedstock.
• However, most of it is consumed for application in liquor
and chemical industries and the surplus availability hardly
fulfil the current demand created by a mandatory 5%
blending of ethanol in gasoline implemented in several
states.
• Currently in India ethanol is produced from sugarcane
molasses and corn starch (Table No.2). Molasses is a co-
product in sugarcane production. The yield of molasses from
crushed sugarcane ranges from 4 to 4.5% (Indian Sugar Mills
Association). Alcohol is originally manufactured with a water
content of 5-7% so it must first be dehydrated to create
anhydrous ethanol, which is 99.5% ethanol
• According to the biofuels annual data published by the United
States Department of Agriculture (USDA), India has the
potential of 2,171 million litre bioethanol production , while
Brazil is the largest producer of bioethanol with a potential of
6641 million litre
• Once the law is implemented nationwide or if the blending
ratio is increased, which the government is already planning
to do the demand of ethanol will exceed at high level.
Therefore, production of ethanol from other renewable
resources such as agriculture residues, fruit waste edible oil
cake etc. is imperative for meeting this increased demand.
These materials could prove as a cheap and abundant
feedstock, and have potential to produce fuel bioethanol at
reasonable costs.