Green Refineries holds the secret to a Sustainable Future

Green Refineries holds the secret to a Sustainable Future

For several decades now, India, like the rest of the world, has been heavily dependent on fossil fuels. In 2021, around one-fifth of the country’s primary energy consumption was powered by coal. And in June this year, India’s fuel consumption rose beyond pre-pandemic levels.

While fossil fuels undoubtedly have their own advantages, there are two major downsides that are becoming increasingly harder to ignore with time. Firstly, fossil fuels are non-renewable, which means they will certainly run out sooner or later. And secondly, fossil fuels contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and global warming, thus accelerating the impending climate crisis.

At this crucial juncture, the world is keenly looking for an alternative to sustain fuel production without harming the planet. Interestingly, green refineries may hold the answer to this conundrum.

Decoding Green Refineries: What are They and How do They Work?
A green refinery is the home turf for manufacturing eco-friendly fuel. While petrol and diesel are made from fossil fuels, a green refinery uses crops, plants, algae, animal fats and other kinds of raw biomass to create more sustainable liquid fuel options like ethanol and biodiesel.

Both these green fuel options hold great promise. Ethanol can be used to create low-level blends with gasoline or petrol to manufacture transportation fuel that results in lower emissions. Biodiesel, on the other hand, is a clean fuel that is a renewal alternative for fossil-fuel based diesel.

The raw materials that green refineries use to make these fuels include foods rich in starch or sugar like corn, barley, sugarcane and beets (for ethanol) or animal fats, cooking oils and vegetable oils (for biodiesel). All of these materials can be sustainably sourced from produce that is discarded across the globe on a regular basis.

The horizon for eco-friendly fuel manufacture has also expanded significantly with the advent of low-carbon fuels or synthetic fuels. These synthetic alternatives are being tested by ExxonMobil and Porsche to check how viable they are as racing fuels. They are made by separating water into its constituting elements and then combining the resulting hydrogen with atmospheric carbon dioxide.

The end product — synthetic methanol — is then converted to gasoline. This effectively gives you gasoline without having to deplete fossil fuels. At present, in India, there are four bio ethanol refineries under construction. Bargarh by BPCL, Panipat by IOCL, at Bhatinda by HPCL and at Numaligarh by ABRPL (A JV of NRL). Another one is planned to come for MRPL at Mangalore.

In fact, BPCL is the first oil company to set up an integrated ethanol manufacturing plant (2G/1G) at Bargarh, Odisha, of a cumulative capacity of 200 Kilo liter per day. As a step towards greener tomorrow, we have already achieved 10% of ethanol blending in petrol (EBMS) and is committed to enhance it as per the paid down road-map by the government.

We also have undertaken blending of 7% Biodiesel in HSD at selected locations, as per national policy of Biofuel. Biodiesel is manufactured from non-edible/edible oils and has almost no sulphur, no aromatics and approximately 10% built- in oxygen which helps in ensuring complete combustion. We blended 960 KL of biodiesel (B-7) and the blending ratio achieved was 0.005 % for FY 2021-22.

In the FY2021-22, BPCL reduced 2.1 MMT CO2 emissions by selling Ethanol Blended Petrol (1,120 crore liters) through our nationwide network of more than 20,000 fuel stations.

The Upsides of Using Green Refineries
Increasing the global dependence on green refineries has several advantages at the micro and the macro levels. Here are 3 reasons to embrace this promising new technology.

1. Easy Availability of Raw Materials
The raw materials that green refineries use to produce biofuels are easily available. In most cases, they can be readily sourced from the discards of other industries. This gives you the twin benefit of reusing waste products while simultaneously minimizing the dependence on limited fossil fuels. It also means that the raw materials needed to produce eco-friendly fuels in green refineries need not be cultivated or made from scratch, thus making the option more cost-effective than other alternatives.

2. Reduced Carbon Emissions
India’s fossil fuel consumption in 2021 resulted in around 7% of the total global CO2 emissions. In addition to this, the use of fossil fuels also results in the emission of other greenhouse gasses, leading to global warming and rising temperatures. But green fuels from green refineries can turn this around and help us work around the crisis. They can make it easier to achieve the carbon neutral targets and zero emissions goals that various countries have set for themselves.

3. Stable Pricing
It’s no secret that the prices of fossil-based fuels fluctuate wildly. A geopolitical development in any part of the world has significant domino effects on oil and fuel prices across the globe. Biofuels, on the other hand, may be more stably priced once we have made a noticeable transition to green refineries. This makes it easier to forecast prices for fuel consumption. Additionally, it also helps that many countries in the USA and the European Union offer subsidies for biofuels, thereby making them more attractively priced.

The Takeaway
Just like how the adoption of electric vehicles is underway in different phases across the world, it is likely that the use of green refineries will also proceed at varying speeds in the coming years. We cannot have a one-size-fits-all solution. Instead, we will need to start looking at ways in which green fuels can be manufactured based on locally sourced biomass. Small but steady steps like this, coupled with other measures to cut carbon emissions, can help India and the world move faster towards a more sustainable and promising future.

Author

Saurabh Jain, Chief Manager (PR & Brand)