India opens first energy biosciences center

Researchers at Mumbai University Institute of Chemical Technology are celebrating the recent inauguration of India's first DBT-ICT Centre for Energy Biosciences.

The center is expected to be used to generate technologies that increase biomass yield per hectare and convert non-fodder agricultural residue to liquid and gas biofuels. More than 30 percent of the nation's energy consumption is liquid petroleum fuel, and oil imports account for 77 percent of total fuel consumption in India (see Ethanol mandate creates headache for India).

The institute is partnering with other universities and international industries to lessen India’s dependence on petroleum fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The launch included dignitaries Maharaj Kishan Bhan, secretary of the government’s Department of Biotechnology and one of India’s most well-known clinical scientists, along with the highly-decorated Professor Man Mohan Sharma, the institute’s former director and one of India's leading chemical engineering scientists.

The facility reportedly came with an initial cost of Rs 24.8 crore ($5.3 million), although in February 2008, the government's Department of Biotechnology set aside $6.1 million and had hoped to raise another $4 million to establish the center (see India to establish a center for Energy Biosciences).

India is still tweaking its biofuel mandates because of shortages of ethanol feedstock and the inability to use its own biodiesel (see India to delay October's ethanol mandate and Indian biodiesel producers rethink export-only status).

In September 2008, India’s cabinet finally approved the national policy on biofuels, mandating a 20 percent blend in gasoline and diesel by 2017. The policy requires bioethanol and biodiesel be derived from non-edible sources and be grown on non-farming land (see India, EU affirm new biofuels).

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