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India’s rapid economic growth in recent years has resulted in steep increase in demand for energy in general and petroleum products in particular. Concomitantly, India’s oil reserves account for just 0.5% of global reserves, necessitating the country to import almost 70% of its oil requirements. In view of highly volatile global crude oil prices and the country’s high import dependence, development of alternate fuels become inevitable in order to meet future energy demands. There are various forms of alternate fuels which mainly include Coal Bed Methane (CBM), Gas Hydrates, Underground Coal Gasification (UCG), Coal to Liquid, Biofuels and Oil Shale.

Coal Bed Methane (CBM)

Coal Bed Methane (CBM), an eco-friendly natural gas, is extracted from coal beds. CBM is often referred as an ‘unconventional’ form of natural gas since it is primarily stored through adsorption to the coal itself rather than in the pore space of the rock like most ‘conventional’ gases.

CBM exploration and exploitation is beneficial as it helps in reducing the green house effect and earning carbon credit in preventing the direct emission of methane gas from operating mines to the atmosphere. Moreover, extraction of CBM through degassing of the coal is a cost effective means of boosting coal production and maintaining safe methane level in operating mines.

India has third largest proven coal reserves with prognosticated CBM resource being estimated to be around 4.6 TCM. In view of the substantial reserves of coal & lignite, the Government approved a comprehensive CBM policy in July 1997 for exploration & production of this new source of energy. So far three CBM bidding rounds have been concluded while the fourth bidding round has been launched in April 2009 inviting offers for 10 CBM blocks.

After three rounds of CBM bidding, 26 blocks have been awarded with area opened up for CBM exploration amounting to 13,600 Sq Km. While CBM resources in awarded blocks amount to 1,374 BCM, their production potential is around 38 MMSCMD. Further, in order to promote CBM exploration activities, the Government has offered few attractive terms such as no participation interest of the government, no upfront payments, no signature bonus, exemption from payment of customs duties on imports required for CBM operation, freedom to sell gas in the domestic market and seven years tax holiday.

Today, CBM exploration is carried out in Raniganj, and Sohagpur coal bearing provinces. Moreover, 410 development wells are planned to be drilled in the next five years and targeted a production potential of about 6 MMSCMD by the year 2012, from three blocks of phase I & II.

Gas Hydrates

Gas hydrates are ice-like compounds composed of water and natural gas that form when biogenic methane combines with water at low temperature and high pressure. National Gas Hydrates Programme was started in 1997 in order to evaluate gas hydrate potential in India. So far, K-G basin, Mahanadi basin, and Konkan & Kerala basins have been identified as potential areas for gas hydrate exploration.

Underground Coal Gasification (UCG)

Underground coal gasification (UCG) is an in-situ gasification process carried out in non-mined coal seams. The product gas can be used as fuel for power generation. In India ONGC and GAIL have been exploring the possibilities of exploiting the gas through UCG process. ONGC has planned to produce 2.7 MMSCMD of gas through UCG process and envisages producing 2.99 BCM of UCG gas during the Eleventh Plan.

Coal to Liquid

OIL has carried out pre-feasibility studies on Catalytic Two-Stage Liquefaction Technology and Direct Liquefaction Technologies in order to select the best suitable technology for the North East coal for liquification.

Biofuels

Biofuel is a solid, liquid or gaseous fuel obtained from lifeless or living biological material and is similar to fossil fuels. Currently, biofuels such as ethanol and bio-diesel are produced in India. Ethanol is currently produced by the fermentation of sugarcane molasses and can be blended with petrol. Similarly, bio-diesel, which can be manufactured by the transesterification of vegetable oil, can be blended with diesel.

India is the fourth largest producer of ethanol after Brazil, US and China with an annual production of 1,900 mn litres. In January 2003, the Government mandated the use of a 5% ethanol blend in petrol sold in nine sugarcane producing states. Furthermore, the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-12) proposed to increase the content of ethanol to petrol up to 10% by the middle of the Eleventh Plan, subject to ethanol availability and commercial viability of blending.

In order to meet 20% of the country’s diesel requirements by 2011-12, the Government of India has developed National Biodiesel Mission. Further, the Government has decided to use non-edible oil from Jatropha Curcas oilseeds as bio-diesel feedstock.

Oil Shale

In India, the oil shale reserves, which are estimated at about 100 bn barrels, have been in the region of Belt of Schuppen falling in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, and Nagaland. However, production of oil from oil shale has so far been uneconomical primarily due to high environmental and monetary costs.

In addition to the earlier mentioned alternate fuels, non-conventional energy resources such as solar, biomass, wind, OTEC, wave, tidal and hydro are some of the emerging technologies.

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