Biomass Briquettes: A Sustainable Solution for India's Power Needs

India, which imports the second-largest amount of coal globally, deals with a constant struggle to meet its energy demands while considering environmental concerns. An article by Business Standard recently pointed out a possible shortage of 42 million tons of coal in the third quarter of 2022. This is even though India produced a record-breaking 780 million tons domestically in the financial year 2021-22. This shows the importance of finding other fuel options, and biomass briquettes are a good answer.

The Coal Problem

In the past year, India produced a lot of coal, which reached 780 million tonnes in 2021-2022. And it's expected to grow even more in the upcoming year. However, depending too much on coal can harm the environment. To address this issue, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) wants to generate 500 gigawatts of electricity from non-fossil fuels by 2030. Bio-power, which currently provides 10.63 gigawatts, could play a big role in this shift.

The Briquette Advantage

Biomass briquettes are like little bricks made from leftover plant stuff like corn cobs, sawdust, and rice husks. Burning these instead of coal has some cool benefits:

• Good for the planet: Unlike coal, burning briquettes doesn't add extra carbon dioxide to the air. Plants soak up carbon dioxide as they grow, so it all evens out in the end.
• Less coal needed: If India used all its existing biomass power plants, they could potentially cut down on burning a whopping 230 million tons of coal.
• Cleaning up waste: Instead of burning leftover plant stuff and causing air pollution, briquettes put it to good use as fuel.

The Burning Potential

The calorific value of biomass briquettes, ranging from 18 to 24 MJ/kg, is comparable to some types of coal (25-35 MJ/kg). This makes them a viable substitute for co-firing in thermal power plants.

Progress and Challenges

India's power plants are starting to mix regular coal with special plant-based fuel (biomass) to burn. This is good news! In July 2022, 35 power plants (way up from just 7 in 2021) were using this mix, burning around 80,525 tons of plant fuel.

Despite this progress, there are still challenges. India's current production of briquettes is not enough to meet the daily need of 95,000 tons for co-firing. The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) highlights this issue. Their Dadri plant uses 25,000 tons of coal daily, but by mid-2022, they have only managed to co-fire about 20,000 tons of biomass.

A Brighter Future

There's a lot of plant waste (biomass) in India - about 230 million tons every year. The good news is, machines that turn this waste into briquette fuel are becoming more common - there are around 200,000 of them now. If India can make more briquettes and get them where they're needed easily, this eco-friendly biomass briquette fuel could be a major source of power for the country.

Conclusion

These special plant-based fuel bricks (Biomass Briquettes) could be a big win for India's clean energy future. They're good for the environment, burn hot, and can be used in many ways. India has tons of leftover plant stuff (biomass) just waiting to be turned into briquettes. By making more biomass briquettes and figuring out how to get them where they're needed, India can take a big step towards cleaner, greener energy!

For more information on Biomass Briquette Business, contact IID.