A government-sponsored biodiesel policy has been formulated in an effort to promote the biodiesel industry in India. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas declared a “biodiesel purchase policy” to realize the program for “enterprise-driven biodiesel production”.

Under the policy, public sector oil marketing companies in 20 biodiesel procurement centers throughout the country will purchase biodiesel (complying with the Indian Bureau of Standard Specifications) from registered biodiesel manufacturers. Priority will be given to biodiesel manufacturers which use non-edible oils as feedstock. The government has also plans for drawing up policies related to the blending of biodiesel with regular diesel (5% by 2012 and 10% by 2017) and the establishment of a minimum support price for Jatropha and other non-edible oilseeds.

Vietnam is set to advance its bioenergy program through the construction of two large ethanol production plants, each with different biofuel feedstocks. The first plant (to be constructed by Itochu Corporation , Japan) will utilize cassava chips and will have an estimated annual production capacity of 100 million liters. The second plant (to be constructed in partnership between Vietnam’s Bien Hoa Sugar Company and Singapore’s Fair Energy Asia Ltd) will have an annual ethanol production capacity of 50,000 tons.

According to the Biopact website, Vietnam has a large cassava production potential and can benefit from its utilization as a bioenergy feedstock. Cassava is reported to thrive in marginal soils, and requires low agricultural inputs. Studies have also found that cassava is an “efficient biofuel plant” due to its “strong energy balance”.

Related Information on Cassava Energy Balance Study: http://biopact.com//04/first-full-energy-balance-study-reveals.html

Dupont Company, with its collaborative energy-company partner, British Petroleum, BP, have announced the planned distribution and marketing of biobutanol-blended gasoline in the United Kingdom in the fall of this year. The initial blend will be 16% biobutanol to 84% gasoline. Touted as the “world’s first advanced biofuel”, biobutanol (or butanol produced from biomass) is a 4-carbon alcohol, which is reported to have advantages over ethanol (a 2-carbon alcohol) in terms of energy content and ease of distribution.

According to David Anton, DuPont venture manager for the project, biobutanol has 85% of the energy content of gasoline compared to ethanol’s 65%. It could also be easily distributed through existing pipelines, which is not the case for ethanol. The production technology can also be tailored to take in a variety of biomass feedstocks, including wheat, corn or sugarcane. According to Michelle Reardon, Dupont spokeswoman, “It’s going to provide new markets for key crops”.