Advanced Biofuels & Sustainability

Energy Bioscience & Waste to Value

Energy Bioscience is one of the key areas for addressing challenges of Clean Energy in hard to abate sectors like long distance travel trucks, marine and aviation. The program promotes technology innovation by creating an enabling environment through Centres of Excellence and Network program, appropriate infrastructure creation and capacity building. The program focuses on research and translational activities related to commercially viable Sustainable biofuel produced from agricultural residue and municipal waste, development of an economically cost efficient system for algal production, biohydrogen & biorefinery/ demonstration technology.

development and demonstration of integrated biorefinery is encouraged for cost effective production of fuels with co-production of chemicals and materials.

Mandate

To Promote Innovation, RD &D in advance Biofuel areas to support National Biofuel Policy to make available economic & sustainable biofuel.

Thrust Areas

• Biomass Development and Sustainable TBO, Microalgae, TBO High biomass sorghum, Sweet sorghum
• Improved conversion- Biomass to MetOH, Et-OH , C4-OH, H2, Jet &Marine fuels
• Lignin Valorization & Value Added  Products, TEA/LCA
• Waste to Energy/value program under Swachh Bharat Mission
• Carbon Capture and Utilization

Major Programs and initiatives

Bioenergy Centres:

• DBT-PAN IIT Bioenergy Centre. “DBT Pan IIT Center for Bioenergy” have developed engineered thermostable and glucose tolerant β-glucosidase.
• DBT –ICGEB Bioenergy Centre has developed Cellulase Enzyme Technology for 2G Ethanol Production and it’ under scale-up
• DBT-Indian Oil Cooperation Limited Bio-energy Centre, Faridabad has evaluated a process for conversion of biomass to ethanol utilizing the glycan hydrolases developed at the Centre in a demonstration plant (10 tons biomass per day) that is under construction. This demonstration plant, as designed, is dependent on a 100,000 L ethanol per day commercial plant for several services
• DBT-ICT Centre for Energy Biosciences aims Biological and Chemical transformations for generating commercially viable technologies for adding value to waste
• DBT-TERI Center of Excellence on Integrated Production of Advanced biofuels and Bio-commodities, -TERI Bioenergy research center is exploring actively on development of clean technologies for production of advanced biofuels; biodiesel, biohydrogen, pyrolytic bioil, using algae biomass as next generation feed. To make the synthesized/ developed products and process economically viable, the co-products of these biofuel production processes are also developed and used for commercialization.

Swachh Bharat Mission: Waste to Energy Demonstration Projects:

UNATI Mission Clean Technologies for Swachh Bharat: DBT has developed various technology platforms designed to convert different solid, liquid and gaseous wastes into renewable fuels, energy and useful products such as food, feed, polymers and chemicals. Under the UNATI Mission, 10 promising clean technologies have been identified for demonstration with DBT support at different sites across India, in collaboration with local stakeholders such as municipalities and other urban local bodies. The identified technologies include bio-methanation, constructed wetland, bio toilets, chemical & membrane free water purification etc. Following demonstration plants have been supported by the Department under the Mission-

• Department has supported the projects and established 3 Waste to Energy Demonstration plants in the state of Andhra Pradesh (01) & Gujarat (02), while establishment of 3 of such plants are under process.
• Demonstration of waste to energy project by anaerobic co-digestion of food waste and septage” led by Investigators from BITS Pilani, K. K. Birla Goa campus undertook the demonstration of treatment of two different waste streams.
• Two demonstration plants successfully commissioned and operated for converting municipal solid waste (bioorganic fraction) into energy by improved biomethanation process at the scale of 3 Tons-7 Tons/day.

• High rate biomethanation of organic fraction of MSW for the generation of biogas based power and bio-manure by Indian Institute of Chemical Technology Hyderabad
• Implementation of a self-sustainable model for energy generation by adopting a patented clean technology for conversion of 3.5 TPD mixed organic waste into methane and bio-fertilizer - Sardar Patel Renewable Energy Research Instt

New Initiatives

• Sustainable Aviation Biofuels (SAF) A Call for Proposals for  Sustainable Aviation Fuel has been invited to support & conduct research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) to foster technological innovations that are technically feasible, robust, and cost-effective to produce at scale, widely affordable, advanced biofuels for aviation applications. 
• Development and demonstration of various biorefinery platforms by integrated production of biofuels and value-added products for cost effective and sustainable production of biofuels
• Scale up of developed technologies for advance biofuels- Biohydrogen, biobutanol, synthetic hydrocarbons
• Launch of Integrated Biorefinery Mission to promote renewable chemicals and materials along with biofuels to contribute to low carbon economy.

Major Achievements/Success Stories

• 2G Ethanol Technology has been demonstrated at 1 TPD scale, with Steam explosion pilot plant at 300 Kg/Day scale. 
• The DBT-IOC Centre has developed a fungal mutant that produced about 12 FPU/ml of culture broth at 5 Litre scale. This enzyme technology has been scaled up to 5,000 L bioreactor with more than 10 FPU/ml enzyme titer value. 
• Hyperthermophile enzyme hydrolase research centre has been set up at IISER Mohali as a repository for thermophilic and hyperthermophilic organisms and their enzymes. This centre has cloned and produced several carbohydrate active enzymes which will be evaluated for use in 2G Ethanol and biorefinery applications. 
• Development of a 2-stage algal cultivation process to increase algal productivity up to 3g DW/L using cheaper sources like effluent, the liquid waste from sugar mill and CO2, the gaseous waste from a distillery to reduce the algal production cost, and demonstrated enhancement of lipid content of alga from 8% to 33% through nutrient stress.
• Integrated Design and Demonstration of Intensified CO2 Capture with Cost-Effective Advanced Process

Facilities Established

DBT-Bioenergy Centre of Excellence (5)

• DBT -IOC Centre for Advanced Bio-Energy Research.
• DBT Pan IIT Center for Bioenergy
• DBT-TERI Center of Excellence on Integrated Production of Advanced biofuels and Bio-commodities, The Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi
• DBT- ICGEB Centre for Advanced Bio-Energy Research
• DBT-ICT Centre for Energy Biosciences

National Repository for Microalgae and Cyanobacteria Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli

Five biogas plants of different capacities based on CSIR-IICT’s AGR technology at different market yards (Erragadda (500 kg/day), Kukatpally (500 kg/day), Batasingaram (500 kg/day), Gudimalkapur (5 ton/day)) and Warangal/ Khammam (5 ton/day) in Telangana.

Specific Developments in Major Areas

2G- Ethanol production and Enzyme development technologies

 2G Ethanol can be produced from farm waste such as left over after agricultural waste. Such lignocellulosic waste is being used for production of Ethanol that can then be mixed with conventional fuels.  2G ethanol bio-refineries may significantly contribute towards the Ethanol Blending Programme for achieving 20% Ethanol Blending in Petrol and reducing consumption of fossil fuels eventually. DBT-IOC Centre for Advanced Bioenergy Research IOCL, Faridabad and DBT-ICGEB Centre for Advanced Bioenergy Research, ICGEB New Delhi has done remarkable work in the area of 2G Ethanol production.

DBT-ICGEB Bioenergy Centre has led the enzyme production technologies that are being tested at commercial level. Centre has reached the TRL level 4/5 of the technology and is continuously working for further improvement.

DBT-IOC Bioenergy Centre has planned to go for integrated demonstration plant of 10TPD (dry biomass basis) with onsite enzyme production to establish process at higher scale, before going for the commercializing of indigenous 2G ethanol technology. The technology developers have optimized the process at about 10 TPD demonstration plant before going for the commercial plants of > 400 TPD. The demo plant is expected to be mechanically complete by June 2022 & commissioning activities to start from July 2022.

Waste to Energy

Organic waste is the major sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. To utilize these wastes as resources for energy production is a huge contribution to combat climate change. GHG emissions into the atmosphere could be reduced by utilizing the organic waste as resource for the generation of biogas and bio manure instead of landfilling. One ton of organic waste could release about 280-296 kg of CO2 in to the atmosphere per day, but due to the installation of decentralized biogas plants at waste generation source, CO2 is captured along with CH4 and utilized as fuel. Reduced carbon foot print and pollution due to land filling is mitigated The major project in the area of waste to energy is given below:

1. Highrate  Biomethanation of Vegetable Market Waste-Telangana
2. High Rate Biomethanation of Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste (OFMSW) For The Generation Of Biogas Based Power and Biomanure
3. Demonstration of waste to energy project by anaerobic co-digestion of food waste and septage” BITS Pilani, K. K. Birla Goa
4. Implementation of a self-sustainable model for energy generation by adopting a patented clean technology for conversion of 3.5 TPD mixed organic waste into methane and bio-fertilizer - Sardar Patel Renewable Energy Research Instt.

Algal biofuels and value added productions

Algae have the potential to utilize the atmospheric Carbon dioxide as well as the lipids and biomass of algae is being used for biofuels and other bio-based values added products. This would lead to significant reduction GHG in atmosphere as well as reduced dependency on chemical based products that cost huge environment impact and contribution to climate change. 

The Energy and Resource Institute, New Delhi under DBT-TERI Centre of Excellence- ‘Integrated Production of Advanced Biofuels and Bio-commodities has demonstrated marine algae cultivation in 1,00,000 L scale (panning across 220 sq. meter area) in outdoor (Mumbai coast) using a custom made sunlight-distributed algal growth system.  The system uses select marine algal strains with self-aggregation features that facilitate a simple and low energy intensive harvest method in the growth system itself (sweeping collection mechanism of algae that settle at the bottom in 30-45 minutes). This technology has been demonstrated in pilot scale (100 L scale)

Carbon Dioxide to high value lipids technology

DBT IOC Centre has developed a novel technology to convert carbon dioxide into acetic acid and Centre’s aerobic fermentation technology to convert acetic acid to lipids (algal oil) including highly valuable Omega 3-fatty acids(DHAs) & biodiesel.  The centre has put up world’s first pilot facility at IOC R&D, Faridabad to sequestrate about 10 kg/day of CO2.  The conversion of CO2 to acetates and then omega 3 rich lipids through algae is a game changer technology. This technology decouples commodity chemical production from commodity feedstocks. That also lead to utilizations of Carbon dioxide.

Biohydrogen Production from biomass

The team of DBT-IOCL Bioenergy Centre, Faridabad has developed H2 production from biological source or through biological methods is considered as biohydrogen which is more sustainable than conventional methods. . Hence, biological H2 production processes are gaining much more importance particularly dark fermentation process. The sugars to be utilized are proposed to be derived from biomass which is renewable feedstock in this proposal using anaerobic microbes

Feedstock Development

Looking for alternative feedstock for bio-energy production is also a significant area in which Department is taking initiative  towards generating green fuels as well reduce the dependency on fossil fuels. Modifying the lignin composition in biomass sorghum and its deployment for enhanced ligno-cellulosic (2G) biofuel production - This project aims to assess and deploy low-lignin (optimized) biomass sorghum lines Pyramided with bmr 6 and 12 genes and showing high biofuel production potential, reduce (optimize) lignin content and improve its composition using gene editing, comparative analysis of biofuel production potential in low-lignin sorghum lines (1) pyramided with bmr6/bmr12 and (2) optimized with genome editing technology.

Carbon Capture & Utilization

Carbon Capture and Utilization has been the significant area which intended to directly utilize the atmospheric Carbon and utilization it for the production/synthesis value added products. The following areas are covered through DBT funded projects

1. Bioconversion of CO2 to Biofuels through Microbial Catalyzed Systems.
2. Solar assisted hydroformylation/ carboxylation of olefins containing natural products with CO2   
3. Sequestration of CO2 with Simultaneous Production of Succinic Acid by metabolically engineering
4. Metabolic engineering of cyanobacteria for photosynthetic conversion of carbon dioxide into storable fuels
5. Demonstration of algal chassis for the photo autotrophic production of isoprenoids
6. Integrated Design and Demonstration of Intensified CO2 Capture with cost effective advanced Process

Year wise List of publications for last 3 Years

2G Ethanol - Panipat, Haryana

Marine algal production and processing project site in Navi Mumbai

Environment and Forest Biotechnology

The Environmental Biotechnologyprogram has been envisioned to provide cost-effective alternatives, clean and green solutions for the management of climatic and environmental issues like pollution (Soil, water, air), biomedical waste, soil degradation, xenobiotic, and many other challenges. Broader objectives of the program are to support R&D activities including translational research, knowledge generation, demonstration of the technology on a pilot scale, large-scale application of proven technologies, and capacity building.  Program aims to address major challenges such as anthropogenic pollution and climate change through biotechnological interventions in the form of extramural and network projects for efficient monitoring of environmental health, treatment of solid & liquid wastes, bioremediation of polluted sites.

Considering the multidimensional importance of forest areas, the Department of Biotechnology has taken this initiative in year 2018-19to facilitate research and development in emerging areas of Forest Biotechnology. Overall aim of the program is to support forest biotechnology with the focus on mapping and technological intervention for forest conservation, resource utilization, scientific management of invasion, studying ecosystem services and climate change mitigation.

Pillars of the Programme:

Environmental Biotechnology

• Environmental Toxicology & Health (Water, Air, Soil & Food
• Technology Development for Environmental Monitoring & Management
• Sustainability, Climate Change Mitigation

Forest Biotechnology

• Resource utilization and climate change mitigation
• Biotechnological Interventions for Forest Conservation
• Forest Bioeconomy

Thrust Areas

• Decontamination of natural resources- Water, Air, Soil
• Restoration of degraded lands
• Bioremediation technologies
• Biodegradation of pesticide residues
• Multiplying the threatened species
• Development of Biosensors for Pollutants
• Carbon Dioxide removal and sequestration
• Forest and Conservation Biotechnology
• Mapping and technological intervention for forest conservation, resource utilization and climate change mitigation
• Technologies to reduce green house gas emission reduction
• Micro plastic Management and Alternatives to Single Use Plastics

New Initiatives

• Biotechnological Interventions for Mitigating Micro plastic Pollution Management & Development of Alternatives to Single Use Plastics: Biological processes have immense potential to address plastic as well as micro plastic pollution, and for the development of alternatives to single-use plastics in an eco-friendly manner. In these directions, this call for proposal is intended to support scalable biotechnological interventions for the abatement of plastic as well as micro plastic pollution in India. Plastic waste is one of the most formidable challenges in today’s world. Moreover, Micro plastics are emerging environmental pollutants of persistent and pervasive nature.

Department has taken this initiative to address plastic as well as micro plastic pollution in a wholistic way, and to provide bio-based alternatives to single-use plastics in an eco-friendly manner, intended to support scalable biotechnological interventions for the abatement of plastic as well as microplastic pollution in India.

• “Up scaling of Biopolymer based indigenous drilling fluid (Mud) and field trial in oil wells” has been supported under the ATGC Scheme. This project envisages the XCD polymer scale up production in industrial scale fermentation (1000 L and 10,000 L) and its Scale up of formulation of XCD polymer with Xanthan gum and additives to meet  the drilling fluid specification and quality assessment followed by its Trial application and validation of XCD polymer in oil drilling wells of ONGC
• Bio-surfactant mediated enhanced oil recovery for Assam oil reservoirs

Achievements and Success Stories:

Miniaturize Gas Sensors to Monitor the Emissions from Soil

• Scientists have developed miniaturized gas sensors to monitor the emissions from the soil for precession agriculture under a DBT supported project. This Gas sensor technology will provide new dimensions in the field of precision agriculture, Air pollution monitoring system, Coal mines, and manhole gas detection system at low cost. Some pictures of the Developed Products in a different version. The products are undergoing a different stage of qualifications in the Space Sector. The development has initiated a lot of interest in the Space Sector.

Biorestoration technology:

• A site specific bio restoration technology for degraded mangroves of Indian Sundarbans on the major theme of building eco-resilience in Sundarban mangrove ecosystem and well-being of the inhabiting human population, the technology is being demonstrated in 60 Acres of Sunderban.

Development of bio-augmentation based safe cultivation practice for remediating arsenic contamination from paddy crop:

• A novel arsenitemethyltransferase gene of eukaryotic origin has been reported from one of the fungal strains Westerdykellaaurantiacaamong four fungal strains of the consortium, which is capable of biovolatilize arsenic from soil matrix. This will reduce the arsenic content in rice grains and safeguard paddy cultivation in arsenic-tainted areas

Recovery of Paphiopedilumdruryi(Bedd.)Pfitz.endemic to Agasthyamala of Western Ghats, India:

• Paphiopedilumdruryi (Bedd.)Pfitz. is an orchid endemic to Western Ghats region of Kerala endangered species has been propagated through seed culture, acclimatized to the climatic conditions of JNTBGRI campus (120m above mean sea level). Around 300 plants supplied to interested growers and made available in farmer’s field.

Other major  R&D outcome are as below-

• Development of Phytoremediation Technology Accumulating HCH Residues from Contaminated HCH Dumpsite
• Bioremediation technology at oil polluted sites in Assam & Gujarat
• Field experiments to evaluate the calcite dissolution microbe, amendments with efficient crop genotypes
• Bio-bleaching for bagasse and wheat for improved delignification eco-friendly methods
• Nutrient efficient genotypes for calcareous soils for Maiz and Groundnut
• Biosurfactant of plant origin discovered in bacteria: structural and functional characterization
• Species-specific LAMP and qPCR assays for endangered and alien invasive species
• Strengthening community development and institutional framework for resilient livelihood.

List of Patents Applied/Granted/Commercialized

Pictures:

From key programs and major initiatives