NATIONAL CONFERENCE

A National Conference on “Energy Security for India- Creating a Biofuel Economy” was organized by Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on the occasion of World Biofuel Day on 10 August 2016. The event was inaugurated by Hon’ble Union Minister of State for Power, Coal, New and renewable energy & Mines, Sh. Piyush Goyal and Hon’ble Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Sh. Dharmendra Pradhan. The conference had participation from senior government officials, technology developers, industry experts and academicians deliberating on enablers for enhancing the production of biofuels in the country.

Ms. Nisha Bhatt, Asst. Prof. (ME) DGI, Greater Noida along with students Ashwani Kumar Rathore, Mohit Choudhary and Aman Srivastava of Mechanical Engineering attended the conference.

Shri Sandeep poundrik (Joint secretary Refinery and MoP, NG) delivered the Welcome Address. He discussed the importance and need of bio fuel which can be technologically optimized in a better way for conserving our environment and optimum use of our resources.

The objective of the conference was not only to highlight unprecedented initiatives that have taken in the last two years by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas but also to discuss the policy interventions that help to achieve national blending targets of Government of India.

On this occasion, the Union Petroleum Ministry launched marketing of High Speed Diesel (HSD) blended with Bio-diesel in selected retail outlets of Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) in New Delhi and Vishakhapatnam by Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL), in Haldia by Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) and in Vijayawada by Indian Oil (IOC)

Technical talks

Mr. B. Ashok, Chairman of Indian Oil Cooperation, addressed the challenges faced by India in ethanol blended petrol program. While delivering his Special Address, he said that for biofuels economy; price affordability and sustainability should be kept in mind, whereas ensuring coordination and understanding between supplier and buyer will allow smooth implementation of biofuels program.

Ms. Varsha Joshi, Joint Secretary in Ministry of New & Renewable Energy emphasized on economy where innovative technology for recycling waste to ethanol can play a role for carbon smart future.

Dr. Kathy Elst, VITO, Belgium delivered her technical talk on biofuel program in European countries.

During the valedictory session, Sh. Piyush Goyal announced a national level competition, Jeevan Spardha, to be started by the end of November 2016 where students and academicians can also pitch their ideas towards energy security of India.