Govt to allow up to 35% bio-bitumen mixing, to save Rs 10,000 cr of foreign exchange outflows

New Delhi, Aug 7 (PTI) Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said the government will allow mixing of lignin up to 35 per cent in petroleum-based bitumen, a large part of which is imported from other countries.

Bitumen is a black substance produced through the distillation of crude oil and is widely used for making roads and roofs.

“We have the largest road network in the world. 90 per cent of roads are using bituminous layers. Bitumen consumption in 2023-24 was 88 lakh tonnes. In 2024-25 it is expected to be 100 lakh tonnes. 50 per cent of the bitumen is imported. And annual import cost is Rs 25,000-30,000 crore,” Gadkari said while replying to questions in Rajya Sabha.

The minister said the farmers are now not only producing foodgrains but they have become energy producers. Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) and the Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun, had developed bio-bitumen from paddy straw.

The minister expressed concern that there is a problem of air pollution in Delhi due to stubble burning.

“One tonne of parali (paddy straw) is giving 30 per cent of bio-bitumen, 350 kg of bio-gas and 350 kg of biochar,” he said, adding that substitution of up to 35 per cent bio-bitumen into bitumen is successful. The foreign exchange saving is expected to be Rs 10,000 crore and a patent has been already submitted, the minister said.

He informed that the cost of petroleum-based bitumen is Rs 50 per kg while the cost of bio-bitumen from biomass (rice straw) is Rs 40 per kg.

Gadkari said Indian Oil Corporation has a project in Panipat for making one lakh litres of ethanol per day from rice straw apart from 150 tonnes of bio-bitumen per day, and 88,000 tonnes per year of bio-aviation fuel.

“…Now we have got 450 projects where we are converting parali (rice straw) into bio-CNG, and we are getting the project is lignin. Now my department is going to issue a notification order by which this lignin we can use in petroleum bitumen up to 35 per cent,” the minister said.

Gadkari said these 450 projects are in Haryana, Punjab and Western Uttar Pradesh where biomass (parali) is getting converted into bio-CNG, and now getting lignin.

“And now we are ready to purchase that. we are issuing the order. So it is going to not only save our imports, but it is going to resolve the problem of air pollution. At the same time, it is useful for the farmers,” he said. Farmers can get a rate of Rs 2,500 per tonne for rice straw.

Gadkari noted that the NHAI has taken a lot of eco-friendly decisions to protect the ecology and environment.

“We are using fly ash. We are using 86 kilometres of bamboo crash barriers. We are using plastic, rubber waste into bitumen. We are using steel slag,” he said.

In the written reply, he said the ministry has sanctioned two research projects, one each to IIT Roorkee, and Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) New Delhi in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP) Dehradun to evaluate bio-bitumen in the laboratory and to assess the long-term performance of pavement constructed with bio-bitumen.

A test section has also been laid on Shamli-Muzaffarnagar Section of NH-709AD in November 2022 for performance monitoring for a period of three years to assess the suitability of bio-bitumen in road construction. NHAI has also contemplated trials with bio-bitumen on the Jorabat-Shillong section of NH-40.

Envisaged benefits of bio-bitumen are reduction in bitumen import, reduced Green House Gas (GHG) emissions and opportunity for farmers/MSMEs to generate revenue and provide employment, he said.