India’s Ethanol Roadmap

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The Government of India has advanced the target for 20 per cent ethanol blending in petrol (also called E20) to 2025 from 2030.

Ethanol Blending

• Ethanol
  • It is a biofuel, that is, a fuel produced by processing organic matter. 
  • Ethanol in India is obtained primarily from sugarcane via a fermentation process. 
  • Ethanol is high in oxygen content, which therefore allows an engine to more thoroughly combust fuel.
  • Also, since it is plant-based, it is considered to be a renewable fuel.
• Blending Target
  • The Central Government instituted an Expert Committee under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG).
  • It has come out with a report called Roadmap for Ethanol Blending in India by 2025. 
  • The roadmap proposes a gradual rollout of ethanol-blended fuel to achieve E10 fuel supply by April 2022 and phased rollout of E20 from April 2023 to April 2025.
  • In order to introduce vehicles that are compatible, the committee recommends roll out of E20 material-compliant and E10 engine-tuned vehicles from April 2023.
  • Vehicles with E20-tuned engines can be rolled out all across the country from April 2025.
  • These vehicles can tolerate 10 to 20 percent of ethanol blended petrol and also deliver optimal performance with E10 fuel.
  • Currently, 8.5 percent of ethanol is blended with petrol in India. 

Benefits

• Energy Security: It will improve energy security and self-sufficiency measures.
• Reduces Imports: The Union government has emphasised that increased use of ethanol can help reduce the oil import bill. India’s net import cost stands at $551 billion in 2020-21. It is estimated that the E20 program can save the country $4 billion (Rs 30,000 crore) per annum.
• Decreasing pollution: Use of ethanol-blended petrol decreases emissions such as carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). Higher reductions in CO emissions were observed with E20 fuel – 50 percent lower in two-wheelers and 30 percent lower in four-wheelers.
• Farmer’s income: It provides for farmers to earn extra income if they grow produce that helps in ethanol production like sugarcane and its byproducts.
• Water Saving Crops: The government plans to encourage use of water-saving crops, such as maize, to produce ethanol, and production of ethanol from non-food feedstock.
• Employment: It is creating rural & urban employment opportunities in 2G Ethanol projects and Biomass supply chain.
• Swachh Bharat Mission: Contributing to Swachh Bharat Mission by supporting the aggregation of non­food biofuel feedstocks such as waste biomass and urban waste.

Challenges

• Making efficient vehicles: There is an estimated loss of six-seven per cent fuel efficiency for four wheelers and three-four per cent for two wheelers when using E20. These vehicles are originally designed for E20 and calibrated for E10. 
• Unregulated emissions: The unregulated carbonyl emissions, such as acetaldehyde emission were higher with E10 and E20 compared to normal petrol. No reduction in NOx is seen even after the use of ethanol blended fuel.
• Expensive: These fuels although are cleaner and complete combustion takes place in them but have higher evaporative emissions from fuel tanks and dispensing equipment. Thereby making them costly.
• Regulatory clearance: This procedure takes time and delays the implementation of the Policy. At present, Ethanol production plants/distilleries fall under the “Red category” and require environmental clearance under the Air and Water Acts for new and expansion projects.
• Feedstock availability: Availability of sufficient feedstock on a sustainable basis viz., sugarcane, food grains are a major challenge. States like Chattisgarh have raised the issue of permitting rice procured by the state government to be allowed for production of ethanol. The list of feedstocks allowed for production of ethanol needs to be expanded.
• Inter-state movement of ethanol: While an amendment has been made to the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act which legislates exclusive control of denatured ethanol by the central government for smooth movement of ethanol across the country, the same has not been implemented by states thereby restricting this movement of ethanol.
• Capacity Expansion: A majority of the ethanol units are concentrated in 4 to 5 states where sugar production is high but food grain-based distilleries should be increased in number and be set up across India along with modern tech-based plants to make ethanol from agricultural waste.

Way Forward

• Biofuels in India are of strategic importance as it augurs well with the ongoing initiatives of the Government such as Make in India, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Skill Development.
• It offers great opportunity to integrate with the ambitious targets of doubling Farmers Income, Import Reduction, Employment Generation, Waste to Wealth Creation. 
• Biofuels programme in India has been largely impacted due to the sustained and quantum non-availability of domestic feedstock for biofuel production which needs to be addressed. 
• Oil Marketing Companies need to up themselves for the requirement of ethanol storage, handling, blending and dispensing infrastructure. 
• A system for single window clearances may be formulated by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) to accord speedy clearances for new and expansion projects for ethanol production. This should include all clearances by Central and State agencies, including by PESO.
• As we progress towards higher blending of ethanol, careful monitoring and assessment of emissions changes will be needed to make sure that emission reduction potential can be enhanced both for regulated and unregulated pollutants.

Source: DTE