Petrol blended with 20% ethanol from April 1, says Hardeep Singh Puri: The phased roll-out of E20 (20 per cent ethanol blending in gasoline) will begin on April 1, Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has said. The fuel will be available at select outlets and will not require changes to car engines. The proposed roll-out will give further impetus to the government’s plans of achieving the level of 20 per cent ethanol blending in the overall petrol supply in the country by ethanol supply year 2025-2026.
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The Target Area:
E20’s initial launch date was April 1, 2023, but the government has moved it up to include 11 states/UTs: Delhi, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab, Daman Diu, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli. Under phase 1, 15 cities will be covered, the minister said.
A Massive Increase In Ethanol Blending:
From 1.53 percent in 2013–14 to 10.17 percent in 2022, ethanol is now blended into petrol in India. To achieve 20 per cent blending by 2025, the country needs 10.2-11 billion litres of ethanol. This would require a production capacity of around 14.5 billion litres because some production has to be kept aside for starch and chemical industry. Of this, around 7.6 billion litres of ethanol will have to be produced from sugarcane while another 7.2 billion litres will have to come from grain- and non-grain-based sources such as rice stubble and so on.
According to the minister, this has translated into forex savings of over 41,500 crore, a 27 lakh tonne reduction in GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions, and benefits farmers by allowing for prompt payment of over 40,600 crore to them over the past eight years.
Whats More Is In Line:
Oil-marketing companies are targeting the installation of alternative fuel stations, such as electric vehicle charging, compressed natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, liquefied natural gas, and compressed biogas (CBG) at 22,000 retail outlets by May 2024.
The Centre has increased the rate for CBG plants under the SATAT scheme from Rs 46 per kg to Rs 54 per kg.
The government is also investing Rs 19,744 crore into the National Green Hydrogen Mission for developing green hydrogen production capacity of at least 5 MMT (million metric tonnes) per annum.
