India has been a relatively late adopter of ethanol for blending with transport fuel. Although Brazil was the first country to introduce its national ethanol program to blend ethanol with gasoline in 1975, the US followed suit and required a reformulated gasoline program under the Clean Air Act in 1990. Currently, 30% of gasoline sold in the USA it is reformulated.
It was only in 2003 that India entered the race, launching the Ethanol Blended Petrol program. The program seeks to promote the use of alternative and environmentally friendly fuels and reduce the import bill for crude oil. However, it was not that no Indian company was involved in ethanol processing, just that there was no opportunity. For example, Praj Industries, an Indian biotechnology company founded in 1983, works with stakeholders in different parts of the world, such as Southeast Asia, South America and Africa.
According to Pramod Chaudhari, Founder and Executive Chairman, Praj Industries, due to stringent regulations in India, businesspeople often prefer to operate in foreign countries. However, the domestic scenario has changed, creating opportunities.
At home, the Indian government recently allowed the production of ethanol from 'B' molasses extracted directly from sugarcane juice. However, the industry was demanding permission to use sugar and sugar syrup for further fermentation. Keeping the same in mind, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs recently allowed the conversion of old sugar into ethanol.
The move is likely to accelerate the process of achieving the target of 10% of ethanol blending in petrol by 2022. As per the current fuel consumption, around 3,300 million liters of ethanol are required for the entire country except Jammu and Kashmir, in the north of the country. eastern states and island territories. In April 2019, sugar mills in India contracted to supply 2,370 million liters of ethanol. The average all India blend of ethanol and gasoline achieved in 2017-18 was 4.22%.
Source: agrolink
