ETHANOL
ECONOMY - ECONOMY
News: Explained: What is ethanol blending
and what are the challenges faced by India
What's
in the news?
●
India plans to start using 20% ethanol
blended petrol from 2025.
●
Currently, most petrol pumps give 10%
ethanol blended petrol.
●
Economists argue that ethanol production
in the future will have to rely more on maize and less on sugarcane and rice.
Ethanol
Blending Programme:
●
The Ethanol Blending Programme is a
government initiative to explore the ethanol economy, for which it promotes
ethanol-blended petrol as an alternative to conventional petrol.
●
Under this programme, a certain percentage
of ethanol is blended with petrol to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and
curb carbon emissions.
●
The Ethanol Blending Programme was
launched by the Indian government in 2003 and has since been implemented in
various phases. As of 2021, the government has set a target of achieving 20% ethanol blending with petrol by 2025.
Significance:
1.
Energy security:
●
India is the third-largest consumer of
energy in the world after China and the US.
●
Ethanol will promote Atma Nirbhar Bharat
Abhiyan by ensuring energy self-dependency to some extent.
2.
Reduction in import dependency:
●
India is dependent on imports for about
82.1% of its crude oil requirement and to the extent of about 44.4% in the case
of natural gas.
●
EBP will reduce oil import bills and can
save precious USD 4 billion (Rs. 300Billion) per year.
3.
Entrepreneurial opportunity:
●
India is expected to need 10 billion
litres of ethanol annually to meet the 20% blending target in 2030 if petrol
consumption continues to grow at the current pace.
●
At present, the capacity stands at 1.55
billion litres a year.
4.
Support for the agricultural sector:
●
It will help the sugar mill owner to pay
farmers their pending FRP for sugarcane.
●
It will also mitigate the problem of low
sugar prices in the international market.
5.
Additional income to farmers:
●
It is in line with the vision of the Prime
Minister regarding 'Doubling the Farmer’s Income'.
6.
Environmental friendly fuel:
●
It will decrease emissions of CO,
Hydrocarbons, NOx, etc as it burns more smoothly due to the presence of Oxygen
in the molecule itself.
7.
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.
8.
SDG targets:
●
Relatively low Emissions will help achieve
SDG targets and mitigate climate change.
9.
Swachh Bharat Mission:
●
Contributing to Swachh Bharat Mission by
supporting the aggregation of non-food biofuel feedstocks such as waste biomass
and urban waste.
Challenges
involved:
1.
Less Production:
●
Currently, domestic production of
bioethanol is not sufficient to meet the demand for bio-ethanol for blending
with petrol at Indian OMCs.
●
Sugar mills, which are the key domestic
suppliers of bio-ethanol to OMCs, were able to supply only 57.6% of the total demand.
●
Sugar mills do not have the financial
stability to invest in biofuel plants.
●
There are also concerns among investors on
the uncertainty on the price of bioethanol in the future as the prices of both
sugarcane and bio-ethanol are set by the central government.
2.
Compatible vehicles:
●
Vehicles need to be produced with
rubberised parts, plastic components and elastomers compatible with E20 and
engines optimally designed for use of E20 fuel”.
●
The NITI Aayog paper said that
two-wheelers and passenger vehicles that are now being made in the country “are
designed optimally for E5 (5 percent ethanol blend with petrol) while rubber
and plastic components are “compatible with E10 fuel”.
3.
Water footprint:
●
While India has become one of the top
producers of ethanol but it lags top producers, the USA and Brazil, by a huge
margin and remains inefficient in terms of water usage.
●
India’s water requirements for producing
ethanol are not met through rainwater and the groundwater is used for drinking
and other purposes.
4.
Limited Sugarcane Availability:
●
Sugarcane is another limited resource that
affects the ethanol blending in the country.
●
In order to achieve a 20% blend rate,
almost one-tenth of the existing net sown area will have to be diverted for
sugarcane production. Any such land requirement is likely to put a stress on
other crops and has the potential to increase food prices.
●
India’s biofuel policy stipulates that
fuel requirements must not compete with food requirements and that only surplus
food crops should be used for fuel production, if at all.
5.
Lack of Alternatives:
●
Producing ethanol from crop residue can be
a good alternative but the annual capacity of biorefinery is still not enough
to meet the 5% petrol-ethanol blending requirement.
●
Other biofuels such as Jatropha Have often
proven to be commercially unviable.
6.
Handling issues:
●
Ethanol being a highly flammable liquid
marks obligatory safety and risk assessment measures during all phases of
production, storage and transportation, thus increasing the cost and risk
factor.
WAY
FORWARD:
●
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 and production of E20-tuned engine
vehicles from April 2025.
●
The Centre must look at ways to reduce the
programme’s dependence on sugarcane.
●
Alternative feedstock like agricultural
waste, recycled cooking oil, provides for more environmentally friendly
bio-fuels.
●
There is a need to focus on raising the
non-cane contribution to the ethanol mix.
●
This can be done by incentivising both
public and private players to set up second-generation ethanol facilities.
●
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.