Ethanol Blending in Petrol | Challenges & Opportunities
What is the current status of blending?
In 2017, ethanol blending was less than 2% and has never exceeded 5% blending thus far.
In the first four months of the current supply year (December 2020 to November 2021), about 80 crore liters of ethanol was supplied to the fuel pumps.
The government has set targets of 10% bioethanol blending of petrol by 2022 and to raise it to 20% by 2030 under the Ethanol Blended Programme (EBP).
The EBP was launched in line with the National Biofuels Policy, 2018.
Many countries, including India, have adopted ethanol blending in petrol in order to reduce vehicle exhaust emissions and also to reduce the import burden on account of crude petroleum.
It is estimated that a 5% blending can result in replacement of around 1.8 million Barrels of crude oil.
As the ethanol molecule contains oxygen, it allows the engine to more completely combust the fuel, resulting in fewer emissions and thereby reducing the occurrence of environmental pollution.
The renewable ethanol content, which is a by-product of the sugar industry, is expected to result in a net reduction in the emission of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbons (HC).
What are the challenges to the EBP?
The sugar industries and oil marketing companies (OMCs) are taking an opportunistic approach to the EBP which has proved to be undoing.
Though sugar mills make strident demands for higher blending to get rid of excess cane, they are reluctant to stick to the fixed annual supplies.
In deficit years, they prefer to divert more cane to sugar and alcohol to industrial or potable uses in the hunt for better margins.
On the other hand OMCs have failed to take their contracted quantities of ethanol when imported crude oil becomes cheaper.
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.
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.
Water footprint, that is water required to produce a litre of ethanol, includes rainwater at the root zone used by ethanol-producing plants such as sugarcane, and surface, ground water, and fresh water required to wash away pollutants.
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.
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.
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.
What can be done?
2G bioethanol not only provided a clean source of energy, but also helped to provide greater income to farmers and help meet the aim of doubling the farmers income by 2020 and prevent them from having to burn agricultural waste which can be a major source of air pollution.
The government could provide greater visibility on the price of bioethanol by announcing a mechanism by which the price of bio-ethanol would be decided.
Setting a target that a certain percentage of ethanol blending be done using ethanol generated from 2G plants would help boost investment in the area. Also, alternatives like 3rd generation (derived from algae) and 4th generation biofuels (derived from specially engineered plants or biomass) should be encouraged
