The increased use of ethanol will boost India’s renewable energy segment while leading to a huge saving of foreign exchange….reports Asian Lite News
Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are keen to start importing ethanol from India. Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road and Transport Highways said that the issue has already been discussed with the governments of these countries.
“I was able to discuss this matter with PM of Bangladesh and even the Sri Lankan minister. Both are keenly interested about import of ethanol from India for adding ethanol into petrol in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka,” Gadkari said at a CII-organised conference on bio-energy. Gadkari will also meet Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri to discuss the issue further.
The Narendra Modi government has laid the emphasis on increasing production of ethanol from various items such as sugar molasses, sugarcane and other materials which have sugar content. India has already reached the set target of blending 10 per cent ethanol with petrol. The target is to touch 20 per cent blending by 2025. It was only 1.53 per cent in 2013-14.
The increased use of ethanol will boost India’s renewable energy segment while leading to a huge saving of foreign exchange.
Last year Toyota launched its flex fuel version of Corolla Altis. Many other companies are also gearing up launch hybrid vehicles. Flex-fuel vehicles (FFV) are essentially automobiles with engines that can run on flexible fuel which can be a combination of petrol mixed with ethanol or even ethanol alone.
Gadkari on Thursday said that a policy for setting up ethanol pumps across the country is in the works.
Addressing the Bio-Energy summit organised by industry body CII, he said that he would be meeting Petroleum Minister Hardeep Puri within the next 15 days to work on a policy to set up ethanol-based pumps in the country.
The minister added that there is a requirement of 1,000 crore litre of ethanol if it is blended with petrol by up to 20 per cent. Many major manufacturers are ready with motorcycles which can run on 100 per cent bioethanol, he said.
Even autorickshaws which can run on bioethanol can be manufactured, Gadkari added, noting that there is a lot of potential for ethanol as well as huge demand from several countries for the biofuel.