{"id":42033,"date":"2024-10-01T09:48:33","date_gmt":"2024-10-01T04:18:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=42033"},"modified":"2025-10-04T12:21:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T06:51:17","slug":"indias-ethanol-blended-petrol-ebp-programme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/indias-ethanol-blended-petrol-ebp-programme\/","title":{"rendered":"India\u2019s Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme &#8211; Status and Challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in News?<\/li>\n<li>About Ethanol (C2H5OH)<\/li>\n<li>About the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme<\/li>\n<li>Status of Ethanol Production Capacity in India<\/li>\n<li>Challenges Hanging Over India&#8217;s Ethanol Economy<\/li>\n<li>Way Ahead<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>India is on its way to achieve its target of blending 20% of petrol with ethanol by 2025-26.<\/li>\n<li>But concerns about fuel efficiency in existing vehicles and the food vs fuel debate still loom large over the ethanol economy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>About Ethanol (C2H5OH) and Ethanol Blending:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Ethanol is an <strong>agricultural by-product <\/strong>which is mainly obtained from the processing of sugar from sugarcane, but also from other sources such as rice husk or maize.<\/li>\n<li>Since ethanol is produced from plants that harness the power of the sun, it is also considered as<strong> renewable fuel.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>In India,<\/strong> ethanol is mainly produced from sugarcane molasses by fermentation process.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ethanol is 99.9% pure alcohol<\/strong> that can be blended with petrol.<\/li>\n<li>To supplement ethanol supplies, the Government of India has permitted the procurement of ethanol produced from sources other than molasses, which is known as <strong>first generation ethanol or 1G.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Aside from molasses, ethanol can be derived from rice straw, wheat straw, corn stover, bagasse, bamboo and woody biomass, which are known as <strong>second generation ethanol sources or 2G.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>India\u2019s Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>About:<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It was launched by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in <strong>2003<\/strong> to promote the use of alternative and environment friendly fuels.<\/li>\n<li><strong>This programme has been extended<\/strong> to the whole of India (except UTs of Andaman Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands) with effect from <strong>1st April, 2019<\/strong> wherein Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) sell petrol blended with ethanol up to <strong>10%.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The all-India average blending of ethanol with petrol has risen from 1.6% in 2013-14 to <strong>11.8% in 2022-23<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>India&#8217;s goal is to grow this ratio to 20%<\/strong> by 2030, but when the NITI Aayog released the ethanol roadmap in 2021, that deadline was advanced to <strong>2025<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>20% by 2025-26 would mean producing some 1,000 crore litres of ethanol for blending with petrol.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Benefits of EBP programme:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>It will reduce India\u2019s import bill.<\/li>\n<li>It will reduce environmental pollution.<\/li>\n<li>It will increase farm income.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/biofuels\/\" target=\"_blank\">Biofuels<\/a> demand least incremental investment for manufacturers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Challenges when it comes to 20% ethanol blended fuel:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Engines would <strong>need to be tweaked <\/strong>so as to process petrol which has been blended with 20% ethanol.<\/li>\n<li>Ethanol burns completely emitting nil CO2. However, <strong>it does not reduce the emission of another key pollutant<\/strong> &#8211; nitrous oxide.<\/li>\n<li>Another source of contention is <strong>inefficient land usage<\/strong> in ethanol production and the <strong>amount of water required to cultivate crops for ethanol.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Food security concerns, <\/strong>given the uncertainties surrounding future output.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Status of Ethanol Production Capacity in India:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure class=\"image image_resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/vajiram-prod.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com\/unnamed_2_65a126f246.webp\" alt=\"unnamed (2).webp\" \/><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>The Niti Aayog\u2019s roadmap had laid down that\n<ul>\n<li>The capacity of sugarcane-based distilleries would need to increase from 426 crore litres in 2021 to 760 crore litres in 2026.<\/li>\n<li>While grain-based distilleries\u2019 capacity should increase from 258 to 740 crore litres.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Two interest subvention programmes<\/strong> for establishing new distilleries had facilitated the ramping up of ethanol generation capacity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Challenges Hanging Over India&#8217;s Ethanol Economy:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Fuel vs. food debate:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>In India, all the emphasis has been on <strong>first generation (1G) ethanol <\/strong>that is directly made from foodgrains and sugarcane.<\/li>\n<li><strong>For example<\/strong>, sugarcane gives rise to three main related products &#8211; sugarcane juice and syrup, B-heavy molasses and C-heavy molasses, in the order of decreasing sugar content.<\/li>\n<li>The first two would typically go to making sugar while the third will be used for ethanol production.<\/li>\n<li>In a bid to up fuel ethanol production, <strong>the government had started permitting the diversion of the first two away from sugar production to fuel ethanol<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Concerns about agricultural sustainability: <\/strong>Expanding sugarcane cultivation would redirect irrigation water from essential food-grain crops, exacerbating concerns about agricultural sustainability.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Rising import bill:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>India ranks as a major maize producer globally, but domestic consumption consistently outpaces production.<\/li>\n<li>This is also because maize has been used to produce more fuel ethanol to compensate for restrictions on using sugarcane products.<\/li>\n<li>As a result,<strong> maize import has increased<\/strong> (from April to June 2024, the import is already worth $103 million) compared to last year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>More cultivation area to meet the 20% target: <\/strong>As per NITI Aayog\u2019s estimates, <strong>some 4.8 million hectares will have to be added to maize <\/strong>cultivation area to meet the 20% target, which is almost half of the typical maize cultivation area.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Fuel efficiency in existing vehicles: <\/strong>The NITI Aayog report notes that ethanol brought down fuel efficiency in vehicles not suited for ethanol by an average of 6%.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Performance across states:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>While the fuel ethanol pricing is the same across India, States determine the pricing of Extra Neutral Alcohol (ENA) that goes into making liquor for consumption and other uses.<\/li>\n<li><strong>In UP<\/strong>, the government is fully aligned with the central government\u2019s mission on ethanol and reserves ~25% of the ethanol for ENA.<\/li>\n<li><strong>In Tamil Nadu<\/strong>, where liquor is a highly lucrative market for distilleries, fuel ethanol has not yet caught on as much.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Way Ahead:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The government should <strong>diversify and move to 2G and 3G<\/strong> ethanol that have less adverse effect on India\u2019s food security.<\/li>\n<li>Existing vehicles may have to go for an <strong>engine retuning and change over<\/strong> to E20 supported material.<\/li>\n<li>As liquor revenue forms a large chunk of revenue of most state governments, many across the industry demand <strong>an increase in ethanol pricing.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q.1. Why is ethanol considered a better automobile fuel?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Ethanol use reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 44-52% compared to gasoline &#8211; even when hypothetical land-use change emissions are included.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q.2. What is 3G Ethanol?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>3G (third-generation) ethanol is a biofuel produced from algae using wastewater, sewage, or salt water. As 3G ethanol can be produced using algae grown in land and water that aren&#8217;t suitable for food production, it reduces strain on water resources and ensures food security.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/on-the-ethanol-blending-programme\/article68547944.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">On the ethanol blending programme<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite some challenges, India is on its way to achieve its target of blending 20% of petrol with ethanol by 2025-26<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":42034,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-42033","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}