Terming the criticism of E20 ethanol blending with petrol (EBP) programme might be due to motivated reasons, Tarun Kapoor, an advisor in the prime minister’s office on Wednesday said that the biofuel initiative is successful and the government is keen to expand its market including through options like flex fuel vehicles to help the industry utilise its surplus capacities.
Addressing virtually a conference organised by India Sugar & Bio-Energy Manufacturers Association (ISMA) in New Delhi, Kapoor said: “We are very keen that we are able to expand the market as much as possible, so that this excess capacity issue is resolved at the earliest.”
India has about 2,000 crore litres of capacities whereas the oil marketing companies need about 1,100 crore litres annually to meet the 20 per cent ethanol blending with petrol target, which has already been achieved five years ahead of schedule.
He said experiments have been done, and it has come out that E20 is quite good and works very well. “Maybe a little bit of fuel efficiency declines somewhere, but it is compensated with higher octane. So, otherwise, if we try to find out whether there are actual problems, it has come out very clearly that the issues which are being faced are generally due to other reasons, not due to this blending,” he said.
Further, he said that the government’s next focus is on flex-fuel vehicles and allowing blending at a percentage which will be higher than E20, and definitely it will have to be an option of flex-fuel vehicles.
“Several motor vehicle companies have announced that they are going to come up with flex-fuel vehicles very soon, and so we should see good numbers in the market,” he added.
Kapoor also said that supply of pure ethanol or whatever it is called…maybe some additive has to be added to it. “It should also happen quite soon,” he said. There are some petrol stations where it is already available, but it has to be expanded now, but it has to go hand-in-hand with the availability of flex-fuel vehicles. So with that, then at least in this sector, in the transport sector, there should be more traction, he added.
Highlighting that need something to add to diesel also, he said: “If we can also get some product which can be used in diesel, then it will be great. Because in a refinery, a large percentage of the product is diesel…and as experiments are going on isobutanol, and if that succeeds, that would open another area where biofuels can be required in large quantities.”
Further, he also said alternatives in cooking, and in industry, and maybe whatever other areas are possible may be looked into so that at least ethanol or products which are closer to ethanol, which are either produced from sugarcane residues or as a byproduct, or produced from surplus foodgrains.
Pointing out that the issue of promotion of biofuels has gained importance now even more because of West Asia crisis, as it is so difficult to ensure continuous supplies of crude. “Somewhere or the other, one problem or the other pops up, and again we are stuck. The price of crude as well as non-crude is close to $100 now, and there are fears that it might go up. So therefore, it is important that we try to have whatever is available in the country,” he noted.
Announcing that the government is working a lot to promote compressed biogas, though so far it has not been very successful, hopefully it will also come up very well, and then those industries or even ethanol manufacturers who are making ethanol, they can also make compressed biogas.