The Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Shri Rameswar Teli today informed in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha that for biofuels, the government is introducing EBP (Ethanol Blended Petrol) and Sustainable Alternative to Affordable Transport (SATAT) programme. ) with the broader goals of supporting domestic agriculture, ensuring environmental sustainability, reducing dependence on imports and saving foreign exchange.
Currently, 5 to 10% ethanol blended gasoline is used in the country. Ethanol fuel is ethyl alcohol, the same type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, used as fuel. It is most often used as motor fuel, primarily as a biofuel additive to gasoline.The government had earlier announced the National Policy on Biofuels – 2018, which set an indicative target of 20% ethanol blending in petrol and 5% biodiesel blending in diesel by 2030 in the country. The government has now revised the National Biofuels Policy – 2018 which has pushed the ethanol blending target to 20% ethanol blending in petrol for ESY 2025-26 from 2030. (OMCs) have already achieved 10.16% blending as on 10 July 2022.
In order to promote the use of Compressed Biogas (CBG) as an automotive fuel, the Sustainable Alternative to Affordable Transport (SATAT) initiative was launched on 1/10/2018, under which OMCs invite Expressions of Interest (EoI) from potential entrepreneurs. to produce CBG. By 28.2.2022, Oil PSUs have published Letters of Intent (LoIs) for setting up 3160 CBG plants for CBG procurement.Used cooking oil (UCO) has been identified as a potential feedstock for biodiesel production and public sector OMCs have introduced EoIs for procurement of biodiesel produced from UCO at 300 locations. OMCs have received bids for setting up 61 plants with a production capacity of approximately 36 million liters per annum to produce biodiesel from UCO.
In March 2019, the government announced the “Pradhan Mantri JI-VAN (JaivIndhan – Vatavaran Anukool fasal awashesh Nivaran) Yojana” for providing financial support to integrated bioethanol projects for setting up second generation (2G) ethanol projects in the country using lignocellulosic biomass and other renewable raw materials. The total financial cost of the scheme is Rs. 1969.50 crore for the period 2018-19 to 2023-24. Under the PM JI-VAN Yojana, the maximum financial assistance was Rs. 150 crore per project for commercial projects and Rs. 15 crore per project has been prescribed for demonstration projects. Under the EBP programme, the government has already achieved the interim target of 10% average mixing in the country in June 2022 ahead of the November 2022 target date.
