Back Feb 04, 2025

How will the govt. produce the required fuel ethanol? | Explained

The story so far: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said that India will achieve its target of 20% ethanol blending of petrol in the next two months, at least a year ahead of what was originally planned. This would entail the production of nearly 1,100 crore litres of fuel ethanol in one year.

The 1,100 crore litres of fuel ethanol will come from sugar and high grade molasses, Food Corporation of India (FCI) rice, broken rice, and maize. India’s ethanol distillery capacity has ramped up to 1,600 crore litres, driven by a range of government incentives and the promise of a stable, lucrative market.

Sugar is expected to provide some 400 crore litres this ethanol year, according to Deepak Ballani, director general of Indian Sugar and Bio-energy Manufacturers Association. India had closing sugar stocks of around 80 lakh tonnes in October 2024. The projected sugar production for next year is around 315 lakh tonnes out of which 40 lakh tonnes will go to fuel ethanol. Mr. Ballani said that ethanol for non-fuel uses will come from low grade molasses called C Heavy that don’t go into sugar production.

The government recently decided to reduce the price of FCI rice to distilleries from ₹28 to ₹22.5 per kg. The government handout states that some 110 crore litres of ethanol will be produced from FCI rice this ethanol year. This means almost 400 crore litres of fuel ethanol should come from maize. For context, India was producing little or no ethanol from maize until 2020. Besides pure-play grain-based distilleries coming up, some sugar distilleries have modified to dual-feed so in the off-season they can use other feedstock (maize) to produce ethanol.

Source: The Hindu

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