Research on 15% ethanol blending in diesel in advanced stages: Gadkari

Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday said that the research around blending 15 per cent ethanol in diesel is in advanced stages, and the government is exploring ways to prioritise it based on sound evidence.

Addressing the Confederation of Indian Industry's (CII) Bio Energy Summit 2024, Gadkari further said according to government data, ethanol blending in India has surged from 1.53 per cent in 2014 to 15 per cent in 2024.

Spurred by this progress, the government has set an ambitious target of reaching 20 per cent blending in petrol by 2025, the road transport and highways minister said.

Gadkari said the progress on building an ethanol ecosystem -- where ethanol pumps can complement ethanol production and launch of vehicles that can run on ethanol are on fast-track in four states -- Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra.

He pointed out that Indian Oil has decided to put 400 ethanol pump stations.

"We are meeting automakers as well including Suzuki, Tata, and Toyota.

"These automakers have decided to launch flex-engine cars," he said.

According to the minister, other vehicle makers like TVS, Bajaj, and Honda are ready with ethanol bikes and are waiting for the ethanol pumps to come to launch their bikes.

He said the country has moved from the era of 'knowledge to wealth', to a 'waste to wealth'.

On CNG, the minister said, "Over 475 projects are in pipeline in CNG, and over 40 projects have already started across Punjab, Haryana, western UP, Karnataka among others."

Gadkari emphasised on the need to explore further technologies of conversion of municipal solid waste into bio-CNG, where the cost of raw material becomes zero.

Urging the industry to focus research on most efficient sources of biomass as well as efficient transportation of those biomass at economical cost, the minister said, "We know how much of problem parali burning (stubble burning) is in Punjab and Haryana and how it leads to air pollution in neighbouring areas including Delhi."

He said Indian Oil has started a plant in Panipat to solve part of that problem by using stubble as biomass.

"We are able to use a fifth of the parali at present but if we plan properly, over the next few years, we can solve the seasonal air pollution problem emanating out of parali," Gadkari said.

The Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) is doing a research on how producing bio-bitumen can reduce the country's bitumen imports, the minister added.

Gadkari noted that at a time when parts of the world are at war with themselves, and geopolitical uncertainties plague, India's annual fossil fuel import bill at Rs 22 lakh crore does not augur well.

"We absolutely need to leverage biofuel for self-reliance in fuels, boost agricultural economy, making our farmers prosper," he added.