Sugar mills lay down plan for 50% ethanol blending with petrol by 2030

Even as the ethanol blending programme faces challenges, sugar millers — in a recent presentation to the government — have laid down an ambitious road map to achieve 50 per cent average ethanol blending with petrol by 2030.

The plan envisages a cumulative investment of Rs 50,000 crore in ramping up distillation capacity. This will be over and above the already-lined-up amount of Rs 15,000 crore meant for achieving 20 per cent blending by 2025.

It also calls for the extensive launch of E-100 flex fuel vehicles (FFVs), which can run on 10-100 per cent ethanol-blended petrol.

For achieving annual