Fuel blending beyond E20 only via flex-fuel vehicles, says Tarun Kapoor

Says E20 works well and marginal decline in efficiency compensated by higher octane value

The government is looking at ethanol blends higher than E20 only through flex-fuel vehicles as alternative sources of energy, particularly biofuels, have become increasingly important for India to reduce its dependence on imported crude oil, Tarun Kapoor, advisor to the Prime Minister said today.

 

Delivering the keynote address at a conference organised by India Sugar and Bio-Energy Manufacturers Association (Isma), Kapoor said that the achievement of E20 blending has been a major success, despite criticism from some quarters over the programme.

 

He said several studies and experiments have established that E20 fuel works well, with any marginal decline in fuel efficiency being compensated for by the higher octane value.

  

“If we tried to find out whether there were actual problems, it came out very clearly that the issues being faced were generally due to other reasons and not because of ethanol blending,” Kapoor said.

 

He said the government has been strongly promoting biofuels, while the industry has also responded positively by creating substantial ethanol production capacity across the country.

 

“Ethanol production has gone beyond our imagination. It is now more than what we had planned for and, rather, more than what we actually need for blending,” Kapoor said.

 

According to Kapoor, the next challenge is to identify additional uses for ethanol and other biofuels, so that the capacity created in the country can be fully utilised.

 

The availability of higher ethanol blends, including relatively pure ethanol with suitable additives, would also need to expand at petrol stations, he said. However, this would have to happen in tandem with the availability of flex-fuel vehicles.

 

“If we can also get some product which can be used in diesel, then it will be great,” Kapoor said, noting that diesel accounts for a large share of refinery output. India needs to find ways to balance petrol and diesel demand rather than allow petrol demand to decline while diesel demand continues to rise, he added.

 

Kapoor said ongoing experiments with isobutanol could open another avenue for deploying biofuels on a large scale if the technology proves successful.

 

He also emphasised exploring biofuel applications beyond transportation, such as cooking and industrial uses. Products derived from sugarcane residues/byproducts, and surplus food grains should find wider markets, he said.

 

Kapoor said the government is also working to promote compressed biogas (CBG), although progress in the sector so far has been slower than expected. The recently announced Gobardhan scheme aims to bring together benefits available through different ministries and it could help accelerate the development of the CBG sector.

 

“We want the biofuel market to grow so that the created capacity and investments are not put at risk,” Kapoor said.

 

Earlier, talking to reporters, Isma President Niraj Shirgaonkar said that the industry has apprised the government of the extent of losses that they would bear if sugarcane crushing is advanced to the middle of October from the usual date of November.

 

He was responding to media queries on the Centre’s proposal to advance sugarcane crushing to augment the supplies of the sweetener ahead of festivals.

 

Shirgaonkar also said that the industry was in a wait-and-watch mode when it came to next year’s crop projections.

 

Sources also said the trade has contracted 0.8 million tonnes of the permitted one million tonnes Raw sugar imports till date..

 

Meanwhile, global analysts and market watchers expect a dip in India’s sugar production in the 2026-27 season starting October due to poor rainfall caused by El Nino.

 

Claudiu Covrig, senior market analyst at Covrig Analytics, stated that India’s sugar production is expected to drop by another 2 million tonnes (mt) from the current year's industry projection of 30 mt, likely triggering imports around July-August 2027.