Published on March 27, 2014

India witnessed the failure of the programme to blend 5 per cent of ethanol in petrol sold across the country, primarily due to incapacity of the oil marketing companies (OMCs) to get hold of the amounts at a reasonable price. The national level currently stands at a mere 1.5 per cent and it is way too early to even think about increasing the level to 10 per cent.

Before the blending programme was implemented, ethanol produced in India was used for two purposes; one for the producing potable liquor, and as a raw material for the chemical industry.

Earlier, the alcohol-based chemical industry was had tremendous growth potential and was a vital sector of the Indian chemical industry. However, the lifting of control on alcohol/molasses resulted in a price rise which the chemical industry could not bear. The alcohol-based chemical industry became sluggish and hasn’t recovered from the decline ever since. The downfall of the Indian alcohol-based chemicals industry occurred just when the idea of renewably produced chemicals and materials was becoming popular.

The ethanol blending programme was introduced to improve energy security by reducing reliance on imported hydrocarbon resources. However, experts think that the use of complex chemicals with inherent functionality solely for its energy content will lead to the misuse of a valuable resource.

Ethanol output must be increased to ensure sufficient availability for all. Recently, the Petroleum Ministry allowed the use of ethanol from sources other than sugarcane molasses. But it is unlikely that this decision will bring about any significant change. It is implausible that the sugar mills will convert all of the cane juice produced directly to ethanol. Alcohol from other sources, including grain and other starch-containing agricultural produce, can also be used. But the output from these sources is extremely small.

Cellulosic ethanol, produced from woody biomass, grass, straw and agricultural waste, can be a viable alternative. US and Western Europe have succeeded in developing technologies to produce ethanol from these resources and are now setting up the first commercial-scale plants. In India, however, development has been moving at a slower pace. Nevertheless, there are private sector and publicly funded labs working to develop the needed technologies.

For instance, Praj’s cellulosic ethanol technology has been proven at a pilot scale at its R&D centre. The company is also setting up demonstration scale plants and if they succeed we’ll be able to witness the first commercial scale plants for cellulosic ethanol in India.

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) is supporting projects trying to develop indigenous technology for cellulosic ethanol.