Ethanol production capacity jumps to 923 litres p.a. in India

Ethanol production units in the country have increased their production capacity significantly due to the higher availability of feedstock provided by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs.

In the most recent update, capacities of Ethanol production plants have increased to 923 crore litres annually as a result of the use of extra feedstock, the ministry of consumer affairs, food, and public distribution reported on Sunday, 18th September 2022.

According to the ministry of consumer affairs, food, and public distribution, low carbon innovative technologies are advancing India toward Net Zero aims, helping the nation reach COP26 targets, and supporting Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan by supplying 20% of the country’s fuel needs with ethanol.

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Many promises were made during the COP26 and the Indian government for the past few months has made efforts to fulfil those promises and targets. In this respect, Sudhanshu Pandey, Secretary of the Department of Food and Distribution said, “This would also help save foreign exchange for the country worth about 30,000 crores per annum. Further, the achievement of E10 has already resulted in additional revenue of about 18,000 crores in revenue of sugar mills which will exceed 3,5000 on the achievement of E20 blending with petrol by 2025. This would ensure an alternative market for farmers’ produce like rice, and maize helping them achieve better returns, more than MSP and also faster payment from sugar mills. All these activities are leading to transforming the Indian Farming community from ‘Anna Daata’ to ‘Urja Daata’,”

Speculations are being made on the reason for such a move and the most obvious reason is to gain in-depth knowledge which would help in further innovations in the field of Ethanol blending. Recently, Pandey and a group from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) visited Praj Matrix’s R&D facility.