Context: Recently, the Indian government has invited public comments for introducing adoption of E20 fuel to promote green fuel like ethanol.
Key Points

• The government proposed the adoption of E20 fuel — a blend of 20% of ethanol and gasoline — as an automobile fuel in order to reduce vehicular emissions as well as the country’s oil import bill.
• The current permissible level of blending is 10% of ethanol though India reached only 5.6% of blending in 2019.
• The Government has 10% blending target for mixing ethanol with petrol by 2022 & 20% blending target by 2030.

Benefits of using E20 Compliant vehicles

• Widespread use of E20 fuel provides value addition to agriculture feedstock resulting in increase in farm income, creation of more jobs in rural sector and creating job at local levels.
• It will help in reducing emissions of carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons, etc.
• It will help reduce the oil import bill, thereby saving foreign exchange and boosting energy security.
• Studies show that there will be no measurable impact to vehicle drivability or maintenance in conventional internal combustion engines with use of E20 fuel.
• On a technical level: E20 fuel has improved anti-knocking properties as it has a higher-octane number and it also undergoes complete combustion due to its higher oxygen content.

What is Ethanol fuel?

• Ethanol fuel is ethyl alcohol, the same type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, used as fuel.
• It is most often used as a motor fuel, mainly as a biofuel additive for gasoline.
• Ethanol is commonly made from biomass such as corn or sugarcane.
• Bioethanol is a form of renewable energy that can be produced from agricultural feedstocks.
• It can be made from very common crops such as hemp, sugarcane, potato, cassava and corn.
• There has been considerable debate about how useful bioethanol is in replacing gasoline.

Concerns about its production and use relate to increased food prices due to the large amount of arable land required for crops, as well as the energy and pollution balance of the whole cycle of ethanol production, especially from corn.

Ethanol Blended Petrol Programme (EBP)

• Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme was launched in 2003- and this initiative is pursued aggressively in the last 4 to 5 years to reduce import dependence of crude oil as well as mitigate environmental pollution.
• The Ethanol Blending Programme (EBP) seeks to achieve blending of Ethanol with motor sprit with a view to reducing pollution, conserve foreign exchange and increase value addition in the sugar industry enabling them to clear cane price arrears of farmers.

National Policy on Biofuels 2018

• The National Policy on Biofuels expands the scope of raw material for ethanol production by allowing use of Sugarcane Juice, Sugar containing materials like Sugar Beet, Sweet Sorghum, Starch containing materials like Corn, Cassava, Damaged food grains like wheat, broken rice, Rotten Potatoes, unfit for human consumption for ethanol production.
• The Policy allows use of surplus food grains for production of ethanol for blending with petrol with the approval of National Biofuel Coordination Committee.
• The Policy encourages setting up of supply chain mechanisms for biodiesel production from non-edible oilseeds, Used Cooking Oil, short gestation crops.
• Among other things, the policy expands the scope of feedstock for ethanol production and has provided for incentives for production of advanced biofuels.
• The policy has the objective of reaching 20% ethanol-blending and 5% biodiesel-blending by the year 2030.

Road Ahead

• Biofuels can help in rural and agricultural development in the form of new cash crops. Efforts for producing sustainable biofuels should be made by ensuring use of wastelands and municipal wastes that get generated in cities. A properly designed and implemented biofuel solution can provide both food and energy.