Context: India’s plan to promote ethanol derived from rice, corn and sugarcane is drawing criticism from some experts who warn it could undermine food security in the country.
Key highlights

• The government of India has advanced the target for 20 per cent ethanol blending in petrol (also called E20) to 2025 from 2030. E20 will be rolled out from April 2023.
• Major sources of ethanol to achieve the target are rice, corn and sugarcane.

Government’s Justification
The new target will

• Save $4 billion annually by cutting crude imports
• Reduce carbon emission
• Boost farmers income

Government has termed it as strategic requirement in light of grain surplus (state grain reserves stood at 21.8 million tons of rice against requirement of 13.54 million tons) and availability of technology.
Concerns
The report that maps out the new ethanol blending target primarily focuses on food-based feedstocks. This can result in diversion of food grains meant for the poor to ethanol production companies at subsidized rates due to:

• Financial assistance to biofuel producers.
• Faster environmental clearances by the government on such projects.
• E-20 policy can drive farmers toward water-intensive crops and create a water crisis.
• E-20 can result in competition between the distilleries and the public distribution system for subsidized food grains and threaten rural food security.
• The unregulated carbonyl emissions, such as acetaldehyde emission are higher with E10 and E20 as compared to normal petrol. 

Use of Ethanol in Vehicles

• Calorific value of ethanol is around 2/3rd of gasoline, thus, the increase in ethanol content will decrease the heating value of the ethanol-gasoline blend. Hence, more fuel is required to achieve the same engine power output.
• Ethanol has a higher-octane number and thus the engine can be operated with a high compression ratio without knocking.
• This increases the efficiency of the engine considerably.
• This combined with optimal spark timing negates the fuel economy debit due to low calorific value of ethanol.

E-20 roadmap

• Raise pan-India ethanol production capacity from the current 700 to 1500 crore litres.
• Phased rollout of E10 fuel by April 2022. Phased rollout of E20 from April 2023, its availability by April 2025.
• Rollout of E20 material-compliant and E10 engine-tuned vehicles from April 2023.
• Production of E20-tuned engine vehicles from April 2025.
• Encourage use of water-sparing crops, such as maize, to produce ethanol.
• Promote technology for the production of ethanol from non-food feedstock.

Significance of E-20

• Reducing the oil imports.
• Use of ethanol-blended petrol decreases emissions such as carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx).
• Improving Energy Security.
• Better air quality.
• Increase in farmers’ income.
• Investment opportunities.
• Fulfilling India’s Nationally Determined contributions (NDCs).

Key Facts

• Even after the Green revolution, India is placed at 94th rank on the Global Hunger Index 2020.
• Food and Agricultural Organisation has estimated that 15% of Indians were undernourished between 2018 and 2020.