Ethanol Blended Fuel in India: An Overview

Ethanol produced from renewable resources is being considered globally as the most prominent and possible substitute for fossil fuel. It is being produced by fermentation of raw materials obtained from various renewable resources like Sugarcane, Corn and Sweet Sorghum all over the world. Ethanol is mainly blended with gasoline in different ratios and commonly known as ‘Gasohol’. This special use has escalated the global production of ethanol by 85% in 2006 from 2002. Oil embargo of 1973 forced Brazil to initiate and implement the Bio-ethanol for mandatory use in automotive fuel upto the extent of 100%. For this to happen, the flexi-fuel vehicles were also introduced that can run both on petrol and E100 (Bio-ethanol). Other countries like US, Europe and India followed this successful model to achieve the objectives of self reliance in fuel. At present in India ethanol is blended @ 5% in petrol. Ethanol in fuel increases its oxygen content and has replaced the use of MTBE and ETBE. Various studies conducted all over the world have revealed that ethanol blending in petrol at different ratios has remarkably reduced the emission of GHG from vehicles. Ethanol has also been used along with diesel, but comparatively ethanol blended petrol is more acceptable than with diesel because later requires the admixture of surfactants to keep the blend stable, which increases the cost of the fuel. Even, having so much benefits of ethanol blending, its use is limited by various technical factors like, degradation of non-metallic components of engine, decrease in fuel lubricity, viscosity and calorific value of the fuel, etc. The other Non-technical factors also plays major role, which are elaborately discussed in this paper. Government of India in the year 2002 issued the first national Biofuel policy, in order to use bio-ethanol and bio-diesel as a fuel for transport. However, certain factors hindered the successful execution of ethanol use as a transport fuel. This paper present the studies conducted to find out the reasons for limited success of especially ethanol blended fuel in India. The outcome of this study would serve as the base reference for the policy makers to devise strategies to achieve the indicative target of recent Biofuel Policy released on September 11, 2008 mandating 20 % blending of biofuels by 2017.