Bharat Petroleum is confident of meeting the new government target of blending 10% biofuel with petrol by 2022 with the latest addition of maze to the list of feedstock for the green fuel. State-run oil marketers are required to blend 10% ethanol in petrol under the national policy on biofuels 2018 by 2022 and 20% by 2030. But so far this has not been moving at scale as surplus sugarcane was not easily available and the blending is only 5% now.
To improve supplies of ethanol-blended petrol, the government has widened the feedstock options. Accordingly, the National Biofuel Coordination Committee of the Petroleum ministry in June allowed the conversion of surplus rice with the Food Corporation into ethanol. It also allowed procurement and conversion of the surplus maze into ethanol.
With this, the ethanol production happens from six feedstocks 100% sugarcane juice, B-heavy molasses which is sweeter, C-heavy molasses which is mildly sweet, damaged food grain, surplus rice from FCI and surplus maize.
More feedstocks will enable faster procurement and the resultant conversion into ethanol blending, Arun Singh, the director for refineries and marketing at BPCL said, adding surplus rice procurement process from FCI has already started for the 2020-21 cycle and very soon OMCs shall start procuring maze for making ethanol as well. We are on our way to achieving ethanol blending target of 10% for petrol by 2022, as additional sources for ethanol have been added now.
He said currently OMCs are able to blend only 5% or 180 crore litres of ethanol and blamed the lower blending to the shortage of sugarcane last year due to the drought in many regions of key sugarcane producing states. But this year sugar production is expected to be surplus due to the good monsoons. Ethanol blending will rise to 7.5-8% or 325-350 crore litres in 2021 and 10% or 370 crore litres in 2022 with more feedstock to choose from.
Of the total blending by 2022, 300-350 crore litres will come from sugarcane and the rest from non-sugar feedstock like damaged foodgrains, adding 160 crore litres of 180 crore litres come from sugarcane.
