Lok Sabha Question No. 2271 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-12-02
Subject: Use of Alternative Fuel
Ministry: PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS
Asked by: M.K. Vishnu Prasad, Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 2271 TO BE ANSWERED ON 02 nd  December, 2019

## Use of Alternative Fuel

## 2271.  DR. VISHNU PRASAD M.K.: SHRI LAVU SRI KRISHNA DEVARAYALU:

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Will the Minister of PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS be pleased to state:

(a) whether  the  Government  is  preparing  policies  for  promoting  production  and usage of alternative fuels, ethanol and methanol to reduce import of crude oil from abroad, if so, the details thereof along with the State-wise and year-wise details of production of ethanol and its use in the country during the last three years and the current year;

(b) the year-wise  details  of targets set for ethanol  blended  petrol  since  its introduction and whether the targets have been achieved in any year or period; and

(c) whether  any  roadmap  has  been  prepared  for  generation  of  ethanol  from bamboo, cotton straw, wheat straw etc. including the details and number of industrial units expected to be established due to this and the estimated employment generation in the next five years?

## ANSWER

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## MINISTER OF PETROLEUM & NATURAL GAS (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)

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(a) & (b): Government of India has notified the National Policy on Biofuels-2018, which inter-alia aims to develop alternate fuels and to reduce import dependency as one of the objectives. The Policy envisages an indicative target of 20% blending of ethanol in petrol and 5% blending of bio-diesel in diesel by the year 2030. Under the Ethanol  Blended  Petrol  (EBP)  programme,  ethanol  blending  in  petrol  is  being undertaken by the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) in whole country except island of Union Territories (UTs) of Andaman  Nicobar  and Lakshadweep. Further, Government has directed Indian Oil Corporation Limited to blend 15% methanol in petrol  i.e.  M15  for  retail  sale  in  Assam  and  North  Eastern  States  on  a  pilot  basis. Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD) has informed that presently, the ethanol  production  capacity  of  distilleries  in  country  is  about  350  crore  litre  per annum.  Major  share  of  ethanol  produced  by  the  distilleries  are  supplied  to  OMCs under EBP. State-wise production data are not available as the inter-state supplies of ethanol to OMCs are permitted. During last three ethanol  years 2015-16 to 2017-18 the  distilleries  have  produced  and  supplied  approximately  112,  67  and  150.5  crore litres of ethanol respectively.

The  percentage  of  ethanol  blending  envisaged  under  the  EBP  Programme  has increased  from  5%  since  its  introduction  and  presently,  OMCs  blend  up  to  10% ethanol in petrol under this programme, as per ethanol availability.

(c): Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) are setting twelve second generation (2G) ethanol bio-refineries for production of ethanol from various lignocellulosic biomass i.e. rice/wheat straw, bamboo, corn cob, etc.   It is estimated that one bio-refinery of 100 kilo litre per day may generate direct/indirect employment to approximately 1200 persons.

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