Bharat Petroleum on the occasion of World Biofuel day reiterates the strategic importance of biofuels in India.
Biofuels in India will assist in Improving Farmer’s Income, Import Reduction, Employment Generation, Waste to Wealth Creation, cleaner environment, health benefits etc. The existing biodiversity can be put to optimum use by utilising dry lands to generate wealth for the local populous and contribute to sustainable development.
Ethanol is a less polluting fuel and offers equivalent efficiency’ at a low’-Availability of large arable land, rising production of food grains and sugarcane leading to surpluses, availability of technology to produce ethanol from plant-based sources and feasibility of making vehicles compliant with ethanol blended petrol make E20 not only a national imperative but also an essential strategic requirement.
India’s net import of petroleum was 185 MT at the cost of USD 551 billion in 2020-21. Most petroleum products are used in transportation. Hence, a successful E20 program can save the country USD 1 billion per annum, i.e. Rs 30,000 crores.
P.S. Ravi, Executive Director, Retail, BPCL, said, “BPCL is the coordinator and leader for Ethanol in the industry. Blending locally produced ethanol with petrol will help India strengthen its energy security, reduce imports, enable local enterprises and farmers to participate in the energy economy and reduce vehicular emissions, among many more benefits,”
BPCL and OMCs have signed 131 LTOAs with project proponents proposing to set up ethanol plants of approx. 757 crore lit per annum capacity in ethanol deficit states. They have also taken the initiative to move ethanol from Surplus states to deficit states through railway mode and ensure higher blending in deficit states.
BPCL is setting up an integrated 2G and 1G Bio Ethanol Refinery at Bargarh, Odisha. The Bio-ethanol Refinery, which will increase the production capacity to about 6 crore lit per annum of ethanol. The refinery has a design production capacity of 100 KL per day of 2G Ethanol using Biomass as feedstock and 100 KLPD 1G Bio Ethanol using Rice Grain as feedstock.
In order to achieve the target of E20 (20% blending by 2025), BPCL is expanding its Ethanol storage facility in all its depots / terminals in a phased manner to cater to the additional requirement on account of 20% Blending rollout by 2025.