India’s ethanol production capacity jumps to 923 cr litres p.a.

Diversion of excess feedstock diversion for ethanol production has led to a jump in production capacity to 923 crore liters per annum, the ministry of consumer affairs, food & public distribution said on Sunday.

The ministry of consumer affairs, food & public distribution said that low carbon innovative technologies are helping India progress towards Net Zero goals assisting in obtaining COP26 goals for the country while facilitating Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan by meeting 20% petrol requirements from ethanol and strengthening energy security of the country.

“This would also help save foreign exchange for the country worth about ₹30,000 crore per annum. Further, the achievement of E10 has already resulted in additional revenue of about ₹18,000 crores in revenue of sugar mills which will exceed ₹3,5000 on achievement of E20 blending with petrol by 2025.

This would ensure an alternative market for farmers’ produce like rice, maize helping them achieve better returns, more than MSP and also faster payment from sugar mills. All these activities are leading to transforming the Indian Farming community from ‘Anna Daata’ to ‘Urja Daata’,” secretary department of food and public distribution (DFPD), Sudhanshu Pandey said.

With an objective to understand in depth innovations in indigenous technology developments and debottlenecking any growth impediments in ethanol blending, Pandey along with a team from Food Corporation of India (FCI) had visited R&D center Praj Matrix’s recently.

The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) approved innovation centre setup by Praj, is home to over 90 scientists.