The Hindu Business Line : Call to defer decision on ethanol-blended petrol

Industry & Economy - Non-conventional Energy
Agri-Biz & Commodities - Sugar
States - Andhra Pradesh

Call to defer decision on ethanol-blended petrol

Our Bureau

Not enough material left for oil companies, says expert

During the NDA rule, 36.80 crore litres of ethanol were required for running the scheme and only 19 crore litres were available, and the scheme had to be given up.

DR N.A. RAMAIAH

Visakhapatnam , June 14

The Union Government's mandate to oil companies to blend petroleum with five per cent ethanol from October 1 is premature, as there is not enough ethanol being produced in the country, and the decision should therefore be deferred, said Dr N.A. Ramaiah, former director of the National Sugar Institute (Kanpur) and of the Deccan Sugar Institute (Pune).

In an interview to Business Line, Dr Ramaiah said that the pilot scheme to blend petrol with ethanol taken up during the NDA regime had failed due to the same reason.

He said that an estimated 90-95 crore litres of ethanol would be needed by the oil companies for blending (5 per cent) with petrol, while at present all the distilleries in the country are producing 130 crore litres per annum.

"But 85-90 per cent of the ethanol is being used for production of value-added chemicals such as acetic acid and potable liquor.

"Therefore, there is very little left for blending with petrol," he explained.

He said that during the NDA rule, 36.80 crore litres of ethanol were required for running the scheme and only 19 crore litres were available, and the scheme had to be given up.

SOLUTION

"The solution to the problem lies in setting up of cane-based alcohol units by the oil companies themselves or others. We have the technology to produce alcohol directly from cane and it would also result in considerable saving of bagasse for surplus power generation," he contended.

According to Dr Ramaiah's calculations, production of ethanol (alcohol) by direct fermentation of cane juice would be more economical than the conventional method adopted in the sugar factories (of producing crystal sugar and molasses and then extracting alcohol out of the latter).

A 5,000-TCD (tonnes of cane per day) factory would be able to generate income of roughly Rs 49.3 crore through direct fermentation method and Rs 31.59 crore through the conventional method, he opined.

RELIANCE FACTORIES

Welcoming the decision of the Reliance Industries Ltd to set up three 10,000 TCD cane-based ethanol factories in Maharashtra, Dr Ramaiah, however, felt that Maharashtra was not the right location for the units, as there was scarcity of cane in that State. "North Karnataka, or Andhra Pradesh, where plenty of cane is available would have been right," he said.

In particular, Andhra Pradesh would be the ideal state for setting up the cane-based ethanol units not only by the RIL, but other oil companies as well, as several new irrigation projects are coming up in the State.

"The oil companies should arrive at an understanding with the AP Government for setting up these units in the command area of the new projects," he said.

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