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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the Chief Guest for the inaugural session of the World Biofuel Day programme.
An official statement said that the World Biofuel Day is observed every year on August 10 to create awareness about the importance of non-fossil fuels as an alternative to conventional fossil fuels. The World Biofuel Day is being observed by the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas for the last three years.
Ethanol blending
According to the statement, ethanol blending in petrol has increased from 38 crore litres in the ethanol supply year 2013-2014 to an estimated 141 crore litres in the ethanol supply year 2017-2018. This is on the back of the Government increasing the prices of C-heavy molasses-based ethanol to Rs 43.70 from Rs 40.85 to give a boost to ethanol blending programme.
Prices of B-heavy molasses-based ethanol and sugarcane juice-based ethanol has been fixed for the first time at Rs 47.40. The Government has reduced the GST on ethanol for blending in fuel from 18 per cent to 5 per cent.
Biodiesel blending in the country had started from August 10, 2015 and in 2018-2019, oil marketing companies have allocated 7.6 crore litres of biodiesel. Oil PSUs are also planning to set up 12 second generation (2G) biorefineries to augment ethanol supply and address environmental issues arising out of burning of agricultural biomass.
The Government has also approved the National Policy on Biofuels-2018 in June 2018. The policy has the objective of reaching 20 per cent ethanol blending and 5 per cent biodiesel blending by 2030. Among other things, the policy expands the scope of feedstock for ethanol production and has provided for incentives for the production of advanced biofuels.
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