Govt mulls steps to put excess biofuel capacity into use

THE MINISTRY OF petroleum and natural gas is formulating a mechanism to address the issue of excess ethanol capacity with the sugar and food grain processing industry, in consultation with the ministry of food.

- SANDIP DAS

The options include easing export of ethanol and laying a roadmap for increasing the share of biofuel blended with petrol.

At present, oil marketing companies procure 11,000 million litres of ethanol made from sugarcane, rice and maize annually for 20% blending with petrol while the existing manufacturing capacity is of around 17,000 million litres.