India deliberating on E20 fuel to cut vehicular emissions

NEW DELHI: The Government of India has proposed adoption of E20 fuel, which is a blend of 20 per cent of ethanol and gasoline, to reduce vehicular emissions.  With adoption of E20 fuel as an automobile fuel, the government aims to reduce one of the major causes of air pollution in India, which is vehicular emission. This will also reduce country’s import bill thereby saving foreign exchange and boosting energy security.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has released a notification inviting comments from the public on adoption of the E20 fuel. The present-day permissible level of blending is 10 per cent of ethanol, which is a biofuel and a common by-product of biomass left by agricultural feedstock.  However, India reached only 5.6 per cent of blending in 2019. Nitin Gadkari, Minister of MoRTH, stressed on the significance of the move and said that it aims to promote green fuel like ethanol and to reduce India’s huge crude import dependence, worth Rs 8 lakh crore. An official statement from the MoRTH said that the vehicle manufacturer shall be the one to define compatibility of the vehicle to the percentage of ethanol in the blend of ethanol and gasoline and the same shall be displayed on the vehicle by putting a clearly visible sticker.