Surplus sugar, wheat can be used for ethanol production, says Nitin Gadkari

Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari at Moneycontrol Policy Next summit in New Delhi.

India has a surplus of food crops that can be used for ethanol production, Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari said, as the government looks to lower emissions as well as the country's fuel bill.

Speaking at the inaugural Moneycontrol Policy Next—The Rs 10 Trillion Infra Push summit in New Delhi on March 23, the minister said India had a surplus of sugar, corn and wheat, which could be used for ethanol production to meet the target of 20 percent blending of petrol.

Referring to ethanol as the “fuel of the future”, the minister said the government planned to produce ethanol from broken rice, food grains, corn, sugarcane juice and molasses.

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In 2022, India achieved the target of 10 percent ethanol blending in petrol and now aims to blend 20 percent ethanol in petrol by 2025. This comes as the country has pledged to become a net-zero emissions economy by 2070 amid the global concern of climate change.

In India, ethanol is primarily produced by the process of fermentation of sugar-based crops such as sugarcane. The biofuel is also produced from agriculture residues such as corn and rice stalks and certain heavy molasses — a byproduct of sugar processing.

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“Last year, the country had 60-70 lakh tonne of sugar production. We have surplus in this year as well. So, this the appropriate time to divert sugar to ethanol,” said the minister.

Gadkari also talked about blending methanol in fuel, saying he recently launched 20 buses in Bengaluru that used methanol with diesel.

In March 2023, Gadkari flagged off 20 Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) buses which will run on MD15 fuel (15 per cent Methanol blended with Diesel) on a pilot basis for three months.