ETHANOL BLENDING TARGET YEAR SHIFTED

ETHANOL BLENDING TARGET YEAR SHIFTED

Subject : Economy

Context :Ethanol-petrol-blending 20% target date advanced to 2025.

Concept :

• As India looks to cut carbon emissions and reduce oil imports, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday announced that the deadline for achieving 20% ethanol-blending with petrol was pushed to 2025 in the country.
• The government set a target of reaching 10% ethanol-blending in petrol by 2022 last year, and aimed to mix 20% of ethanol mixed with 90 per cent of diesel by 2030.

About Ethanol

• Ethanol is a bio-fuel obtained primarily from sugarcane, damaged food grains such as wheat and broken rice.
• It has a higher octane number than gasoline and hence, it improves the petrol octane number.
• Mixing it with petrol eases the pressure on India, which is the world’s third-biggest oil importer, and also helps farmers as it provides them with an alternate source of income.
• It is also environment-friendly as agriculture waste is less polluting.