Ethanol blending

Also called: E20 · Topic: Energy Resources of India: Conventional and Non-conventional · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

Ethanol blending means mixing ethanol (an alcohol fuel made when yeast ferments sugar or starch) into petrol. E20 means petrol with 20% ethanol. India reached E20 in 2025, five years before the original 2030 target [1]. It matters because India buys most of its crude oil from abroad. Every litre of ethanol made at home means less oil to import, lower carbon emissions and more income for farmers who grow cane, maize and grain.

Explanation

How ethanol is made and blended

• Cause: India needs a cleaner, home-grown fuel to use in place of some imported petrol.
• Process:
• Crops rich in sugar or starch (cane juice, molasses, maize, grain) are fermented with yeast.
• Molasses is the thick syrup left after sugar is taken out of cane juice.

• The ethanol is then mixed into petrol at a fixed share: 5% (E5), 10% (E10) or 20% (E20).

• Result:

• Less crude oil is needed.
• The fuel burns cleaner.
• Farmers get a new buyer for their crops.

What it can be made from (feedstock)

• Policy base: the National Policy on Biofuels, 2018, amended in 2022.
• The 2018 policy allowed raw materials beyond sugarcane, such as maize and surplus grain [1].

• The 2022 amendment also allows [3]:

  • damaged food grains (broken rice, grain unfit for people to eat)
  • surplus grain, when the National Biofuel Coordination Committee declares a surplus
  • crop residue (rice straw, cotton stalk, corn cobs, sawdust, bagasse)
  • corn, cassava, rotten potatoes, maize, cane juice and molasses

• Generations of ethanol:

• First-generation (1G): made from food crops such as cane, grain and maize.
• Second-generation (2G): made from lignocellulosic biomass (the tough, woody plant material in straw, stalks and bamboo). It does not use food.

• Third-generation (3G): made from refinery off-gas (the waste gas from oil refining) [3].

• PM JI-VAN Yojana (2019, amended 2024) gives money for 2G projects [3][5].

• Over ₹908 crore was approved for six commercial and four demonstration 2G projects (as of December 2024) [5].

How blending grew: the timeline

• 2001: pilot programme started [1].
• 2006: E5 brought in across several states [1].
• Up to 2014: blending stayed near 1.5%, because sugarcane alone could not supply enough ethanol [1].
• June 2022: E10 reached, five months early [1].
• 2025: E20 reached, five years before the original 2030 target [1].

Ethanol supply year	Blending
2020-21	~8.1%
2021-22	10.0%
2022-23	12.1%
2023-24	14.6%
2024-25	19.2%
2025-26 (Nov–June)	20%

• Production jump: from about 40 crore litres around 2014 to about 400 crore litres by 2022 [4]. Yearly supply later came close to 1,200 crore litres [1].

Gains and costs

• Gains since ethanol supply year 2014-15 (reported July 2026) [1]:
• over ₹1.97 lakh crore saved in foreign exchange
• about 316 lakh tonnes of crude oil replaced
• about 952 lakh tonnes of CO₂ cut

• over ₹1.66 lakh crore paid to farmers

• Octane boost:

• Octane shows how well a fuel resists "knocking" (burning too early inside the engine).

• The Research Octane Number (RON) of ethanol is about 108.5. Petrol's is 84.4. E20 lifts Indian petrol to about 95 [1].

• Climate: E20 can cut lifecycle carbon emissions by nearly 40% [1].

• Costs and worries:
• Some vehicles may lose 3–5% of mileage on E20 [1].
• The government reports no E20-related damage in 1.5 crore older vehicles serviced by Maruti Suzuki in FY 2025-26 [1].
• Maize-based ethanol is bought at about ₹71.86 per litre. When crude oil costs about USD 70 a barrel, E20 can cost the same as plain petrol, or more [1].

Where it occurs

• All of India: the Ethanol Blended Petrol Programme works under the National Policy on Biofuels, 2018 (amended 2022). E5 began in several states in 2006, and E20 was reached in 2025 [1].
• Sugarcane belt: Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka grow most of the cane. Parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka are drought-prone [3].
• Maize: output rose from 337.30 LMT (2021-22) to 443 LMT (2024-25) as demand for ethanol grew [3].
• Panipat (Haryana):
• IOCL Panipat is India's first commercial 2G ethanol plant. It runs on paddy straw and was dedicated to the nation on 10 August 2022 (World Biofuel Day) [3][4].
• Farmers in Haryana and Punjab burn the leftover rice stubble (parali), which adds to winter smog in Delhi-NCR. The plant gives that straw a buyer, so less stubble is burnt [4].

• IOCL also runs a 3G ethanol plant at Panipat, which uses refinery off-gas [3].

• Numaligarh (Assam): a bamboo-based 2G biorefinery, built by Numaligarh Refinery Ltd. through Assam Bio-Ethanol Pvt. Ltd. [3].

Don't confuse with

• E10 vs E20: E10 (10% ethanol) was reached in June 2022. E20 (20%) was reached in 2025 [1]. E5 came first, in 2006.
• 1G vs 2G ethanol: 1G uses food crops (cane, grain, maize), so it feeds the food-versus-fuel debate. 2G uses non-food crop waste such as paddy straw or bamboo, so it avoids that debate.
• Ethanol vs compressed biogas (CBG): ethanol is a liquid alcohol, made by fermenting sugar or starch, and blended into petrol. CBG is mostly methane gas, made by anaerobic decomposition (rotting without air), and mixed into CNG and PNG under SATAT and GOBARdhan [2].
• 2G vs 3G at Panipat: both are IOCL plants in Panipat. The 2G plant uses paddy straw. The 3G plant uses refinery off-gas [3].

Prelims Hooks

• Order of blending milestones: E5 (2006) → E10 (June 2022) → E20 (2025). E20 came five years before the 2030 target [1].
• Plant–place–feedstock pairs: Panipat (Haryana): 2G from paddy straw. Numaligarh (Assam): 2G from bamboo. Panipat: 3G from refinery off-gas [3].
• The 2G plant at Panipat was dedicated on 10 August 2022, World Biofuel Day [4].
• RON of ethanol is about 108.5, against 84.4 for petrol. E20 lifts effective octane to about 95 [1].
• PM JI-VAN Yojana (2019, amended 2024) funds 2G ethanol, not 1G [3][5].
• Trap: under the 2022 amendment, surplus grain can be used only when the National Biofuel Coordination Committee declares a surplus [3].

Mains Points

• Energy security and farm income (GS-III): ethanol blending saved over ₹1.97 lakh crore in foreign exchange and paid over ₹1.66 lakh crore to farmers since 2014-15 [1]. The farmer becomes an "Urjadata" (energy giver) as well as an "Annadata" (food giver).
• Regional trade-offs:
• Sugarcane needs a lot of water, and it grows in drought-prone parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka.
• In sugar season 2024-25, 34 LMT of sugar went to ethanol. Even so, sugar availability (340 LMT) stayed above domestic demand (281 LMT) [3].
• Using more maize for ethanol can raise the cost of poultry and cattle feed.

• Policy responses: shifting farmers from rice and sugarcane to maize, drip irrigation under "Per Drop More Crop" [3], and zero liquid discharge distilleries.

• 2G ethanol as a circular-economy fix: paddy-straw ethanol at Panipat cuts stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana, which reduces winter smog in Delhi-NCR [4]. It also ends the food-versus-fuel conflict. Scaling it up depends on JI-VAN funding and on collecting enough crop waste.

Related concepts

• Bio-energy
• Biogas
• Compressed biogas

Read more

• Bio-energy, biogas and biofuels