Despite the ministry of petroleum and natural gas’ planned move towards cleaner sources of energy, methanol blending of petrol is stuck on the issue of the proportion in which methanol is to be blended with petrol.

“The matter being evaluated right now is the proportion of methanol to be blended. As soon as the optimum percentage is identified, the process will be carried forward,” said a government official requesting anonymity.

India’s push for cleaner sources of fuel comes in the backdrop of its ratification of the Paris climate deal on 2 October. The deal came into force starting 4 November.

“A Niti (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog expert committee is looking into it. The matter is stuck as to how much methanol blending will be best for reducing carbon emission,” said another government official who also did not want to be named, adding there will not be significant changes in the engines of vehicles using methanol blended petrol.

India currently imports one-third of its energy needs and plans to halve its import bill by 2030. The country is currently the world’s third largest consumer for crude oil after China and the US. India imported 202.85 million tonne (MT) of crude oil in 2015-16 at a cost of Rs.4.16 trillion. In 2014-15, the country imported 189 MT of crude oil amounting to Rs.6.87 trillion.

The Union Cabinet on 13 October reduced the price of ethanol to Rs.39 per litre under the Ethanol Blending Programme.

Queries emailed to the spokespersons of the petroleum ministry and Niti Aayog on 25 November remained unanswered.

Experts believe it is an important step that the ministry is looking to come up with alternatives to conventional petrol.

“Starting from ethanol blending which has taken a concrete form, it is encouraging that the government is now coming up with a further energy-efficient form of fuel,” said Raju Kumar, partner at EY, a consultancy.

The government in a statement on 6 September 2016 said adopting methanol as an alternative source of energy was capable of bringing about socioeconomic change in the country, as it would considerably bring down fuel import bill of the country and surplus fund could be diverted in developing the rural economy.

Fount: http://sugarnews.in/methanol-blending-with-petrol-stuck-on-blends-proportion-issue/