New Delhi, Oct 14 (IANS): Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari on Monday said that the research on blending 15 per cent ethanol in diesel is in advanced stages, and the Centre is exploring the prospects around how to prioritise it based on sound evidence.

Addressing the 12th ‘CII Bioenergy Summit 2024’ in the national capital, the minister urged the industry to focus their research on the most efficient sources of biomass, as well as efficient transportation of that biomass at economical cost.

"Progress on building an ethanol ecosystem - where ethanol pumps can complement ethanol production and launch of vehicles that can run on ethanol are on fast-track in four states -- Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra," he said. E

Ethanol blending in the country has surged from 1.53 per cent in 2014 to 15 per cent in 2024, according to government data.

Spurred by this progress, the government has set an ambitious target of reaching 20 per cent blending in petrol by 2025.

“Indian Oil has decided to put 400 Ethanol pump stations. We are holding a meeting with stakeholders on this soon. We are meeting automakers as well including Suzuki, Tata, and Toyota. These automakers have decided to launch flex-engine cars. Other vehicle-makers like TVS, Bajaj, and Honda are ready with Ethanol bikes and are waiting for the Ethanol pumps to come to launch their bikes,” Minister Gadkari noted.

The minister further stated that he is focusing on encouraging an increase in ethanol production in four states where pumps have been announced.

On CNG, the minister said that more than 475 projects are in the pipeline, and over 40 projects have already started across Punjab, Haryana, western UP, and Karnataka, among others.

"Most of them have found viability due to the use of rice straw. The conversion ratio of rice straw to CNG at present is somewhere around 5:1 (in tonnes). We need to study deeper which of the biomass can give us CNG more efficiently," said the Union Minister.

"We also need to explore further technologies of conversion of municipal solid waste into bio-CNG, where the cost of raw-material becomes zero. A pilot project is underway in this area as well," he noted.

Amid geopolitical uncertainties, India's annual fossil fuel import bill at Rs 22 lakh crore doesn’t augur well, the minister said, adding that we need to leverage biofuel for self-reliance in fuels, boost the agricultural economy and make our farmers prosper.