- Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited(BPCL) will set up Maharashtra’s first ever ethanol biorefinery in Vidarbha’s Bhandara district.The plant will manufacture ethanol from rice straw.
- The Government of India is encouraging production of Second Generation(2G) Ethanol from agricultural residues to provide additional sources of remuneration to farmers.
- The Bio-Refineries will also contribute to a cleaner environment due to usage of waste rice straw for Ethanol production thereby reducing waste straw burning in fields.Blending of ethanol in petrol will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions as compared to fossil fuels.
- This will also boost the infrastructural development in the area and overall improvement in livelihood of people.Further,blending of ethanol enhances self-sufficiency of the country by reducing oil imports thereby saving foreign exchange.
- The National Policy on Biofuels,2018 aims to increase the percentage of ethanol in petrol and diesel.Currently,it is at nearly 2% in petrol, while in diesel, biofuel is less than 0.1%.An indicative target of 20% of ethanol in petrol and 5% of biodiesel in diesel is also proposed by 2030.
