The Department of Food and Public Distribution(DFPD) estimates that 20% ethanol blending will save the country up to Rs. 30,000 crore in crude import bills, additionally to producing greener fuel.
By 2025-26, India is predicted to supply around 1,350 crore liters of ethanol to hide its ethanol blending needs also as for other purposes, consistent with the plan. Approximately 666 crores of ethanol would be produced solely from grains, with the rest coming from sugarcane. Public sector oil marketing businesses have committed for a supply of 323 crore liters of ethanol within the 2020-21 ethanol year (which runs from November 2020 to October 2021), which is enough for 8.5 percent blending.
Corn is that the commonest source of ethanol within the world, accounting for 73% of all ethanol produced. the remainder is formed from sugarcane.
A corn-based distillery may generate dried distillers’ grains containing solubles, which may be a protein-rich element in poultry and animal feed, additionally to ethanol.“Any corn-based distillery that comes up now would need to have a DDGS plant integrated into it in order that not just ethanol but also protein-rich DDGS diet for poultry and cattle feed is produced,” Pandey said. within the next few years, up to 100 new distilleries are projected to open around the country.
At the instant, India produces 280 lakh tonnes of corn, of which only 20% is consumed by humans. within the cow feed sector, over 60% is consumed in raw form. However, DDGS will provide you with a superior meal. “Another 20% is employed for industrial purposes,” Pandey explained.
The government intends to use rice until corn becomes available for ethanol production, which it’ll give to distilleries at a price of 20,000 per tonne. Rice is employed as a feedstock to supply continuity until maize becomes available, consistent with the Food Secretary. “Broken rice from the market is more cheaper than the FCI rice monetarily, therefore the industry remains using it as a feedstock,”Pandey explained.
By 2025-26, sugar mills should be ready to divert enough cane juice, B-, and C-heavy molasses to supply 60 lakh tonnes of sugar for ethanol production, offering the world an choice to affect excess sugar production. India has been producing surplus sugar per annum since 2010, with the exception of 2016-17, consistent with official data. the govt has been providing export subsidies to the sugar industry to assist them to affect the excess .“However, India won’t be ready to provide such subsidies beyond December 2023 under WTO rules,” Pandey stated.
India’s crop diversification challenges are likely to be aided by plans to use large amounts of corn to produce ethanol for its fuel blending program, which is intended to mix 20% ethanol with motor spirit by 2025-26.
Maize is the major crop of India after rice and wheat that provides food, feed, and fodder to the livestock (Fig.1) and serves as a source of basic raw materials for a number of industrial products mainly starch, corn oil, corn syrup, alcoholic beverages, cosmetics, bio-fuel and many more. Earlier the research emphasis was laid on the development of composite maize varieties, double-cross, and three-way cross hybrids. However, with the realization of the advantages of single cross hybrid over double-crossing, three-way cross, and composites, the research was focused on the development of single-cross hybrids. The Directorate of Maize Research, India played a pivotal role in this direction. As a result of single cross hybrid (SCH) technology, maize achieved the highest growth rate (6.7%) amongst cereals as against the required growth rate of 4.7% set by the XI planning commission of India As a result India became an importer to exporter of maize.
India and ethanol production
India now features a surplus of corn and sorghum which will be economically processed into ethanol so on meet the emerging energy demands of the state and therefore the world (India and Ethanol Production.mht). International-Planners is planning the development, of 20 regional grain to ethanol conversion facilities in India, to assist the national petroleum ministry, fulfill its mandate, and provide drivers with auto, bus, truck & train fuels that have got to contain a minimum of 5% ethanol by the year 2012. they’re going to produce 6,000,000 gallons of ethanol a month, Ending India’s reliance upon foreign fuel additives and doubling the income of the typical farmworkers’ family so on make them economically independent. These ethanol production centers are often inbuilt in the 20 different states producing corns, sugar cane & sorghum. India now has got to import 15 million barrels of ethanol a year. The Indian government has recently offered to underwrite 75% of the development costs of ethanol biomass production centers so as to stimulate national ethanol production. The ethanol production centers will produce those 15 million barrels of ethanol for India’s needs, which can save India annually quite Rupees 9,000,000,000~$760,000,000.
Corn to Ethanol: Economics
The bio-fuel concept is gaining momentum slowly. Bio-fuel is garnering larger and bigger shares of the fuel markets. within the USA, ethanol production tripled in a previous couple of years from 2.8 billion gallons in 2003 to over 9 billion gallons in 2008 (Ling Tao and Andy Aden 2009). Under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA 2007), 36 billion gallons of renewable fuel are required by 2022. Out of which, 15 billion gallons is corn-based ethanol. Most of the ethanol produced in the USA springs from corn only. The dry-grind process is more prevalent (RFA 2008). As a result, ethanol produced from wet-mill is comparatively lower (2.5 gals per bushel) than from dry-grind processes (2.8 gals per bushel) (Ling Tao and Andy Aden 2009). Dry-grind Ethanol process Products are ethanol (2.8 gals.), DDGS (18 lbs.), CO2 (18 lbs.), and 150-bushel corn yield 413 gallons of ethanol per acre, 2700 pounds of DDGS (Douglas G. Tiffany).
These high-value co-products have the potential to accelerate the value of ethanol production. The establishment of huge-scale industries can make ethanol production more economical. The variation of Ethanol production potential ranges up to 7% depending upon different corn hybrids (Pioneer’s report) The enormous debate over the potential benefits of bio-fuel has taken place for the concept of net energy. Various studies have accounted that ethanol and co-products manufactured from corm yielded positive net energy and this will be of about 4 MJ/l to 9 MJ/l (Farrell 2006). The study that ignored co-products but used recent data found a small positive net energy for corn ethanol. Studies that reported negative net energy ignored the co-products and used a number of the obsolete data incorrectly