The Indian government has provided a sweetener to the Indian sugar industry by giving a premium over the price for ethanol produced from ‘B’ heavy molasses and sugarcane juice with an intention that it will sap some of the sugar from the market and would be instrumental in maintaining the demand and supply gap.
As per the sources of an industry expert, the ball is now in the court of the sugar industry time to help itself and create the necessary infrastructure and facilities to produce ethanol both from B-heavy and sugarcane juice on a regular basis. The Bio-fuel policy also allows the use of other feedstock’s to manufacture ethanol that includes damaged food grains, rotten potato, corn, surplus food grains if any, etc. The industry should also think of the production of ethanol through 2G or 3G technologies.
Approval Committee has approved a list of 60 proposals by various sugar mills nationwide in its meeting held on May 20 under the “Scheme for extending financial assistance to sugar mills for enhancement and augmentation of ethanol production capacity.”
Uttar Pradesh – 6, Maharashtra – 30, Karnataka – 12, Punjab – 1, Tamil Nadu – 1, Andhra Pradesh – 1 Gujarat – 1, Haryana – 2, Bihar – 4, Uttarakhand – 2 are the number of mills state wise that have received approval for financial assistance towards enhancing the ethanol capacity in the sugar mill.
It is said that ethanol is rich in oxygen and, therefore, is considered to be the best oxygenate in the world. The extra oxygen helps the balance petrol to burn more efficiently within the vehicle engine, thereby reducing vehicular emissions which, in turn, reduce environmental pollution. The ethanol accordingly helps in improving air quality.
