Pune: The government announced the mandatory blending of Compressed Bio-Gas (CBG) in the CNG (Transport) and PNG (Domestic) segments of the City Gas Distribution (CGD) sector. This decision is a major opportunity for the sugar industry, which can produce CBG from press mud and spent wash, said Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar.
Pawar urged sugar mills to explore CBG production as a viable alternative, citing the country’s CBG production capacity of 20 lakh tonnes, which could generate an annual income of Rs. 12 thousand crores.
Pawar, who was speaking at the 47th annual general meeting of the VSI (Vasantdada Sugar Institute), said that CBG production would help to stabilize and make sugar mills more economically viable.
Pawar also praised the government’s ambitious program to blend ethanol with petrol. He said that the government has offered different prices for ethanol produced from different feedstocks to achieve its target of blending 20% ethanol with petrol by 2025.
The government’s decision to blend CBG with CNG and PNG is a positive step towards reducing India’s dependence on imported oil and promoting sustainable energy. It is also a major opportunity for the sugar industry to diversify its operations and become more profitable.
