Delhi and Pune pilot projects for green fuel
India will be taking a big leap in ethanol production while Hydrogen Compressed Natural Gas (HCNG) and pure ethanol pilot projects will be undertaken soon, each in Delhi and Pune as part of the move to increase the use of clean energy.
“We will be doing a pilot project in Delhi on Hydrogen Compressed Natural Gas (HCNG) that will improve efficiency and reduce emissions drastically,” said Tarun Kapoor, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas.
“We want to take a jump in the ethanol production (next year) and we are planning to introduce E12 and E15 shortly,” he told the inaugural session of ‘Alternative Fuel Technology for Vehicles: A Cure-all for Sustainable Mobility’ on 16 Oct 2020.
India is becoming a leader in CNG, there has been a significant transition with the need to move towards cleaner fuels like CNG, ethanol, biodiesel, and electric vehicles stressed Kapoor.
“We need to ensure that CNG is available and affordable ensuring that vehicles are modelled to incorporate CNG smoothly.”
Discussing city gas distribution, he shared that there is significant work happening especially in the infrastructure so that CNG is seamlessly available.
“Gradually, we will have blended petrol all over the country and moving to a higher percentage.
“We have to make pure ethanol available that is happening in several countries and, some countries also have multi-fuel vehicles like Brazil,” said Kapoor.
There is a pilot project which will be implemented for pure ethanol in Pune shortly.
Kapoor impressed on the need to make biodiesel affordable and freely available.
He also highlighted the use of compressed biogas, adding that it is an area of focus as it is important for the agriculture sector where a huge source is available.
Kapoor also discussed biogas plants undertaken by the government to help in producing a large quantity of biogas that will also flow in the city gas distribution network making it available along with CNG.
He noted the marketing companies’ interest in electric vehicles.
“We are looking forward to better swapping coming to the petrol station, retail outlets, putting up electric charging. We look forward to work closely with the industry so that we can go forward, said Kapoor.
P. Arun Prasad, Managing Director of the Chhattisgarh State Industrial Development Corp (CSIDC) spoke at the session about the bioenergy and the initiatives and schemes undertaken by the Chhattisgarh Government to promote bioethanol by using the surplus of rice available in the state.
“We have made it a high priority project for Chhattisgarh and, we have the raw material to produce a large amount of ethanol.”
Prasad highlighted that the energy sector will be one of the core components in making India Self-Reliant.
Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) is being used in some automobile vehicles in some parts of India as it is so in many parts of the world, according to E S Ranganathan, Director-Marketing, Gail India Ltd.
LNG infrastructure is being increased especially on the highways and key road links, Ranganathan pointed out.
But he highlighted the need to have electric vehicles in the country that will help to curb pollution.
The session was organized by PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry in association with CSIDC. It is the first-ever “AFT Virtual Expo & Conclave 2020” with Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC). #fuel #OPEC #biogas #naturalgas #energy #petroleum #pollution #environment /fiinews.com
