India launches pilot project to blend gasoline, ethanol

India has inaugurated its first pilot project to blend ethanol with gasoline to produce "gasohol" in Sangli district of the central Maharashtra state, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said. India will blend up to 5% ethanol into gasoline, a byproduct of sugar and molasses, the ministry said in a statement. Gasohol, besides being a more environment-friendly fuel, would also supplement the income of sugarcane farmers, oil minister Ram Naik said at the inauguration ceremony in Sangli last Sunday. Doping of ethanol with gasoline provides the extra oxygen required for complete combustion in engines, resulting in lower carbon monoxide in auto emissions, Naik noted. With up to 6-mil mt of gasoline consumed annually in India, 420-mil liters of anhydrous ethanol could be blended with gasoline at 5%.
Brazil and some other countries blend more than 5% ethanol in gasoline, for use in modified automobiles, the ministry said.

platts.com