New Delhi, April 25
With a recent Covid air quality report showing pollution levels falling to dramatic levels in 10 major cities across the world, including Delhi and Mumbai, during the lockdown, experts are advocating urgent need to maintain the levels even after it is over. They have pitched for achieving the target of 10 per cent blending of biofuel ethanol for vehicular fuel faster.
India has a target to achieve 10 per cent blending of ethanol in vehicle fuel by 2021. At present, it is around 4.5 per cent.
A sound and clear policy regime in terms of pricing, procurement, and blending can help achieve this target, says UNICA, Brazilian industry association of ethanol producers. “Given the vast experience in the production of sugarcane, India has the potential to become the leader in ethanol production in Asia,” it said.
Supporting the thought, Abinash Verma, director general of the Indian Sugar Mills’ Association (ISMA), said, “Ethanol is green fuel, which, when blended with petrol, gives a cleaner environment by reducing carbon emission, increases life of engine, gives better mileage to consumers and reduces net oil import bill, thereby saving foreign exchange and helping sugar mills in the timely payment of cane price to farmers.”
“During the lockdown, there were some problems in the supply of ethanol due to lower consumption of petrol, but oil marketing companies (OMC) have re-allocated the quantities to other locations, where supplies are being made smoothly. The cooperation between the OMCs and sugar companies has ensured successful reallocation to newer depots and supplies are happening more or less as per the contracts,” he said.
During the supply year 2019-20, the total requirement of ethanol placed by OMCs was 511 crore litres, against which letters of intent were issued for 185.7 crore litres and contracts executed for 159 crore litres. Supplied quantity till April 20, 2020, is 60.2 crore litres and blending achieved is 4.5 per cent, explains the ISMA.
A recent report published by Swiss company IQAir, looking at 10 key global cities that normally suffer from high levels of pollution Los Angeles, New York City, London, Madrid, New Delhi, Mumbai, Sao Paulo, Wuhan, Seoul and Rome — found a significant fall in nearly all locations. The report compared measurements from ground-based monitoring stations regarding PM2.5, the small inhalable particles emitted by various sources, including vehicles.
Both Delhi and Mumbai experienced their best March air quality on record in 2020 (49.8 µg/m³ and 34.5 µg/m³ PM2.5, respectively). While April 2020 is also on track to be the best April on record, the current trends should continue, it said.