India's Biofuel Drive: Diesel To Be Blended With Isobutanol, Not Ethanol, Says Gadkari

Diesel will be blended with isobutanol, and not ethanol, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday.

Blending diesel with ethanol has been "unsuccessful", Gadkari said at an event of the India Sugar & Bio-Energy Conference. "We will use isobutanol to blend with diesel," he added.

Gadkari's comments come amid an ongoing debate over the blending of ethanol with petrol, with critics alleging that the combination adversely impacts vehicle mileage and detrimentally affects engines.

Notably, India recently achieved the target of 20% ethanol blending with petrol, five years ahead of the target. Gadkari, at the ISMA event, said the ethanol blending programme has boosted maize production.

Gadkari had, last month, said the government was working on blending 10% diesel with a biofuel, such as isobutanol. The biofuel programme assumes significance as diesel accounts for 40% of oil used in India, according to the Oil Minister's Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell. The country's overall diesel consumption rose 2% to 91.4 million tonnes in fiscal year 2024-25.

In this backdrop, even a 10% biofuel blending could open a significant market for various industry players. This includes Kirloskar Oil Engines Ltd., which recently unveiled the world's first ethanol and isobutanol engines for genset applications.

Praj Industries Ltd. can also emerge as a beneficiary, with the company developing isobutanol technology to produce sustainable aviation fuel. Oxo-alcohols producer Andhra Petrochemicals Ltd. and bio-based butanol maker Godavari Biorefineries Ltd. are among the other entities poised to benefit.