Overview
- The Centre told Parliament on Monday that ethanol blended into diesel sharply lowered diesel’s flash point and therefore did not meet required safety specifications, effectively halting plans to blend ethanol into diesel for now.
- Public-sector oil marketing companies conducted the trials at their R&D centres in collaboration with accredited laboratories and automakers, and the Ministry of Petroleum reported the test findings to the Rajya Sabha.
- E20 petrol (about 20% ethanol) remains in use and has been judged safe under laboratory and field trials, and the government has made no decision to raise petrol ethanol blending above 20 percent.
- Officials said ethanol is being examined as a possible household cooking fuel to reduce LPG imports and absorb surplus production but that no policy or approval exists to introduce it for kitchens at present.
- The government has expanded procurement and support for domestic ethanol production through large tenders, subsidies and distillery conversion help, and experts warn that rapid scaling could shift crop patterns, increase water demand and create environmental trade‑offs to watch for.