After E20 push in petrol, diesel-isobutanol blend mandate likely this year. Here's what that means

THe amerind authorities is potential to innovate a mandatory permitting blending isobutanol with diesel by the end of this year, secretary of the ministry of roads, transport and highways (MoRTH), V Umashankar has said. The move is expected to bolster energy security in the country while simultaneously decarbonising the roads and highways sector, he told news agency PTI recently.“Blending of diesel has been looked into with great seriousness. Bharat Petroleum is already undertaking strategic research for isobutanol blending with diesel. And the results are very encouraging,” he added. “It is quite likely that the blending mandate will start coming in somewhere later this year.”Isobutanol, also called isobutyl alcohol, is frequently used as a solvent in the flavor, fragrance, pharmaceutical, and pesticide industries along with being a chemical manufacturing ingredient for products like lacquer, paint strippers, paint primer, and craft paints. Similar to ethanol, it is often used as a biofuel and can be manufactured from plants. Since diesel consumption is twice that of petrol in the country, as revealed by Umashankar, blending in diesel will have a far greater impact on the country's energy security and foreign imports compared to petrol mandates.In his address at the ‘CII Multimodal Transportation and Logistics Summit’, Umashankar also revealed that ministry may release a draft notification on truck-trailers interchangeability soon. This is expected to build an ecosystem that needs battery-swapping and battery charging for electric heavy-duty commercial vehicles.How E20 fuelled controversiesThis development marks the latest in a series of initiatives in the government's blending programme which has taken off in the last decade or so.PM Narendra Modi listed the country's switch to E20 (a blend of 20 per cent ethanol with petrol) as a saviour in the face of the current fuel crisis sparked by the US-Israeli attack on Iran.“In this time of crisis, another preparation of the country is proving very useful: in the last 10-11 years, unprecedented work has been done on ethanol production and blending” the PM told the Lower House of Parliament in a 20-minute speech in March of this year.“A decade ago, the country had a capacity of only 1% ethanol blending. Today, we are close to achieving 20% ethanol blending in petrol. Due to this, in the last year, we have had to import about 4.5 crore barrels less oil."This move didn't come without its share of controversy, though.Concerns of vehicle erosion and a drop in mileage were presented by several owners, as previously reported by HT.Road minister Nitin Gadkari and oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri have repeatedly dismissed such claims with Gadkari even blaming this position on manipulations by the petroleum lobby.Secretary Umashankar has also responded to similar concerns: "There have been some concerns about blending at the lower level (E20), but here it is a little different because the vehicle is manufactured differently. It will have a separate (fuel) dispenser also at the petrol pumps for dispensing E85 or E100 fuel, unlike normally blended petrol, which is done through a common dispenser."Now, the ministry has also issued a draft notification for E85 (a blend of 85 per cent ethanol with petrol) and E100 (which would allow vehicles to run on nearly pure ethanol) vehicle manufacturing requirements.In addition, amendments have been proposed to vehicle emission rules in order to expand the scope for higher ethanol blends and alternative fuels.Truck-trailers and barrier-free tollsThe draft notification on truck-trailers, in addition, is expected to cater to concerns of building an ecosystem that requires battery-swapping and battery charging for electric heavy duty commercial vehicles, ANI reports.“If you have to look at battery swapping, then there will have to be several points which will have to be provided with this kind of infrastructure for swapping to happen. If you look at battery charging, then it is going to take a good amount of time for the charging to happen. So, does the truck lie idle at that point in time?” Umashankar explained. “So, what we are looking at is what we call a tractor-trailer interchangeability. Where you don't need to swap the battery, you swap the entire front part of the truck."In responses to questions regarding experimentation with hydrogen-based models, Umshankar revealed that results have been good so far. “The results are very good. The key cost is comparable with respect to other forms of logistics travel. It's not high. The only high-cost element is the hydrogen refuelling stations. And presently in the pilot projects, government support (is) being provided,” he said.Recently, hydrogen buses have been introduced at a public level between Delhi-Faridabad and Delhi-Noida. "...the hydrogen refuelling station has already been supported and set up under this scheme. On fuelling, it travels 450 kms before it needs a refuel. So if you take Delhi-Mumbai as a corridor, then maybe three refuelling stations along the highway at the new expressway," the secretary added.Multi-Lane Free Flow (MLFF), a barrier-less toll system which has already been introduced at two toll plazas is likely to be expanded in the forthcoming year. "And the third one is likely to go live in the next 8-10 days. We plan to expand this to all the toll plazas, four-lane plus toll plazas across the country within the forthcoming year," Umashankar said.An advanced traffic management system is expected to be implemented by the government where slow-moving and fast-moving traffic will be segregated in order to increase the average speed of vehicles on roads and highways.