Methanol Blend on Cards, India May Trim Oil Import Bill by Rs 5k Crore

by Yogima Seth Sharma and Nishtha Saluja (Economic Times) Gadkari writes to petroleum minister to ensure availability of methanol-blended fuel, which will help cut the consumer’s fuel expenses by 10%. -- The government is looking at introducing methanol-blended fuel pan India — a move that can potentially reduce one’s fuel bill by at least 10%, lower vehicular pollution levels by over 30%, and save the exchequer ₹5,000 crore in annual import bill.

“The ministry of road transport and highways has put the regulatory framework in place, and it is now the petroleum ministry’s job to make the fuel available,” a road ministry official said. The ministry has notified regulatory standards for methanol blends M15, M85 and M100, or neat methanol.

Methanol is currently being manufactured at Assam Petrochemicals where the current production capacity is 100 tonnes per day and the company hopes to ramp up its production six-fold to 600 tonnes per day by April 2020.

Commercial production of methanol from coal will soon be started in West Bengal and Jharkhand with state governments having allotted a dedicated coal mine each for this. READ MORE