Key highlights
- Government to mix 15 per cent isobutanol in diesel
- Next phase of the biofuel programme incoming
- Isobutanol-blended diesel could reach fuel stations later this year
While the ethanol-blended petrol is still making headlines due to its controversial nature, the Indian government is set to take the next big step in its biofuel policy. The latest announcement comes from Nitin Gadkari, who has revealed that bio-diesel is soon going to hit the Indian fuel pumps soon.
What is the isobutanol diesel?
Isobutanol is a four-carbon alcohol biofuel, which is generally used in paints and chemicals. However, it can be mass-produced from biomass like crops and water, and it can be blended with diesel to provide conventional diesel-like performance and efficiency, but at a lower cost.
The reason behind blending isobutanol, and not ethanol, is that it is much less corrosive than ethanol. Additionally, it produces much more energy than ethanol-blended diesel, and it offers better lubrication for the engine as opposed to ethanol.
Why blend isobutanol in diesel?
Making mass-level biodiesel has been a largely unsuccessful model globally. However, India depends largely on foreign countries for its energy supply, especially fuel. The recent US-Iran war showcased that India needs a big reform and requires more independence from the foreign fuel supply chain.
Hence, to increase self-sustainability and lower emissions, along with lower diesel prices, the idea of blending isobutanol was proposed on paper. However, this can go wrong in a lot of ways.
What can go wrong?
While the government claims that it has successfully tested 15 per cent isobutanol blending in diesel, and it has successfully run generators and engine on this fuel in the lab experiments, the ground reality could be completely opposite.
The sudden aggression from motorists pan-India after the inclusion of ethanol in petrol has already shown that these lab experiments can be completely wrong. While the government agencies and automakers keep sharing press releases claiming that E20 is safe, the ground reality seems otherwise.
Now, we already have E20-compliant vehicles in India, and they too are being reported to be suffering from the ethanol blending. So, what about biodiesel, of which not a single vehicle is present in the market? In fact, no diesel car or truck can support isobutanol.
Hence, there has been no actual testing of this fuel, and the game relies on hope and possibilities for the government – that nothing goes wrong with it. But if isobutanol also starts to cause problems in cars and commercial vehicles, the whole transportation sector is going to take a big hit.
So, for now, the Indian automotive market is not only undergoing a big change, it is also undergoing a massive phase of uncertainty and confusion.
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