The PMO last week held a meeting on the new proposal with all ministries concerned, sources said.
In June, ethanol blending with petrol touched 15.9%. Sources said govt wants to get the ground ready for ethanol blending in diesel. "Though ethanol blending in diesel will mean that we have to produce more of this green fuel, it will be good for the environment and cut our crude oil imports and save foreign exchange," said an official.
TOI has learned that Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) had done a trial run in 2018-19. The trial was done on BS-III and BS-VI buses to assess vehicular performance, emission and durability. The test was conducted for 500 hours and no major failure was recorded. Sources said the pilot project found fuel consumption was slightly lower than normal diesel.
However, the trial of ethanol-blended diesel has so far not been done on BS-VI vehicles. One of the oil PSUs is likely to undertake a trial of the fuel on a heavy-duty vehicle for assessment.
Recently, while replying to a question in RS, petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri said blending of ethanol with diesel was at an experimental stage and initial tests showed the formation of deposits in fuel tanks and other implications.
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