News Brief
Ethanol-Diesel Blend Fails; Government Now Testing Isobutanol: Gadkari Continues To Push Biofuels Despite Backlash
Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari. (Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times via GettyImages) (File Photo)
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday (11 September) said the Centre’s plan to blend ethanol with diesel has not worked, and trials are now underway with isobutanol, Zee News reported.
“Experiments were carried out to blend 10 per cent ethanol with diesel, but they turned out to be unsuccessful. Now efforts are being made to blend diesel with isobutanol, which is a derivative of ethanol,” Gadkari said at the India Sugar and Bio-Energy Conference.
The government has already rolled out E20, petrol mixed with 20 per cent ethanol, across India, replacing the earlier E10 fuel. Initially launched at select stations in April 2023, E20 became the nationwide standard by April 2025.
Also Read: Odisha CM Majhi Approves Rs 240-Crore Mahanadi Riverfront Project In Sambalpur And Bhubaneswar
Gadkari dismissed criticism on social media that the ethanol programme was flawed, calling it a “paid campaign” and noting that the Supreme Court had dismissed petitions against the initiative.
Highlighting that about 85 per cent of India’s fossil fuel needs are met through imports, Gadkari emphasised that biofuels are essential for reducing costs and pollution. He said the government is focusing on increasing domestic biofuel production to curb reliance on crude oil, noting that such fuels are both cheaper and more affordable.
He noted that compressed biogas would be used in tractors, while aviation and fertiliser sectors would also adopt biofuels sourced from corn, bamboo, rice stalks and sugarcane. Corn acreage, he added, has “increased threefold” with the push for biofuels.
Union Minister Prahlad Joshi said, “Today, we stand at the moment of transformation where the sugarcane farmers, the sugarcane industry and the energy sectors are making a sheer glory of progress.”
