HPCL-Mittal to start bio-ethanol plant in 2023

SINGAPORE India's HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd will start a bio-ethanol plant at its Bathinda refinery in northern India in 2023 as part of measures to reduce its carbon emissions, a company official said on Wednesday.

Pravin Shirke, assistant general manager at HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd HMEL, told the Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference APPEC that the plant will be operational next year, because the company is in the process of constructing 100,000 tons per annum ethanol plant based on agricultural inputs like waste food.

HMEL is a joint venture between state-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd and Mittal Energy Investments.

India, the world's third largest oil importer and consumer, has increased the excise duty exemption for biofuels to encourage the blending of higher proportions of ethanol and components of vegetable oil with gasoline and diesel.

India plans to introduce 20 per cent ethanol blending with gasoline in some parts of the country in April next year, followed by a nationwide roll out from 2025 to 26.