E20 fuel

Context

• The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is planning to adopt the E20 fuel.

What is E20 fuel?

• It is a blend of 20% of ethanol with gasoline.
• It will help in reducing emissions of carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons, etc.
• It will help reduce the oil import bill, thereby saving foreign exchange and boosting energy security.

How the ethanol would be attained?

• Ethanol is a biofuel and a common by-product of biomass left by agricultural feedstock such as corn, sugarcane, hemp, potato, etc.

What is the current status?

• The current permissible level of blending is 10% of ethanol though India reached only 5.6% of blending in 2019.

What would be required to adopt it?

• There would be a need to adapt the vehicular changes according to the fuel.