U.P. to allow production of ethanol directly from cane juice

LUCKNOW: Sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh can now produce ethanol directly from sugarcane juice. The decision to enable mill owners to produce ethanol from cane juice was taken at a Cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Mayawati on Tuesday.

To facilitate the changeover from the earlier practice of producing ethanol from molasses, the Cabinet approved the amendment to Sections 2 and 17 of the Uttar Pradesh Cane (Supply and Procurement) Act, 1953, and Sections 3 and 8 of the Uttar Pradesh Cane (Purchase) Act, 1961.

Remunerative price

The Mayawati Government’s decision comes in the wake of the notification issued by the Union Government on December 28, 2007 under the Sugarcane (Control) Order, 1966. Following the amendment made by the Central Government it was imperative on the part of the State Government to grant permission to the sugar mills for producing ethanol directly from cane juice.

According to an official statement here, apart from saving valuable foreign exchange, the Cabinet decision would enable the loss-making sugar mills to improve their financial position. Besides, the cane growers would get remunerative price for their produce, simultaneously enabling the sugar mills to tide over the problem of cane price arrears.

The U.P. Government move assumes significance in view of the Union Government’s recent decision to permit mixing of 10 per cent ethanol with petrol for producing gasohol. The new system would become effective from October 1, 2008. As of now, 5 per cent ethanol is blended with petrol. To reduce dependence on petroleum products, the Union Government in 2001-02 launched a pilot project in U.P. and Maharashtra. The pilot project pertained to blending 5 per cent ethanol with petrol.

Pilot project

Following the success of the pilot project, the Union Government by its order dated November 1, 2006, extended the ambit of ethanol blending with petrol in all the terminals and oil depots in 20 States and four Union Territories. In U.P., the Excise Department is the nodal department for ethanol blending with petrol in the oil depots owned by the Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, I.B.P. Company Limited and Reliance Industries Limited.

In addition to the ethanol produced (at present from molasses) by the State’s sugar mills, around 25 distilleries have been given the licence to produce ethanol. According to the Excise Department’s budget estimates for 2008-09, the total production capacity in U.P. of ethanol/absolute alcohol is around 60.79 crore litres.