Assessing feasibility of 1g ethanol project for HPCL

Abstract

The Indian automobile industry was the fifth largest automobile market in the year 2020 with nearly 22 million automobile’ units sold in FY20 across segments including commercial vehicles, passenger vehicles, two wheelers, and three wheelers. Although there is a gradual transition from fuel powered vehicles to electric vehicles, the lack of infrastructure and charging ecosystem still prove to be hurdles in wider acceptance of electric vehicles. Hence, EVs covered only about 1.3%2 of the vehicles sold in FY 2021. The Indian oil & gas industry is one of the core industries in India and is positively correlated with the GDP. With India aiming to become a $5 trillion economy by 2025 and poised to become a $8.6 trillion economy by 2040, the oil & gas demand for the country is expected to grow to 1.1 billion litres3 As of 2015-16, a large share of the Petroleum products was contributed by Diesel(41%) and Petrol( 12%)4. However, the environmental impact of using fossil fuels to power vehicles continues unabated. Most developed countries have explored biofuels or blending of biofuels with petrol and diesel to reduce the impact on the environment. India is also planning to blend ethanol with petrol through the E20 plan roll out by 2025. '