Union Food and Public Distribution Secretary Sanjeev Chopra said on Tuesday that efforts are underway to explore ethanol as a possible alternative to LPG. He said preliminary work on ethanol-based cooking solutions had already begun, even as the government seeks to boost demand for the biofuel.
He noted that the move is being evaluated “particularly keeping in view the LPG issues which have come up in recent times". Recent conflict in West Asia has disrupted shipments to India through the Strait of Hormuz, leading to shortages at the grassroots level and pushing up prices.
“We have seen ethanol-based cooking stoves, which have been displayed as a rudimentary kind of model. In case there is a ramp-up, then we need to ensure that the safety is assured, the availability is assured,” Sanjeev Chopra made the remarks during the AIDA Annual Distillers' Conclave 2025 held in the national capital, according to ANI.
He said efforts are also underway to test the supply logistics needed for such a shift. “We can probably do an experiment in the facility of the distilleries whereby the supply chain can be better and more easily established,” Chopra mentioned.
Chopra noted that work on using ethanol as a substitute cooking fuel is still at an early stage.
"So those studies are still going on. It is very early days," he remarked.
On the wider ethanol programme, Chopra said supply capacity had matched the oil sector's needs, adding that supply-side constraints were no longer an issue, even though only 30% blending had been achieved.
He said the government was now focusing on raising demand and was considering multiple options, including increasing the blending percentage, blending ethanol with diesel, and using textile by-products.
He added that these were among the choices available to the government, and a decision would be taken accordingly.
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On feedstock availability, Chopra said the lower offtake of broken rice for ethanol was due to reduced allocation by oil marketing companies.
Chopra said higher allocations from oil marketing companies would help ensure that demand does not become a constraint. He added that diverting supply away from the Food Corporation of India rice towards broken rice could also give a further boost to ethanol production.
Rice quality under PDS Separately, he said the government was testing measures to improve rice quality under the Public Distribution System (PDS), with a pilot project currently underway in five states.
He stated, “Now we have done a pilot this year where the rice that we are generating from the mill has a lower broken percentage of 10% versus 25%, which was there earlier."
According to him, the initiative could be expanded over time to enable the PDS to supply better-quality rice.
He added that the additional broken rice generated during the process could then be supplied to industries that use it as a raw material, including ethanol producers.
Chopra said the programme was still at the pilot stage and would require the necessary approvals before being rolled out nationwide.