The government is considering a new plan to mix 5% ethanol with diesel (ED-5) as it gets close to its goal of 20% ethanol-blended petrol within two years. A meeting at the Prime Minister's Office was held to discuss this, with trials on older buses showing promising results. More trials on heavy-duty vehicles are expected soon.

NEW DELHI: The government is considering a new plan to mix 5% ethanol with diesel (ED-5) as it gets closer to reaching the goal of 20% ethanol blend in petrol over the next two years.

Last week, the PMO held a meeting on the new proposal with all ministries concerned, sources said.

In June, ethanol blending with petrol touched 15.9%. Sources said they want to get the ground ready for ethanol blending in diesel.

"Though ethanol blending in diesel will mean that we have to produce more of this green fuel, it will be good for the environment and cut our crude oil imports and save foreign exchange," said an official.

TOI has learned that the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) conducted a trial run in 2018-19.

The trial was conducted on BS-III and BS-VI buses to evaluate their performance, emissions, and durability. The test lasted 500 hours, and no major issues were found. Sources said the pilot project showed that fuel consumption was slightly lower than with regular diesel.

However, ethanol-blended diesel has not yet been tested on BS-VI vehicles. One of the public sector oil companies is likely to conduct a trial on a heavy-duty vehicle to assess its performance.

Recently, while replying to a question in RS, petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said blending of ethanol with diesel was at an experimental stage and initial tests showed the formation of deposits in fuel tanks and other implications.