Ethanol – Paving Way for India's Environmental Sustainability

The continuous rise in the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) is becoming a serious problem for the environment. In order to cut down GHG emissions, many countries are shifting towards biofuels like bioethanol that are comparatively cleaner fuels for their fleet of vehicles. Many countries such as Brazil, United States, and European Union (EU) are producing bioethanol through different bioethanol generation units to blend it with gasoline up to 20% or more. India is also committed to reduce its GHG emissions.Therefore, through government initiatives like subsidies and biofuel policy, it has been making efforts to increase the amount of bioethanol blending in gasoline for the past two decades. Being renewable energy, bioethanol has many environmental and socioeconomic benefits for India, but at the same time our country is confronted with several challenges in its way to increase the production of bioethanol and its incorporation in transportation fuels. This article discusses the present world scenario of the production and use of bioethanol with its benefits and challenges for India as a developing country.