FIPI pitches for ethanol as clean cooking fuel to cut LPG imports

New Delhi: The petroleum industry has urged stakeholders to develop ethanol as a clean cooking fuel for Indian households, aiming to reduce dependence on imported LPG and expand the country’s biofuel ecosystem.

R S Ravi, Director (Downstream) at the Federation of Indian Petroleum Industry (FIPI), made the appeal at the All India Distillers' Association (AIDA) conference. He highlighted ongoing research into ethanol-based cooking stoves by institutions such as the LPG Equipment Research Centre (LERC) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), noting that prototypes are likely to be ready soon.

Ravi called on distillers to support the initiative in two key areas — scaling up manufacturing of ethanol-compatible cooking stoves and developing an efficient supply chain to deliver ethanol directly to households.

“This is a different ballgame,” he said, stressing that the current bulk supply model must evolve to enable last-mile delivery. He underlined the need to determine suitable packaging, dispensing formats and logistics to make ethanol a viable household fuel. He also urged the industry to propose solutions to build this new supply chain ecosystem.

The push comes amid India’s successful rollout of 20 per cent ethanol blending (E20) in petrol. Ravi credited the distillery sector for enabling the programme and pointed to a recent government notification mandating sale of E20 petrol with a minimum Research Octane Number (RON) of 95 from April 1, 2026.

The higher-octane E20 fuel is expected to improve vehicle efficiency and performance, addressing earlier concerns linked to lower-octane blends.