India has been giving a push for alternate fuels such as Ethanol and, more recently, Methanol to improve its energy security. India meets 85% of its crude oil requirement, 53% of its natural gas requirement, and 25% of its coal requirement through imports3. Ethanol is primarily used for blending with gasoline citing twin benefits: substitution of gasoline to arrest rising crude imports and using a relatively cleaner fuel than gasoline. The Government of India regulates the prices of ethanol derived from various sources and procures it through the Oil Marketing Companies at pre-determined prices.

However, ethanol primarily derived from molasses and sugarcane juice can ignite a fuel vs food security debate; Methanol, on the other hand, can be derived from different sources such as natural gas, coal, naphtha, biomass etc. Natural gas is the most widely used feedstock to produce methanol across the world accounting for almost 70% of the global production. India has given a strong push for methanol from coal since coal is abundantly available in India whereas natural gas is a scarce resource.

India is on the cusp of a major transformational change as it transitions toward a low carbon economy. The energy policies of the country and those on the anvil demonstrate and focus on the country’s transition toward cleaner fuels in a sustainable manner. And coal gasification of domestically available coal to produce methanol (deployed with Carbon Capture & Storage- CCS) presents an opportunity to accelerate this transition in an energy secure manner. Both ethanol and methanol can be used for blending with gasoline.