India's HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd will start a bioethanol plant at its Bathinda refinery in northern India in 2023 as part of measures to reduce its carbon emissions.

According to Pravin Shirke, assistant general manager of HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd (HMEL), at a forum at the Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference. APPEC), as reported by Reuters, the company is in the process of building an ethanol plant that is expected to process about 100,000 tons per year of agricultural insums, such as food scraps.

HMEL is a joint venture between state-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL. NS) and Mittal Energy Investments.

India, the world's third-largest importer and consumer of oil, has extended the exemption from excise duties for biofuels to encourage the mixing of higher proportions of ethanol and vegetable oil components with gasoline and diesel.

India plans to introduce 20% ethanol mixed with gasoline in some parts of the country from April next year, followed by a national launch from 2025/26.

Source: RPA news