Methanol Cooking Fuel Program of India

•  Namrup-based Assam Petrochemicals Limited (APL) rolled out the country's first methanol-based cooking fuel, which will be 30% cheaper than conventional LPG fuel, cleaner and greener and easily transportable.
• Through the programme, the NITI Aayog has been working on a roadmap to replace 20% of the country's crude imports through methanol alone.
• Adopting methanol will not only mitigate the ever-rising price of fuels, including that of cooking fuel, but will also bring down pollution in the country by over 40%.

About Project:

• Under the pilot project, stove and methanol canister will be made available in a limited scale. The methanol cooking fuel will be available in canisters of 1.2 kg capacity each, which will be priced at around Rs 32 and around 18 of them would be equivalent to one conventional domestic LPG cylinder.
• The technology for the canister and the special burner has been provided by Sweden. In two months, APL will start commercial production of methanol-based cooking fuel. Initially the product will be made available for the northeastern region.

Analysis:

• The concept of 'Methanol Economy' is being actively pursued by China, Italy, Sweden, Israel, US, Australia, Japan and many other European nations. As much as 10% of fuel in China's transport sector is based on methanol.
• Methanol is a promising fuel as it is clean, cheaper than fossil fuels and a good substitute for heavy fuels. India imports methanol from Saudi Arabia and Iran at present. Across the world, methanol is emerging as a clean, sustainable transportation fuel of the future.
• Methanol can be used as an energy producing fuel, transportation fuel and cooking fuel, cutting down India’s oil import bill by an estimated 20% over the next few years. Unlike CNG, using methanol as a transportation fuel would require minimal alteration in the vehicles.
• Methanol is a clean-burning fuel that produces fewer smog-causing emissions — such as sulphur oxides (SOx), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter — and can improve air quality and related human health issues.

By: Vishal