Business
Expert says 27 percent ethanol blend tests mill operations
The Hindu BusinessLine··29 Sept
Anand Mahurkar, founder of Findability Sciences, said reaching 27 percent ethanol blending is an operations problem for sugar mills. Hitting 20 percent blending five years early was a policy win, he told businessline. Mills must run sugarcane, grain and surplus foodgrain through the same distillery without losing ethanol yield consistency. Cane supply still swings with rainfall and acreage each year.
Prism
What It Means For You
- Higher blending targets push mills to coordinate farmer, crushing and distillery decisions on shared forecasts.
- Mahurkar said recovery rate, crushing efficiency and energy use per tonne become the main profit levers when prices are fixed.
- A one percentage point recovery gain across a full crushing season is where he locates operating money.
What's Happening
- Mahurkar described 27 percent blending as exposing mills that still source and divert on gut feel.
- He said farmers, mills and distilleries currently plan on three separate backwards-looking clocks.
- Satellite and field data, in his account, can align those clocks before cane reaches the gate.
Policy backdrop he cites
- India's sugar industry has already hit 20 percent ethanol blending five years ahead of schedule.
- Sugar pricing and cane cost remain largely set by policy, markets and MSP mechanisms.
- Feedstock diversification now spans sugarcane, grain and surplus foodgrain in the same distillery plant.
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