Kathmandu, December 27:

The Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has formed a committee to look into the matter of mixing ethanol with petrol and it is holding its first meeting tomorrow.

The NOC has formed the committee after lawmakers rebuked the corporation for failing to mix ethanol with petrol a few days ago. The committee is supposed to present its findings within a month.

Meanwhile, the Sri Ram Sugar Mills (SRSM), owned by the Golcha organisation, has submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MoICS) to supply petroleum for this purpose. This proposal has been forwarded to the NOC by the MoICS. Also, there are other companies who are looking into this matter.

According to Rabin Chandra Adhikari, engineering manager at the NOC, and a member of the committee, the SRSM has proposed to provide 30,000 litres of ethanol to the NOC every day. This is about 10 per cent of the daily demand for petrol in the country. Adhikari also said mixing about 10 per cent ethanol with petrol in Nepal would be ideal.

Few years ago, the SRSM had approached the NOC with a proposal to produce ethanol, but the price of petrol at that time was cheaper than ethanol and mixing did not make any sense, said Eccha Bikram Thapa, spokesperson for the NOC. The NOC was also unable to make a decision on this regard because of frequent leadership changes within the corporation.

The SRSM has proposed that it will produce ethanol at the same prices that it had quoted to the NOC at around Rs 48 per litre. “But this price depends upon the price of molasses, the ingredient from which ethanol is fermented,” said Adhikari.

There is also another company mulling over producing ethanol. The Himalayan Distillery could also start production if the government comes up with a concrete policy, said Deepak Adhikari, technical auditor at the company. “We are studying the matter and calculating our costs once the government makes a concrete policy,” said Adhikari.

Also, mixing ethanol with petrol will not prove too costly, claimed Rabin Chandra Adhikari. This is because the only infrastructural change needed for the mixture was a moisture proof system, so petrol pumps would need moisture traps that cost about Rs 5,000.

“Moisture traps are needed to prevent water reaching the mixture because ethanol has a tendency to separate from petrol, if water gets into the mixture,” he said.