The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Thursday apprised of India joining as a member of Advanced Motor Fuels Technology Collaboration Programme (AMFTCP) under the International Energy Agency.

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas joined AMFTCP as its 16th member on May 9 this year.

“The primary goal of joining AMFTCP by the Ministry of Petroleum is to facilitate the market introduction of advanced motor fuels/ alternate fuels with an aim to bring down emissions and achieve higher fuel efficiency in transport sector,” an official release said.

AMFTCP is an international platform for co-operation among countries to promote cleaner and more energy efficient fuels and vehicle technologies.

The activities of AMF TCP relate to R&D, deployment and dissemination of advanced motor fuels and looks upon the transport fuel issues in a systemic way taking into account the production, distribution and end use related aspects.

The R&D work in AMF TCP is carried out within individual projects called ‘Annex’. Over the years, more than 50 Annexes have been initiated in AMFTCP and a number of fuels have been covered in previous Annexes such as reformulated fuels (gasoline & diesel), biofuels (ethanol, biodiesel etc.), synthetic fuels (methanol, Fischer- Tropsch, DME etc.) and gaseous fuels.

“Association with AMFTCP will help the Petroleum Ministry in furthering its efforts in identification and deployment of suitable fuels for transport sector in respect of higher efficiency and lesser emissions,” it added.

Government of India has recently notified National Policy on Biofuels-2018 which focuses on giving impetus to R&D in field of advanced bio-fuels such as 2G Ethanol, Bio-CNG, bio-methanol, Drop-in fuels, DME etc.

These advanced fuels can be produced from various kind of wastes such as crop residues, municipal solid waste, industrial waste, waste gases, food waste, plastic etc.

“These advanced fuels are presently in their early stages of development in our country and necessitate extensive R&D for making these fuels a viable option for meeting our energy needs. Though some of these advanced bio-fuels have successfully been deployed in few countries, India is still awaiting its deployment in transport sector,” the release said.

The benefits of participation in AMFTCP are shared costs and pooled technical resources. The duplication of efforts is avoided and national R&D capabilities are strengthened, it added.

The other member countries of AMFTCP are USA, China, Japan, Canada, Chile, Israel, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Spain, Republic of Korea, Switzerland and Thailand.