The Mexican government is evaluating the possibility of integrating ethanol into gasoline blends to reduce reliance on imported inputs and generate significant savings for the national economy, expansion.mx reported.
Currently, the gasoline oxygenation process relies heavily on MTBE, a petroleum-derived additive that the country imports almost entirely. The proposal seeks to replace this component with ethanol to improve the trade balance.
“The push to promote ethanol use goes beyond environmental issues; it can also generate other benefits, such as savings, if it replaces MTBE,” explained Galo Galeano, president of Biomovilidad.org.
Potential savings in the blend
The cost difference between the two oxygenates represents a substantial financial opportunity. Ethanol has a production cost of 0.53 US cents per liter, while MTBE reaches 0.89 cents per liter.
This 67% gap equates to a saving of 0.36 US cents for every liter of fuel. In a mass-consumption market like Mexico's, this difference translates into billions of pesos.
“If we consider substituting a portion of the 800,000 barrels of gasoline we currently use with a fuel containing 10% ethanol—known as E10—we are looking at annual savings of around 30 billion pesos,” Galeano asserted.
The technical plan involves using a 10% ethanol proportion, a standard already applied in other international markets. If the blend were increased to 20% (known as E20), annual savings could scale up to 60 billion pesos.
