New Delhi, July 17 -- About a dozen cooperative sugar mills operating molasses-based distilleries have applied to convert their ethanol plants to be run on more widely available grains.

Molasses is produced during the process of making sugar from sugarcane. But the sugarcane crushing period is limited to 4-5 months in a year, which means sugar mills dependent on molasses can only operate for a limited period.

Switching to grains like maize and damaged food grains would ensure year-round ethanol production and improved efficiency for cooperative sugar mills, whose output has been reduced to about a third of India's overall sugar production.

Out of India's 269 cooperative sugar mills, 93 operate molasses-based distilleries. "Out of these...