Praj Industries chosen as Indian Oil’s tech partner for new bio-ethanol plants

Praj Industries Limited, a Pune, India-based global process solutions leader, has been selected by the country’s flagship national company, Indian Oil Corporation Limited (Indian Oil) to be its technology partner in the setup of three 2nd Generation (2G) bio-ethanol plants based on indigenously developed technology.

Like other oil marketing CPSEs (Central Public Sector Enterprises), Indian Oil is blending biofuels in transportation fuels at the depot to bring down dependency on crude oil imports and to avail of the resultant economic and environmental benefits.

In order to enhance ethanol availability in the country for blending with petrol, Indian Oil is developing 2G ethanol production infrastructure using ligno-cellulosic biomasses as feedstock. The plants will make use of feed other than molasses, a by-product of sugarcane, to convert into ethanol.

According to Pramod Chaudhari, Executive Chairman of Praj Industries, they have already prepared themselves to execute the 2G ethanol plant projects over Rs30 billion in two to three years. He also added the Praj is offering end-to-end 2G ‘Smart Bio-refinery’ solutions globally.

“Our ‘Smart Biorefinery’ is capable of producing bio-ethanol and other co-products such as bio-CNG, power and a variety of bio chemicals,” he said.

At the recently held World Bio-fuels Day conference held at New Delhi, the Government of India announced that a ‘biomass-based bio-fuels policy’ is in the offing to give boost to the agro-economy and to promote clean, renewable energy.

This endeavor will be a socio-economic and environmental enabler as the farming community will generate additional revenues from agri-waste, which will be utilized to produce bio-ethanol.

Praj is also providing assistance to Indian Oil for achieving various milestones towards holistic development of these projects at various suitable locations across the country.

The 2G ethanol plants are based on indigenous technology and designs developed by Praj at their R&D Center in Pune. Praj will also supply Plant & Machinery and assist in operations and maintenance.