Agreements to set up several cellulosic ethanol biorefineries in India
All the signs are that India will soon be one
of the most important players in the 2G ethanol sector. This country adopted
the National Policy on Biofuels (NPB, December 2009) in order to strengthen its
commitment to promote a sustainable biofuels industry. The policy encourages the
use of renewable fuels and proposes a 20 percent biofuel (ethanol and
biodiesel) mandate by the end of 2017. In India, ethanol is commonly derived
from molasses. However, current estimates indicate that molasses alone will not
be able to provide enough ethanol to meet the blending mandates. Moreover, there
has been much criticism of the use and sustainability of 1G biofuels derived
from food crops.1
A big extension of India’s land is used for
agriculture, producing massive amounts of crop residues that could be used for 2G
biofuels production. Sustainably produced advanced ethanol can potentially
promote rural development and improve economic conditions in developing regions.
For all that, 2G ethanol is gaining growing attention. However, the NPB does
not allow private biofuel manufacturers to market directly. The responsibility for
biofuel storage, distribution and marketing is vested in Oil Marketing
Companies (OMCs). Price and minimum quality requirements are also laid out in
the NPB.
In this context, Praj
announced on 8th December several agreements with leading OMCs to
set up 2G ethanol plants. These agreements were signed during the recently
concluded PETROTECH 2016, held in New Delhi.
In the table below, a summary of the expected locations and capacities for the
new plants is shown. Project timelines and capital outlay estimations are under
finalisation.
|
OMC
|
Location
|
Capacity
|
|
Panipat (Haryana)
|
100 kL per
day
|
|
|
Dahej (Gujarat)
|
100 kL per
day
|
|
|
Bargarh (Odisha)
|
100 kL per
day
|
Praj is a knowledge based company with
expertise in bioprocesses and engineering. It has over 750 references across
five continents (bioethanol facilities, brewery plants, wastewater treatment
systems, critical process equipment and systems…). For instance, Vivergo
Biofuels selected Praj services for its Hull
Biorefinery.
Figure 1. Integrated lignocellulosic biorefinery
approach of Praj (extracted from Reference 3)
Praj’s 2G ethanol technology is called Enfinity
and it is based on an integrated biorefinery approach. In 2009, it inaugurated
the Cellulosic Ethanol Pilot Plant at Praj Matrix (R&D centre in
Urawade). Pilot plant trials validated work done at laboratory scale. Continuing
its effort in bringing new technologies to the ethanol industry, it decided to
scale up the pilot plant and built a 2G commercial demo plant in 2012. According
to some references, the commissioning was targeted by 2nd half 2014
but the blog could not find evidences of the start up of this plant. This
demonstration project is supposed to be located at a sugar mill near Pune, have
a proccesing capacity of 100 dry tonnes of biomass per day and produce 25,000 –
30,000 liters of ethanol per day.2,3
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REFERENCES
1 P.
Purohit, S. Dhar: “Biofuel Roadmap for
India”. UNEP DTU Partnership, Centre on Energy, Climate and Sustainable
Development. Technical University of Denmark. November 2015.
2 G.
Deshpande: “Praj Advanced Cellulosic
Ethanol Project – PACE”. 17th June 2013. Presentation available
online: www.bio.org/sites/default/files/pace%20project_ghansham_deshpande.pdf.
3 A. Sheth: “Biomass
to Bioethanol - Second Generation Technology by Praj”. 18th-19th
February 2016. Presentation available online: www.aidaindia.org/pdf/2.pdf.
