More news about 2G ethanol sector in India – Foundation Stone laying ceremony in Punjab and other projects

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Some lines to complete my recent post about cellulosic ethanol biorefinery projects in India (Agreements to set up several cellulosic ethanol biorefineries in India).

Foundation Stone laying ceremony of the first cellulosic ethanol biorefinery in India

According to a press release of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas of India, the Foundation Stone laying ceremony for setting up the first Second Generation Ethanol biorefinery in India was held on 25th December at village Tarkhanwala (Bathinda, Punjab). Minister of Food Processing Industries (Smt. Harsimarat Kaur Badal), Minister of State Petroleum & Natural Gas (Shri Dharmendra Pradhan) and Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab (Sardar Sukhbir Singh Badal) jointly laid the Foundation Stone.

Main data about the project are summarized in the table below:
Location
Bathinda (Punjab).
Companies
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), a Central Government Public Sector Undertaking.
Institute of Chemical Technology.
Feedtocks
Agriculture residues.
Products and production capacity
Cellulosic ethanol: 100 kL per day / 32 ML per year.
Biofertilizer: 30,000 tons per year (for improving soil fertility and overall productivity of farms in Punjab).
Bio-CNG (Compressed Natural Gas): 100,000 kg per year (for transport and clean cooking).
Investment
Rs 600 crores (approx. 85 M€).
Employment
1,200 – 1,300 jobs in the biomass supply chain.
Additional income for the farmers
Rs 20 crores (approx. 2.82 M€) per year through purchase of their agriculture residues.
Other remarks
The project shall also help in reducing CO2 emissions from the paddy straw which currently is being burnt after harvesting.

Figure 1. The Union Minister for Food Processing Industries laid the foundation stone of the 2G ethanol biorefinery in Bathinda on December 25, 2016 (extracted from the page of the Press Information Bureau of the Government of India)

Other new projects

Similar cellulosic ethanol biorefineries at other places are expected to be started soon. The Government of India is encouraging production of cellulosic ethanol from agricultural residues to provide additional sources of remuneration to farmers, address the growing environmental concerns and support the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme.

Oil Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), in line with the vision of the Government, are planning to set up 12 2G ethanol biorefineries across 11 States (Punjab, Haryana, U.P., M.P, Bihar, Assam, Odisha, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and A.P). The estimated investment for the 12 biorefineries is Rs 10,000 crores (aprox. 1,410 M€) and will produce around 350 - 400 ML of ethanol annually, thus contributing significantly towards the EBP programme.

Recently, in PETROTECH 2016, oil PSUs already entered into 6 MoUs with technology licensors and State Governments for setting up 5 biorefineries in Dahej (Gujarat), Panipat (Haryana), Bina (M.P.), Bargarh (Odisha) and Bathinda (Punjab). Three of the MoUs are the agreements corresponding to the projects mentioned by the blog in the previous post between Praj and two PSUs (IOCL and BPCL). Other two MoUs are related to the project highlighted in the first part of this post. The remaining one is featured in the following table.

Location
Bina (M.P.).
Companies
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL).
Institute of Chemical Technology.
Feedtocks
Agriculture residues.
Capacity
400 tons/day of biomass (equivalent to 100 kL per day of ethanol generation capacity).
Employment
It is estimated that the plant will provide an indirect employment to 1,000 people.
Expected date for commissioning
December, 2018.

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