Praj and IOCL officials during the signing of the MoU in New Delhi (PRNewsFoto/Praj Industries Limited)

India’s national oil company, Indian Oil Corporation Limited, has chosen to move forward with the development of ethanol using technology from Praj. The two companies will work together to set up three 2nd Generation (2G) bioethanol facilities using Praj’s technology based on ligno-cellulosic biomasses as feedstock. Praj developed the technology at its R&D facility in Pune. The company will also provide Plant & Machinery with long-term operation and maintenance.

“It is a great honour for us to be chosen by Indian Oil to become their technology partner in multiple 2G bio-ethanol projects in India. We have prepared ourselves to execute 2G ethanol projects over Rs. 3000 crore in two-three years,” said Pramod Chaudhari, executive chairman of Praj Industries. “Praj is offering end-to-end 2G ‘Smart Bio-refinery’ solutions globally. Our ‘Smart Bio-refinery’ is capable of producing bio-ethanol and other co-products such as bio-CNG, power and a variety of bio chemicals.”

At the World Bio-fuels Day conference held at New Delhi recently, the Government of India had announced that a ‘biomass-based bio-fuels policy’ is in the works to help grow the agro-economy and to promote clean, renewable energy. The policy will be designed as a socio-economic and environmental enabler as the farming community will generate additional revenues from agri-waste, which will be utilized to produce bioethanol.