Numaligarh Refinery to produce bioethanol using bamboo

Numaligarh Refinery Limited, in collaboration with Chempolis Ltd, a Finland based biorefining technology company, will set up a bioethanol plant in Assam using bamboo as major raw material. A partnership agreement for this was signed by two companies in Finland on October 15, 2014. Companies have agreed to jointly partner to build a world class biorefinery using Chempolis formicobio technology in Assam for producing bioethanol with co-production of furfural and acetic acid from locally available cellulosic biomass.
 
This is a second major collaboration between the Finnish firm and an Indian PSU. In October last year, Chempolis had signed an MoU with ONGC to explore the possibility of setting up a biorefinery project in India.

As per the agreement with Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL), the planned biorefinery will utilise bamboo (which is abundantly available in Assam) as main biomass for producing bioethanol and other products. Project implementation is expected to take approximately 2.5 years.
 
“This project would enable cultivation of bamboo on a commercially sustainable basis and would boost rural economy of the region,” opined P Padmanabhan, Managing Director, Numaligarh Refinery.
 
Pasi Rousu, President APAC, Chempolis, added, “This agreement is one important step to approach the National Policy on Bio-fuels announced by Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India in 2009 that targets 20 per cent blending of bio fuels in diesel and petrol by 2017.”
 
In fact, in an earlier interview with B2B Connect, Pasi Rousu had indicated that Chempolis was looking to establish a commercial-scale biorefinery projects in India in co-operation with leading Indian companies from sugar, oil and petrochemical industries. Normally, a biorefinery, having capacity to process 1,00,000 tonnes of biomass (on annual dry basis), has a potential to produce approximately 25,000 tonnes of cellulosic ethanol and biochemicals per year. In addition, over 50,000 tonne per annum (TPA) biocoal can also be co-produced.

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Commenting on tie-up NRL, Navin Singhania, President, Chempolis India, said, “Bamboo is an important raw material in North-East region of India accounting 66 per cent of the country’s bamboo resources. This agreement aiming at utilisation of bamboo is completely in line with objectives of India. For NRL production of fuel grade ethanol will result in substantial savings, in addition, this project is expected to have minimal carbon footprint.”
 
Chempolis’ third generation biorefining technology is based on selective fractionation of biomass and co-production of multiple products in a sustainable way. The technology is not just for the production of biofuels (eg ethanol), but the produced sugars and lignin can be used as a platform into a myriad of different products.