Numaligarh Refinery inks agreement to implement its bio-refinery project

The project has been planned keeping in view the future demand of bio-fuel in the region

Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) on Wednesday inked an important ‘framework agreement’ with its technology partner Chempolis Oyo of Finland to give concrete shape to the implementation of the Rs 950 crore bio-refinery project.

The project is designed to produce 49,000 tonnes of bioethanol annually with co-production of furfural and acetic acid using ‘formicobio’ technology of Chempolis Oyo. The plant will use bamboo, which grows abundantly in the region, as its feedstock to produce the fuel grade bioethanol.

The project has been planned to keep in view the future demand of bio-fuel in the region. The bioethanol so produced would be used to blend NRL’s petrol and diesel as mandated by the National Policy on Biofuels, with the surplus to be sold to other oil marketing companies.

As per yesterday’s agreement, implementation of the Bio-Refinery project will be undertaken in two phases viz. phase-I and phase-II. Phase-I of the project, scheduled to be completed within a period of six months will involve basic engineering of the project, completion of Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) study, obtaining Environment Clearance (EC) including public hearing, in principle agreement on modalities and logistics of sourcing bamboo feedstock, updating financial feasibility report on the project, debt financing arrangement et al.

On successful completion of phase-I, the full-fledged activities of physical construction of the plant would begin through the formation of a joint venture company between NRL and Chempolis Oyo.

Production of fuel grade bioethanol is expected to reduce NRL’s requirement of imported Methyl Tertiary-Butyl Ether (MTBE) and Py-Gas for petrol blending due to the higher octane number of ethanol and would result in net savings for the company. 

The project is also expected to give a fillip to bamboo cultivation in the region and help bring an economic transformation for many in rural areas. NRL had already inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Nagaland Bamboo Development Agency (NBDA) and Arunachal Pradesh Bamboo Resources Development Agency (APBRDA) for sourcing of 2 lakh tonnes of semi-processed bamboo from Nagaland annually.

The plant will have a capacity to process 5 lakh tonnes of green bamboo on an annual basis.

In the recent budget, the Assam government had pledged support to the project and had termed it as ‘game changer’ for Assam’s economy.

Numaligarh Refinery, which is situated in Golaghat district of Assam, is a joint venture between Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), Assam government and Oil India Limited (OIL), with BPCL being the majority shareholder.