Covid-19: UP's daily hand sanitiser production capacity hits 200,000 litres

Sugar mills are likely to continue manufacturing hand sanitiser even after the crushing season ends

To cater to the increased demand for hand sanitiser in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, industrial units in Uttar Pradesh, including sugar factories, have ramped up their collective manufacturing capacity to about 200,000 litres a day.

At present, UP has 82 units engaged in commercial production of hand sanitiser — 36 of these are dedicated sanitiser plants, 27 sugar mills, 11 standalone distilleries, and eight independent entities — Sanjay Bhoosreddy, the state’s principal secretary for sugar industry and sugarcane development, told Business Standard.

“Earlier, there were only 5-6 permanent hand sanitiser units in the state. Now, the number has risen to 36 in the past few weeks,” he said. The new units have come up to cater to the growing demand for hand sanitiser amid the coronavirus crisis, which has prompted the central and state governments to urge even the private sector to come forward.

While the 2019-20 sugarcane crushing season is gradually tapering in the state, the mills, currently engaged in sanitiser production, are likely to continue manufacturing even after they conclude crushing operations. They would need only ethanol/alcohol, which they already have in abundance.

So far, 32 of the 119 sugar mills in UP have closed down for the season, with cane in their respective areas getting exhausted.

Meanwhile, all UP-based units have collectively produced more than 2.5 million litres of liquid hand sanitiser in the past month. Of this, nearly 1.8 million litres have already been supplied to the retail market.

In fact, the state sugarcane department is also supplying hand sanitiser free of cost to the police, medical and health staff, and local bodies. It is also undertaking sanitisation of a number of villages, towns and other institutions.

The mills that have set up hand sanitiser facilities pertain to major private sugar companies like Balrampur Chini, Birla, Dalmia, Dhampur, Uttam, etc. The government had earlier expedited the processes to issue the necessary licences and approvals in this regard.

While some sugar companies are manufacturing bulk quantities of hand sanitiser themselves or supplying to other firms for bottling and marketing, a few others have signed contracts to supply ethanol/ethyl alcohol/extra neutral alcohol (ENA) to external plants.

Last month, the Indian Sugar Mills Association (Isma) had written to the Centre assuring that the sugar industry would supply adequate quantities of ethanol or ENA to meet the requirement for the hand sanitiser segment.

Sanitisers are generally manufactured with isopropyl alcohol (IPA), but these have also been found to be effective when made from sugar byproducts ethanol/ethyl alcohol/ENA.

Earlier, Isma Director-General Abinash Verma had said the central and state departments, including sugar, excise, and drug controllers, had worked in perfect synergy for speedier sanction of hand sanitiser manufacturing licences.