Govt to offer aid to set up paddy straw pelletisation, torrefaction plants

Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav released Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) guidelines for the grant of one-time financial support for promoting establishment of paddy straw based pelletisation and torrefaction plants. These plants would utilise a sizeable portion of the unmanaged paddy straw and help address the issue of crop residue burning and the resultant air pollution, Yadav said. 

"These plants will also generate income for farmers," Yadav said during a workshop in New Delhi on 'Guidelines for grant of one-time financial support for establishment of pelletisation and torrefaction plants to promote utilisation of paddy straw'. 

The guidelines give preference to units proposing to install equipment that is made in India.   Preference is also given to those units which have agreement with farmers located in NCT of Delhi, States of Punjab and Haryana and NCR districts of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, to ensure assured supply of paddy straw. 

Under the guidelines, a maximum grant of Rs 14 lakh per tonne/hour for non-torrefied pellet plant and Rs 28 lakh per Ton/hr for a torrefied pellet plant is being provided under the guidelines, with an overall cap of Rs 70 lakhs for the former and Rs 1.4 crore for the latter. 

A corpus of Rs 50 crores has been earmarked for utilisation through the guidelines. If complete utilisation of the corpus is done then over 1 million metric tonnes of paddy straw based pellets are expected to be generated every year. 

With supplemental efforts by other stakeholders, the guidelines are expected to enhance paddy straw utilisation in power plants and industries, catalyse rural economy and further the spirit of entrepreneurship.

“Individuals, entrepreneurs, firms interested in setting up pelletisation and torrefaction plants, using only paddy straw generated in the NCT of Delhi, Punjab and Haryana, and NCR districts of Rajasthan and UP can apply for a one-time grant on capital investment,” Yadav said

To address the issue of air pollution in Delhi, Yadav said that the Government has taken various steps to tackle the issue of stubble burning and a large quantity of paddy straw is now being managed through in-situ and ex-situ management options. 

“Statutory directions have been issued to thermal power plants to co-fire biomass based Pellets, Torrefied Pellets/Briquettes (with focus on paddy straw) with Coal (up to 5-10%) and to industries operating in NCR other than GNCT of Delhi to switch over to PNG or biomass fuels during 2022.” 

The Ministry has also granted 190 Environment Clearances (EC) so far for grain-based ethanol production projects aggregating 34368 KLPD and all these projects have been granted EC in a record time of around 45-50 days, the Minister said. 

The first 2G Ethanol Plant in Panipat, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated to the nation two months ago, is expected to utilise 2 lakh metric tonnes of paddy straw every year, he said.