Punjab govt plans to set up Asia's first bio-ethanol refinery

Punjab is set to ink a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for setting up of bio-ethanol refinery with a consortium of Beta Renewables, Novozymes and CVC India Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, for an estimated project worth Rs 950 crore. This will go a long way in tackling the major problem of paddy straw burning, resulting in irreparable loss to land's fertility and environment.

Bikram Singh Majithia, new and renewable energy minister, Punjab, on Thursday, was presented a conceptual plan to set up Asia's first ever Rs 950-crore second generation bio-ethanol, producing refinery leading to setting up of five more such refineries with $1-billion investment.

Making a detailed presentation to Majithia here at Chandigarh, CVC India Chairman K Krishan proposed initially one bio-refinery project with design capacity of 60,000 tonnes of cellulosic ethanol per year (75 million litres per year) would be set up in the state, with three lakh tonnes of paddy straw as feedstock. He said the proposed plant would also generate co-products of biogas, pellets and compost through processing bio-refinery effluents and pellets through processing surplus lignin, residue of bio-refinery and lignin further could be used for a captive co-generation plant. This would be followed by five more projects, with an investment of $1 billion.

He further said the state produces 15 million tonnes of paddy straw and its maximum usage for such bio-ethanol refineries could result in avoiding major environmental problem of burning of paddy straw. Naveen Sharma, project director, bio fuels, World Agro Forestry Centre, added the proposed plant can also use Napier grass as feedstock.

And other crops grown in high saline and waterlogged areas. This would help in a big way to achieve diversification targets of the state government. The farmers with option of these crops would be able to get revenue year around with less use of water.

Novozymes Regional President G S Krishnan pointed out the other benefits of such projects to state farmer include additional income for supply of paddy straw, availability of bio-compost generated from the plant as bio-fertiliser, high level of direct/indirect investment i.e. $150 million per 60,000 tonnes/annum plant, large number of direct/indirect jobs, energy security through replacement of petrol/diesel produced from imported crude oil besides bio-CNG replacing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and vehicular fuels. This would provide opportunity to rural entrepreneurs to set up feedstock (paddy straw) management and supply units.

Majithia informed the representatives that these second generation bio-ethanol projects would play a significant role in dealing with the challenge of paddy straw burning as three lakh tonnes of paddy straw could be used in a single plant. He was hopeful that once investors see a successfully-running project, there would be lot of investment in such projects. Keeping in view the availability of 15 million tonnes of feedstock and the hardworking nature of Punjabis, the state is poised to become a major hub in Asia for producing bio-ethanol and related products.