Numaligarh Refinery (NRL) has signed an agreement with two foreign firms to set up a joint venture to build bio-refinery in Assam, a state in India.
Image: An oil refinery. Photo: courtesy of James Knight/Freeimages.co.
The joint venture, Assam Bio-Refinery Pvt. Limited (ABRPL), which will have equity participation of Finnish technology provider Chempolis and the Netherlands-based Fortum 3, will be responsible for building and operating the first of its kind bio refinery in India.
NRL will have 50% stake in the joint venture while Fortum 3 and Chempolis will have 28% and 22% interests respectively.
The bio-refinery will be equipped to generate renewable green fuel-bioethanol, other valuable chemicals and green power from bamboo biomass.
NRL managing director S K Barua said: “NRL’s new venture shall produce 62 million liters of bio-ethanol by using around 0.5 million MT bamboo per annum which is going to be a game changer in terms of additional revenue generation for the bamboo farmers through sustainable cultivation, extraction and transportation of bamboo.
“It is indeed a historic moment for India’s North East to garner first major foreign direct investment for setting up its first bamboo based Biorefinery.”
The refinery will feature Chempolis’s 3G Formicobio technology, which allows production of bioethanol using bamboo as feedstock.
The firm said that bio-coal will be used for production of steam and supplying clean power to the refinery.
Recently, the Indian Government announced its support for production of bio-ethanol, particularly allowing for blending of petrol by up to 10% with ethanol.
The country’s new bio-ethanol policy plans to have 1 billion liters of ethanol production capacity every year.
Numaligarh Refinery said in a statement: “This project has a clear role in the fight against climate change. It can also have a big positive impact on local communities.
“It will provide employment opportunities for thousands of people and in the long run it will help local communities to become self-sustainable and enhance their living standards.”
The Numaligarh Refinery is public sector crude oil refinery located at Morangi Golaghat district, Assam.