Indian Oil to set up Rs 9 bn ethanol plant in Adityanath's pocket borough

Public sector behemoth Indian Oil is looking to invest almost Rs 9 billion in a greenfield second-generation ethanol plant in Uttar Pradesh.

The plant has been proposed in Gorakhpur, the pocket borough of chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who is keenly following up on the project. IOC has sought 50 acres from the defunct Dhuriapar cooperative sugar mill in Gorakhpur for the proposed plant spread over an area of about 100 acres.

The proposal come in the wake of the petroleum ministry seeking to strengthen sugarcane-extracted ethanol value chain for mixing in petrol to cut oil import bill and provide remunerative prices to farmers.

Second generation ethanol plant uses modern technology to produce biofuels from agricultural residues, such as sugarcane byproducts. In comparison, first-generation plants extracted biofuels directly from sugar and vegetable oils by employing conventional technology.

Source BS