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, 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.

BS