Fuelling Green for Green Fuel
India’s first Bio Refinery to produce Bio Ethanol from Bio Mass of Bamboo in Assam, North East
Company Profile
The use of energy is growing rapidly, and the resources of our planet are already under great pressure. We need to change the way we produce our energy. We need to produce more renewable energy to replace fossil fuels. Especially in a developing country like India, the demand for energy is rapidly growing. It has been a challenge for the Government of India to cater to the huge energy demand of an ever-increasing population. In recent years, the Government of India has been pushing for self-sufficiency in petroleum products by replacing fossil fuels with renewable resources. One of the major thrust areas has been to promote technology for the production of ethanol from non-food feedstock and the rollout of 20% ethanol blending in petrol by 2025.
Towards the fulfilment of this national objective of attaining self-sufficiency in energy and reducing the fossil fuel footprint, Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) has joined hands with two Finnish companies, M/s Fortum and M/s Chempolis, to make a strategic entry into the field of producing ethanol from cellulosic feedstock—‘Bamboo’—which is available in abundance in the North-Eastern (NE) states of India.
A joint venture company, namely Assam Bio Ethanol Pvt. Limited, has been incorporated with three promoters: Numaligarh Refinery Limited, along with two foreign companies, Fortum and Chempolis, from Finland.
Details of Promoters
Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL)
NRL is a public sector oil refining joint venture company based in the state of Assam in India. It has a capacity of 3 million metric tonnes per year. NRL is a joint venture company between Oil India Limited (OIL), the Government of Assam, and Engineers India Limited (EIL). Its main product range includes Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Naphtha, Motor Spirit (MS), Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF), Superior Kerosene Oil (SKO), High-Speed Diesel (HSD), Raw Petroleum Coke (RPC), Calcined Petroleum Coke (CPC), Sulphur, Wax, and Mineral Turpentine Oil (MTO).
Fortum
Fortum is one of the largest energy producers in the Nordic power market. It is primarily involved in the generation and sale of electricity, heating, cooling, waste-to-energy, and recycling solutions. Fortum has among the lowest carbon dioxide emissions in the EU. In 2017, 96% of Fortum’s power generation in the EU was CO2-free. Fortum is also the largest electricity retailer in the Nordic countries by the number of customers, offering digital services to help consumers manage their energy consumption. Fortum employs around 9,000 professionals in the Nordic and Baltic countries, Russia, Poland, and India.
Chempolis Oy
Chempolis Oy develops and provides technology solutions for biomass, pulp and paper, biofuel, alcohol, sugar, palm oil, and chemical industries worldwide. The company offers Formico 3G biorefining technologies for biorefining non-wood and non-food materials; Formicofib, a non-wood fibre technology for papermaking; Formicobio, a technology for producing non-food cellulosic bioethanol; and several other innovative technologies to operate biorefineries economically, safely, and reliably.