Gov lays foundation stone for 2G plant

The Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited is setting up a three crore litre Second Generation (2G) Ethanol Bio-refinery at Baulasingha village, Bhatli Tehsil in Odisha.

Odisha Governor Professor Ganeshi Lal laid the Rs.100 crore refinery’s foundation stone on 10 Oct 2018. The plant’s ethanol from rice straw will be blended with petrol.

India has surplus biomass availability of about 120-160 MMT annually which if converted, has the potential to yield 3,000 crore litres of ethanol.

The National Biofuel Policy of India 2018 targets 20% Ethanol blending to Petrol by year 2030.

However, due to non-availability of Ethanol, the current Ethanol blending in Petrol is about 3 to 4%. Setting up of 2G Ethanol plants will help achieve the target of Ethanol blending in Petrol.

The Bargarh Bio-Refinery will utilize about two lakh tonnes of Rice straw annually as feedstock which will be sourced from fields in nearby locations – Bhati, Ambabhona, Sohela, Burla, Lakhanpur, etc.

The Bio-Refineries will contribute to cleaner environment due to usage of waste Rice straw for Ethanol production thereby reducing waste straw burning in fields, said a release.

Ethanol-blended petrol will reduce Green House Gas emissions as compared to fossil fuels.

The plant is based on Zero-liquid discharge plant technology where all water will be recycled back into the plant.

In addition to cleaner environment, the project will also help improve the socio-economic conditions of the farmers due to additional income from sale of Rice straw to the bio-refinery. fiinews.com