India’s Numaligarh Refinery signs biorefinery contract with Chempolis

India state-controlled oil and gas company Bharat Petroleum’s Assam based facility Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) has signed a term sheet with Chempolis, a Finland -based bio refining technology for setting up a biorefinery unit. 

The term sheet will be the basis for formation of a joint venture agreement for implementation of the project, according to EnergySector.in.

A partnership agreement for the biorefinery project was signed between NRL and Chempolis in 2014.

NRL is implementing India's first biorefinery in Assam at an estimated cost of INR 950 crore which would produce bio­ethanol with co­production of furfural and acetic acid from locally available non-food biomass feedstock.

Bamboo is one of the major non-­food biomass resources available abundantly in North East India and is among the fastest growing plants. Around 49,000 tonnes of bioethanol produced annually would primarily be used to blend NRL petrol as mandated by the National Policy on Biofuel, with the surplus to be sold to other oil marketing companies.

NRL has already signed MoUs with Nagaland Bamboo Development Agency (NBDA) and Arunachal Pradesh Bamboo Resources Development Agency (APBRDA) last year for sourcing of bamboo for the biorefinery.