Chempolis and NRL team up for cellulosic ethanol production

In India, Numaligarh Refinery (NRL), a Government of India Enterprise, and Finnish biorefinery technology corporation Chempolis have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU).

Under the MoU, the two companies have agreed to jointly study and build a biorefinery in Assam, northeastern India, which will produce cellulosic ethanol from locally sourced biomass – namely bamboo. Bamboo is one of the major non-food biomass resources available abundantly in northern India and is among the fastest growing.

'India is seriously making acts to meet the biofuel mandate to blend 5% and later 20% of bioethanol in petrol,' says Pasi Rousu, president, Asia-Pacific and Americas, Chempolis. 'India can soon be a forefront of biorefining.'

Chempolis' Formicobio biorefining technology is based on selective fractionation of biomass and co-production of multiple products in a sustainable way. The technology is a versatile platform. In addition to bioethanol, sugars and lignin can be used as feedstocks to produce different products.