Chempolis and NRL solidify relationship and sign a Partnership Agreement for production of Cellulosic Ethanol from Bamboo in Assam (India)
Chempolis Ltd, a Finland based biorefining technology corporation signed Partnership Agreement today with Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL, A Government of India Enterprise). Parties have agreed to jointly partner to build a world class biorefinery using Chempolis formicobio™ technology in North East India (Assam) for producing bioethanol with co-production of furfural and acetic acid from locally available cellulosic biomass. Signing took place in the presence of visiting H.E. President of India Pranab Mukherjee and H.E. President of Finland Sauli Niinistö.
Agreement commits both the parties to set up the biorefinery utilizing Chempolis' formicobio™ technology, using bamboo as main biomass which is abundantly available in the state of Assam in North-East India. Project implementation is expected to take approximately 2.5 years.
"This agreement is one important step to approach the National Policy on Bio-fuels announced by Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India in 2009 that targets 20 per cent blending of bio fuels in diesel and petrol by 2017." says Pasi Rousu (President APAC). Navin Singhania (President of Chempolis India) India continues: "Bamboo is an important raw material in North-East region of India accounting 66 per cent of the country's bamboo resources. This agreement aiming at utilization of bamboo is completely in line with objectives of India. According to Economic Times bamboo industry is estimated to reach 5.7 billion USD in the near future. For NRL production of fuel grade ethanol will result in substantial savings, in addition, this project is expected to have minimal carbon footprint." P. Padmanabhan (Managing Director, NRL) opined "this project would enable cultivation of bamboo on a commercially sustainable basis and would boost rural economy of the region."
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