In India, Indian Oil Corporation is setting up a new plant with 33,000 liters per annum capacity to use waste gas from refineries for the production of ethanol. It is being set up at the Panipat refinery in upcountry Haryana and the estimated plan outlay is Rs 450 crore, which is much less than the current conventional 2G technology for similar capacities, according to S.S.V. Ramakumar, director, IndianOil R&D Centre, in an interaction with Outlook.
“It should be ready for operation by the first quarter of 2020. It is a revolutionary project as far as technology is concerned. Nobody has so far converted refinery off-gas for production of ethanol,” Ramakumar told Outlook. “This project is part of our commitment to reduce our carbon footprint. We expect that ethanol production through this route will have approximately 55 per cent and 30 per cent lower well-to-wheel carbon footprints per mega joules of energy produced as compared to gasoline production and conventional 2G ethanol production processes respectively. If renewable power is used, then these benefits would be further pronounced.”
Indian Oil is also working on a project that will convert CO2 into value-added products and Omega3 fatty acids, and can also be used as food supplements.