Technology for Indian Bio-refinery with bamboo as feed developed at Oulu, Finland by Chempolis

The biorefining technology company Chempolis, the Finnish energy company Fortum, and Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL), a state-owned Indian oil company, have formed a joint venture to construct a biorefinery in the state of Assam in Northeast India.The biorefinery will use 300,000 tons of bamboo annually from the vast natural and cultivated bamboo reserves of Northeast India. The plant will produce annually 60 million liters of bioethanol, 19,000 tons of furfural, 11,000 tons of acetic acid, and 144 gigawatt hours of green energy. Chempolis was founded in 1995 with headquarters in Oulu,Finland.

Pilot project entitled “Torrefaction of Bamboo” has been successfully carried out at IISc with funding DST.This project was taken to enhance the storability of bamboo and also generate a product which can be a cheaper substitute for applications where black charcoal is currently being used. GP Green Systems Pvt. Ltd, Kolkata, had set up three of gasifiers (nominal capacity 600 kg/ hr biomass) at Mangaldoi, Assam, to produce gas having calorific value 1,250– 1,350 kcal/Nm3 (or 5.25 MJ–5.65 MJ/ Nm3 ). This gas was meant to replace high speed diesel (HSD) used as a fuel in the biscuit plant of ITC. The venture proved to be a great success to the satisfaction of the customer. The plant at Mangaldoi was commissioned in June 2016 and since then it has been in continuous operation.

In October 2006, the Government of India (GOI) had launched the National Bamboo Mission (NBM) on the basis of the National Mission on Bamboo Technology and Trade Development Report, 2003. The NBM’s key objective was to address issues relating to the development of the bamboo industry in the country, provide a new impetus and direction and enable the realisation of India’s considerable potential in bamboo production. Multi-disciplinary and multi-dimensional in its approach, major interventions planned under it were to focus on research and development, plantation on forest and non-forest lands through Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMCs) or Village Development Committee (VDCs) and to ensure the supply of quality planting materials by establishing centralised and kisan/mahila nurseries.