PM Modi Launched India's First Bamboo Ethanol Plant in Assam

India got its first second-generation ethanol plant on Sunday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurating the Numaligarh Refinery Ltd's bamboo-based refinery unit in Assam.

- TBG NETWORK

India got its first second-generation ethanol plant on Sunday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurating the Numaligarh Refinery Ltd's bamboo-based refinery unit in Assam. The foundation stone of the NRL Bio Refinery at Numaligarh was laid by the PM himself on February 9, 2019. This is significant news for Assam in particular, and the northeast region as a whole, as these states grow bamboo in abundance.

In 2014, the ethanol blending was just 1.53 per cent. By 2022, India had achieved a 10 per cent blending rate, five months ahead of schedule. The original target of 20 per cent blending (E20) by 2030 was advanced to 2025 and has already been achieved in the current ethanol supply year (ESY). The Numaligarh Rs 5,000 crore 2nd-generation bioethanol plant is the first such unit in the world to utilise bamboo. It is a zero-waste plant, as it utilises every part of the bamboo to produce high-value industrial chemicals such as green furfural and green acetic acid, which is used in APIs, food-grade carbon dioxide (CO2) and bio-coal.