Praj Industries, the integrated process engineering and solutions provider for bioethanol, brewery, water and wastewater and process equipment globally shared it's advancement in the development of Commercial Demo Plant for Lignocellulosic1 Ethanol.

This is a major game changer for Praj, which has been pursuing the 2nd Generation Program at Praj Matrix-the innovation centre, its R&D facility. It is also a significant step forward in transport biofuels.

The decision to scale up this program follows a rigorous pilot plant trial for over 4 years wherein various feedstocks like bagasse, corn cob, etc., have been evaluated. Praj initiated the 'Lignocellulose to Ethanol' program to address the need to expand ethanol production from non-food, agri-residue.

Praj has developed extensive proprietary technology and gained significant experience and expertise in each of the unit operations required for the successful development of an integrated, commercial-scale bioethanol plant.

"The successful demonstration of various parameters at the demo-commercial plant will put Praj at the forefront of the bio-based economy and in the race for commercial scale second generation biofuels. While this plant size is appropriate for emerging markets, with our past experience of quick scale up, it will be well within Praj's capability to scale the capacity even up to 10 times. I am pleased to say that Praj will be the first Company in the tropics to set up such an integrated facility," said Pramod Chaudhari, Executive Chairman, Praj delivering a welcome address at the recent F O Licht, World Ethanol Conference at Munich.

The Demo Commercial Plant: Praj will set up a 10 mln litres pa demo commercial plant in India. This plant will seek to demonstrate technical and commercial viability as well optimization of water and energy integration and its impact on the capex and opex of the commercial financial proposal. The plant will also develop the entire value chain including feed handling (post harvest) and feedsock characteristics and its impact on the operations.

The Engineering Package is ready and Praj has signed an MOU with a customer for the location. Praj is in discussions with other strategic investors/partners for participation.

The company expects the project cost to be in the region of US$ 25-30 mn. Praj expects to break ground in early 2013. The company is currently pursuing feasibility on the biorefinery model based on a sugar platform. There are active programs running on biofuels, biochemicals, health, wellness and nutrition at Praj

Vinati Moghe, Vice President, Corporate. Email: vinatimoghe@praj.net