Assam Bio Ethanol Private Limited - Bio Refinery

Assam Bio Refinery Private Limited (ABRPL) is the first bio refinery to produce fuel grade ethanol from bamboo biomass. ABRPL had been registered on 04.06.2018 as a joint venture company between Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) and two Finnish companies Fortum BV and Chempolis Oy. The refinery premises are located at Numaligarh in the Golaghat district of Assam. The refinery has an annual rated production capacity of 48900 MT of ethanol, 19000 MT of furfural, 11000 MT of acetic acid, and 31000 MT of food grade liquid CO2.

ABRPL is driven by economic, social, and environmental objectives in the form of upliftment of rural economy through additional income for bamboo farmers, employment generation for skilled harvesters, entrepreneurship setups, and reduction of GHG emissions.

The use of energy is growing rapidly and the resources of our planet are already under great pressure. We need to change the way we produce our energy. We need to produce more renewable energy, to replace the fossil fuels, especially in a developing country like India the demand for energy is rapidly growing and it has been a challenge for Government of India to cater to the huge energy demand for an ever increasing population . In last few years, Government of India has been pushing for self-sufficiency in petroleum products by replacing fossil fuels with renewable resources and one of the major thrust area has been to promote technology for the production of ethanol from non-food feedstock and roll out of 20% ethanol blending in petrol by 2025.

Towards fulfilment of this National objective of attaining self-sufficiency in energy and reducing the fossil fuel footprint, Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) has joined hands with two Finnish companies viz M/s Fortum and M/s Chempolis to make  a strategic entry into the field of producing ethanol, from cellulosic feedstock ‘Bamboo’ which is available in abundance in North-Eastern (NE) states of India.

A joint venture company namely Assam Bio Refinery Pvt Limited has been incorporated with three promoters viz:  Numaligarh Refinery Limited along with two other foreign companies Fortum and Chempolis from Finland.

Details of promoters

NUMALIGARH REFINERY LIMITED, a public sector Oil refining joint venture company based in the state of Assam in India . It has a capacity of 3 million metric tonnes per year. NRL is a JV company amongst Oil India Limited (OIL), Govt. of Assam and Engineers India Limited (EIL).

Its main product range includes Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Naphtha, Motor Spirit

( MS), Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) Superior Kerosene Oil ( SKO) High Speed Diesel (HSD), Raw Petroleum Coke ( RPC ) Calcined Petroleum Coke ( CPC), Sulphur, Wax, Mineral Turpentine Oil (MTO), etc..

FORTUM is one of the largest energy producers in the Nordic power market. Fortum is primarily active in the generation and sale of electricity, heating, cooling, waste-to-energy, and recycling solutions as well as related services. Fortum has among the lowest carbon-dioxide emissions in the EU. In 2017, 96% of Fortum’s power generation in the EU was CO2-free (61% of Fortum’s total power generation was CO2-free). In its heat production, Fortum uses a variety of renewable and recycled fuels making it one of the EU’s largest bioenergy companies. Fortum is the largest electricity retailer in the Nordic countries measured by the number of customers, offering and actively developing digital services that enable consumers to better manage their energy consumption. Fortum employs some 9,000 professionals in the Nordic and Baltic countries, Russia, Poland, and India.

CHEMPOLIS OY, Chempolis Oy develops and provides technology solutions for biomass, pulp and paper, biofuel, alcohol, sugar, palm oil, and chemical industries worldwide. The company offers formico 3G biorefining technologies for biorefining non-wood and non-food materials; formicofib, a non-wood fibre technology for the production of non-wood papermaking fibres; formicobio, a technology for the production of non-food cellulosic bioethanol; formicodeli, a technology for optimal delignification of non-wood and non-food biomass; formicopure, a technology for purifying biosolvents and biochemicals; and formicocont, a technology for operating formico biorefineries economically, safely, and reliably.