The demo 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 feedstock 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 decision to scale up this program follows a pilot plant trial for more than 4 years wherein various feedstocks such as bagasse and corn cob have been evaluated. Praj initiated the Lignocellulose to Ethanol program to address the need to expand ethanol production from non-food, agri-residue.

Praj said it 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.

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.

—Pramod Chaudhari, Executive Chairman, Praj