HYDERABAD: As part of its transition from fossil-fuels to a multi-source, clean energy play, public sector oil & gas giant, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC), plans to set up two mega bio-refineries in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, a top IOC official has said.
These second generation (2G) bio-refineries, which will extract ethanol from agri-residue like wheat and paddy straw, are part of IOC’s plans to set up 12 bio-refineries across multiple states, including Haryana, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, IOC’s R&D director SSV Ramakumar said here on Wednesday.
“It’s a week-old proposal. We have approached the Telangana government which has identified two parcels of land for the project. We are yet to approach the AP government,” Rao said, adding that the Telangana bio-refinery would definitely come up within 200 km of Hyderabad’s periphery.
The refineries will take at least 18 months to come up after IOC takes possession of land for the project, Rao said Meanwhile talking about IOC’s transition, Ramakumar said over the next 5-10 years, an IOC petrol station will no longer be a mere petrol pump but an energy pump where you can get not just the cleanest petrol and diesel, but also charge your EVs, swap EV batteries, get Hydrogen CNG, among others.
Elaborating on IOC’s strategy to ramp up ethanol output led by in-house R&D, Ramakumar said IOC has found efficient ways to not just extract ethanol and compressed biogas from agri-residue but also from carbon dioxide using select natural bacteria and microbes.
In addition to this, it has devised a process for converting Carbon dioxide into Omega 3 fatty acids, for which it has also been granted a global patent, Ramakumar said.
“The government has mandated the usage of 10% of ethanol in transportation fuel but currently not more than 6% ethanol is being added to fuel due to its non-availability. IOC’s R&D has found new avenues to produce ethanol as the government has mandated an ethanol mix percentage of 20% by 2025. This has led to the development of 2G & 3G Ethanol,” he explained.
