By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, October 7, 2018: Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) plans to commission its second generation (2G) ethanol bio-refinery in Bargarh district by December 2020 at an investment of Rs 10 billion.

Odisha governor Ganeshi Lal and union minister of petroleum and natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan ae scheduled to lay the foundation stone for the refinery on October 10.

The refinery will come up on 58 acres of land at Bargarh and we have got the environmental clearance for it, BPCL officials said.

Odisha is the first state where the construction of the projects is going to start even as 12 such refineries are proposed in different states in the country, sources said.

The Bargarh bio-refinery will utilize about 0.2 million tonnes of rice straw annually as feedstock which will be sourced from nearby locations like Bhatti, Ambabhona, Attabira, Sohela, Burla, Lakhanpur etc.

Biofuels have assumed importance recently due to the growing energy security needs and environmental concerns. Several countries have put forth different mechanism and incentives to encourage the use of biofuels to suit their domestic requirements.

The National Biofuel Policy of India 2018 targets 20 per cent ethanol blending to petrol by the year 2030, however, due to non-availability of Ethanol, the current Ethanol blending in Petrol is only around three per cent to four per cent. Setting up of 2G Ethanol plants will help achieve the target of Ethanol blending in petrol.

The bio-refinery will contribute to the cleaner environment due to the usage of waste rice straw for ethanol production thereby reducing waste straw burning in fields. Blending of ethanol in petrol will also reduce Green House Gas (GHG) emissions as compared to fossil fuels.

The plant is based on a zero-liquid discharge plant (ZLD) technology where all the water will be recycled back into the plant.