IOC’s ethanol plant in Panipat is expected to reach 100% capacity utilization soon

Indian Oil Corporation’s Rs 900-crore 2G ethanol plant, inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi in August 2022, is expected to achieve 100 per cent capacity utilization in a few months from the current 30 per cent, IOC Chairman and Managing Director Shrikant Madhav Vaidya said.

In conversation with the journalists from The Hindu In a publication group, Vaidya said that the raw material for the bioethanol plant – rice husks (Parali) – was available for collection only for about 45 days and needed to be stored throughout the year. The plant will require 150,000 tons of raw materials every year. The collection of raw material has now started and therefore the plant will reach its full capacity soon, he said.

Refineries like IOC must deliver gasoline that contains 20 percent (bio)ethanol by 2025. Vaidya said IOC’s mix was 12.5 percent in October and will be increased to 15 percent next year and then gradually to 20 percent by 2025.

In addition, some of the 2G ethanol will be used for the production of SAF (sustainable aviation fuel), which is also produced near the Panipat refinery as part of a joint venture with Lanzajet, a subsidiary of Lanzatech in which IOC has a stake. The International Civil Aviation Organization’s Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme of International Aviation (CORSIA) has announced that airlines will fly with 2 percent SAF blends. The IOC will supply fuel consistent with this decision, Vaidya said.

Emphasizing that “environmental protection is no longer an option, but a necessity,” Vaidya said, “Today I supply 9 percent of the country’s energy – in all forms.” By 2045, the number will rise to 12.5 percent. The entire increase comes from green sources, he said.

green hydrogen

On green hydrogen, he said the joint venture with L&T and renewable energy company ReNew Energy has been formed and “we will be applying for projects”. In August, the IOC invited bids to set up a 10,000 tonne per year green hydrogen capacity near its Panipat refinery. Vaidya said the IOC-L&T-ReNew joint venture will participate in the bid. The JV would have to submit a bid and win the project; The project will not be handed over to him just because the IOC is a partner in the JV, he said.

Vaidya said the IOC will build a capacity of 500,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year by 2040. When asked if green hydrogen wasn’t expensive, he said it would cost three times as much as gray hydrogen (hydrogen produced through processes that produce greenhouse gases). emissions). However, you shouldn’t always just focus on the economy, but rather do what’s right for the planet, he said.

Vaidya declined to answer questions on prices of petrol, diesel and LPG or insufficient recoveries, saying the issue was reserved for the boardroom.