Tata Chemicals' ethanol plant validates claims on sorghum

Tata Chemicals Ltd (TCL) is planning to commission its sweet sorghum-fed ethanol plant in Nanded, Maharashtra that will mark a change from the current industry practice. Being one of the first pure sweet sorghum ethanol plants in the country, it could support an ideal bioethanol crop for India.

Homi Khusrokhan, managing director, Tata Chemicals said, ''We are entering the business and are nowhere near national scale.'' The plant will reach its full capacity of 8 million ltr per year by 2010. But now it is the 'smallest' commercial plant which, at 30 kilo ltr per day, is bigger than a pilot and smaller than a commercial plant that typically has a capacity of 100 kilo ltr per day.

He said, ''Lack of availability for high-quality feedstock and land as well as insufficient research in biodiversity, social and environmental impact are some of the inhibiting factors. On its part, TCL has been growing sweet sorghum on 450 hectare in Maharashtra with production technology and planting materials from National Research Centre for Sorghum, in Hyderabad.''

The plant will reach its full capacity of 8 million ltr per year by 2010. TCL has other plans to make use of the by-products of its ethanol business, driven primarily by research from its innovation centre in Pune.