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Bio fuels
Tata Chemicals' biofuels business has grown out of its extensive
expertise in chemicals manufacturing, the agriculture and
crop-nutrition space, and its research capability through
the Innovation Centre. Its product portfolio includes
The business is currently focused on working with sustainably
grown feedstock for first generation bioethanol and biodiesel.
The bioethanol plant in Nanded, Maharashtra, is a 30KL/day
facility using sweet sorghum as feedstock for bioethanol,
and sweet sorghum bagasse as fuel for generating power. Sweet
sorghum which contains 10-12 per cent sugar content can be
crushed and processed like sugar cane and has the added advantages
of reaching maturity within a 110-day period and requires
only one-third quantity of water for cultivation.
For biodiesel, the company is currently focused on identifying,
developing and cultivating superior varieties of jatropha
as feedstock. TCL has also recently acquired an equity stake
in JOil (Singapore), a jatropha seedling company founded by
Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, that will set up tissue
culture labs in India and other locations to develop jatropha
seedlings using micro-propagation techniques. Tata Chemicals
will also have exclusive marketing rights for JOil’s
jatropha seedlings in India and East Africa.
Apart from this, the company is actively involved in biofuels
research. TCL's Innovation Centre is working on advanced technologies
including second generation biofuels, technology for better
processing of feedstock and on by-products. The company plans
to utilise the Nanded facility as a pilot plant for the research
and development of cellulose-based bioethanol and biobutanol.
TCL is also a part of ICRISAT’s Sweet Sorghum Ethanol
Research Consortium (SSERC).
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