NRL inks pact with technology partner Chempolis Oy of Finland

Guwahati, Feb 23: Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) has signed a framework agreement with its technology partner Chempolis Oy of Finland.
The framework agreement undertakes to implement the Bio Refinery Project in two phases, a release issued by NRL today said.
Phase-I of the project, scheduled to be completed within six months, would involve basic engineering of the project, completion of EIA ( Environment Impact Assessment) study, obtaining EC (Environment Clearance) on modalities and logistics of sourcing bamboo feedstock, updating financial feasibility report on the project, debt financing arrangement and others, the release said.On successful completion of Phase-I, full-fledged activities of physical construction of the plant shall be initiated through formation of a joint venture company.
NRL’s Bio Refinery is designed to produce 49,000 tonnes of bio ethanol annually, with co-production of furfural and acetic acid from locally available non-food biomass feedstock utilising technology from Chempolis Oy, Finland.
Bamboo is one of the major non-food biomass resources available abundantly in the North East and is among the fastest growing plants. The plant would have a capacity to process five lakh tonnes of green bamboo on an annual basis.
The bio ethanol produced would primarily be used to blend NRL petrol as mandated by the National Policy on Bio-fuels, with the surplus to be sold to other oil marketing companies. The Agreement was signed between General Manager (Marketing) B Ekka and General Manager(Finance) S D Maheshwari on behalf of NRL and Chairperson Heli Antila and Director Asia Pacific and America, Pasi Rousu from Chempolis side, the release added.