The Hindu Business Line : Gujarat Oleo Chem bags Rs 25-cr biodiesel order from IOC

IN what could be a path-breaking private sector initiative in promoting biofuels, Gujarat Oleo Chem Ltd (GOCL), which has bagged an order for supply of biodiesel worth Rs 25 crore to Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), delivered its first consignment to the latter last Saturday.

The significance of the development lays in the fact that for the first time in the country, a private company has successfully exploited the vegetable oil route to produce biodiesel for supply to a Government parastatal.

GOCL is using castor oil as feedstock for production of biodiesel. Crude castor oil is refined and biodiesel is produced through the process of esterification and transesterification.

Flagging off the first couple of trucks at the factory premises in Ankleshwar, (Bharuch district) in the presence of Dr N. Raje, Director of IOC, and Mr R. Jayaraman Iyer, Executive Director of IDBI, Mr P.K. Lahiri, State Chief Secretary, assured the government's policy support for such eco-friendly initiatives.

The associate sector project of GOCL is financially assisted by Gujarat Agro Industries Corporation Ltd (a government of Gujarat undertaking) and Technology Development Board, Union Ministry of Science and Technology.

The GOCL Chairman, Mr S.D. Pathak, said scale-up to the commercial level was done only after the company put in tremendous research efforts to perfect the production process. IOC carried out rigorous tests on quality and other aspects of production before placing the order, he added.

Talking to Business Line, Mr. Sandeep Chaturvedi, Director, said diversified use of castor oil for biodiesel would improve the marketability of castor seeds and help growers realise better prices. As next step, the company will look at establishing backward linkages so that it will be able to produce castor beans for captive use.

In the developed economies, biofuels, especially biodiesel using the vegetable oil route, are becoming increasingly popular. As much as 20 lakh tonnes of various vegetable oils (soyabean oil, rapeseed oil, coconut oil) representing two per cent of global production are used globally every year for biodiesel, with the Europe Union itself accounting for 70 per cent.

Vegetable oil is a renewable source of energy; its production is sustainable and its use in automobile fuels is eco-friendly.

More Stories on : Announcements | Non-conventional Energy | Petroleum

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page