Praj signs licensing and joint development pacts with Gevo

Further to an MoU signed earlier this year, Praj Industries Limited (Praj) and bio-fuels company Gevo Inc have signed licensing and joint development agreements for Gevo’s Isobutanol technology.

The Isobutanol technology will be offered to sugar and starch-based ethanol plants, including the majority of Praj’s customers, globally.

As part of the agreements, Praj will invest in the development and optimization of Gevo’s Isobutanol technology applied to feed stocks including sugarcane, sugar beet, cassava, rice, sorghum, wheat and certain cellulosic sugars. The development work is expected to lead to process design packages (PDP) that would accelerate the licensing of the technology. 

The PDP will build upon the work Praj has carried out on sugar and starch-based feedstocks. The two companies will also commercialize Gevo’s technology for making renewable jet fuel (ATJ) from Isobutanol in India. The emission reduction measures adopted by the Aviation sector will be greatly helped by use of renewable jet fuel.

As previously announced, Gevo and Praj expect to license up to 250 million gallons of Isobutanol capacity over the next ten years under this partnership.

In addition to the PDP development, Praj will also contribute engineering services to optimize Gevo’s Luverne facility. Initially, the focus will be to optimize energy and water usage at the plant, which is expected to lead to an even lower cost Isobutanol process.

“We believe that the potential for Isobutanol is significant and that it could provide our customers a path to improve their profits by diversifying products. We are glad to finally sign binding agreements with them. We look forward to creating a new and profitable opportunity for 1st generation ethanol plant owners, as well as accelerating the use of 2nd generation cellulosic feedstocks to produce Isobutanol,” Pramod Chaudhari, Executive Chairman, Praj, said in a statement.

Patrick Gruber, Gevo’s CEO added, “Praj shares the vision of Gevo of making bio-based products for chemicals and fuels, adding value to existing alcohol plants. Licensing is expected to be a key growth area for Gevo, and we very much look forward to Praj being one of Gevo’s key partners in rolling out our technology globally. We are also excited to be able to leverage their process and engineering expertise to potentially help improve our operating costs at Luverne. Any efficiency we identify will help improve the overall operating costs of Isobutanol, which will only expand the profit potential for Gevo and our future licensees.”  

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