Bamboo bound for refinery

PUBLIC sector Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) in Assam is set to explore the feasibility of setting up a biorefinery in Assam by using bamboo available in the region. Bamboo is one of the identified non-food biomass which grows abundantly in the north-east and is among the fastest growing plants. The land for the bio-refinery has been identified adjacent to the Numaligarh Refinery complex in Golaghat district of Assam towards its northern boundary. The boundary wall for protecting the land is being constructed. An Environment Impact Analysis (EIA) is going on which is likely to be over by January 2017.

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However, the proposed bio-refinery falls within the 15km no-development zone declared by the government which is part of the recent National Green Tribunal's verdict against the expansion project of the NRL township. 

The NRL and Chempolis of Finland have signed a partnership agreement in October 2014 for a bio-refinery with lingocellulosic biomass. For the first bio-refinery, NRL and Chempolis are targeting larger production of sustainable biofuels in India, which would reduce India's dependence on imported petroleum. The bio-refineries will be based on Chempolis's 3rd generation bio-refining technology, which enables selective fractionation of biomass and co-production of multiple products in a sustainable way. 

The total requirement of bamboo for the proposed plant is 300,000 tons per annum (bone dry) which is equivalent to about 500,000 tons per annum of green bamboo. The feasible location for the bio-refinery is Numaligarh and main catchment areas for the proposed bio-refinery are: Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Karbi Anglong and NC Hills district councils and Manipur.

Nagaland, Manipur, Arunachal, NC Hills have already submitted consent letters for supply of more than 6 lakh ton of green bamboo per annum.