The Steel Authority of India (SAIL) with the help of the Central government is planning to set up India’s first gas-to-ethanol plant at its ferro alloy plant in Chandrapur in Maharashtra.
The plan is in line with the government’s aim to reduce the country’s dependence on import for crude oil besides addressing the issue of carbon emissions.
SRTMI is facilitating SAIL in setting up the gas-to-ethanol plant. It will cost around Rs 400 crore for SAIL to set up the plant, of which 20 percent viable gap funding or aid will be provided by the government under the National Policy on BioFuels 2018.
SRTMI is a collaborative research platform formed jointly by the Steel Ministry and domestic steel players which facilitates research and development (R&D) in the iron and steel sector by strengthening association among industry, academia and research bodies.
This will be the fourth such plant in the world in the steel sector, and overall the first in India.
SAIL’s Chandrapur Ferro Alloy Plant (CFP) is the only public sector unit engaged in production of manganese-based ferro alloys in the country. CFP has an installed capacity of 1,00,000 tpa ferro manganese.
The government has asked SAIL to prepare and submit a detailed project report (DPR) on the project, and SRTMI will facilitate SAIL in the project. There is a scope to produce 50,000 lpd of ethanol from about 10,000 normal mtr cu per hour gas produced at Chandrapur.
SAIL, under the Ministry of Steel, is the country’s largest steel-making company having an installed capacity of about 21 million tpa.
