Bihar Chief Minister (CM) Nitish Kumar inaugurated a greenfield grain-based ethanol plant at Purnea in the state on Saturday.
Built for Rs 105 crore, the project is a part of Bihar’s reinvigorated push towards ethanol production.
There are plans to use sugarcane, maize and rice to fulfill the fuel demands of the country.
It will be a zero-liquid discharge plant and about 130 tons of rice husks along with 145-150 tons of maize or rice will be bought directly from local farmers for the same.
27 tons of distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) will be produced by the factory as a by-product. It will be sold for the purpose of animal feed and thus further assist both dairy and poultry farmers in Bihar.
According to a decade-long purchase agreement signed with the oil marketing companies (OMC), the ethanol from this plant will be exclusively sold to Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
Shahnawaz Hussain, Bihar’s Industry Minister, explained that they are considering making productive use the state’s considerable maize production, The Economic Times reports.