L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering has signed an agreement with the Institute of Chemical Technology to build ethanol plants based on indigenous technology.

“Today, India is producing about 3 per cent bio-ethanol blending with ethanol derived from molasses, which is called generation (1G) ethanol. There is huge impetus from the government to set up second generation (2G) ethanol plants in order to achieve the ambitious target of 20 per cent blending bio-fuels,” the company said in a statement.

“L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering (LTHE), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro (L&T), has signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT) to build ethanol plants based on fully indigenous technology by ICT,” it said.

The technology is capable of processing a variety of feed stocks and offers one of the lowest project life costs, it added.

2G ethanol is defined as that derived from agricultural waters that do not much impact human and animal food chains, and results in more than 60 per cent reduction in fuel carbon emissions compared to equivalent petro-fuel use.

“The Department of Bio-Technology (DBT) set up the country’s first bio-energy research centre at ICT in 2008 known as the DBT-ICT centre for bio-science with the express mandate to develop, scale up and monetise 2G ethanol bio-ethanol technology,” Professor GD Yadav, Vice Chancellor of ICT, said.

LTHE and ICT will collaborate to provide complete solutions in setting up 2G ethanol plants in terms of process licence, technology knowhow, basic engineering, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) or engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM).

“We are delighted to be part of this initiative taken by the Government of India, and it is in line with our commitment to nation-building. The 2G ethanol projects will herald a new age of technological development and will fuel India’s green economic growth engine.

“LTHE will leverage its vast experience in engineering, construction and project management to meet challenges and deliver 2G ethanol plants,” Subramanian Sarma, MD and CEO of L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering, said.

L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering is a leading provider of design-to-build engineering and construction solutions across the hydrocarbon spectrum to global majors.