REFINERY AND PETROCHEMICALS LTD

BRIEF SUMMARY ON Second Generation (2G) Ethanol Plant

INTRODUCTION

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL), a schedule 'A' CPSE and a subsidiary of ONGC is a state of the art grass root large scale refinery complex located in north of Mangalore city, in Dakshina district in the state of . The refinery has got a versatile design with high flexibility to process Crudes of various API and with high degree of automation. MRPL has a design capacity to process 15.00 million metric tons per annum. The major processing units in the refinery are Crude & Vacuum Distillation Units, Visbreaker units, Hydrocracker units, Hydrogen Generation Units, Continuous Catalytic cracking Reforming units, Petrochemical Fluidized Catalytic Cracking, Isomerization unit, Mixed Xylene unit, Coker Heavy Gas Oil Hydrotreating Unit, ATF / Kero & LPG Treatment Units, Polypropylene Unit, Diesel Hydrotreating Unit, Delayed Coker Unit and Sulphur Recovery units. Power & Steam required for the refinery operations is supplied by Captive Power Plants.

The Government of is encouraging production of Second Generation (2G) Ethanol from agricultural residues to provide additional sources of remuneration to farmers, address the growing environmental concerns and support the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme for achieving 20% Ethanol Blending in Petrol by 2017 (National Bio-fuel policy). In view of this, MRPL proposes to set-up 60 KLPD Second Generation (2G) Ethanol project at near Harihar, Davangere, Karnataka to achieve the requirement. Ethanol will be utilized only for blending with petrol. The cost of the project is expected to be ~ Rs 860 to 967 Cr. Feed stock for the unit is Maize cob & Rice straw

PROCESS DESCRIPTION: The production of ethanol from lignocellulosic biomass can be achieved through two different processing routes. They are:

 Biochemical – in which enzymes and other micro-organisms are used to convert cellulose and hemicellulose components of the feedstocks to sugars prior to their fermentation to produce ethanol;  Thermochemical – where pyrolysis/gasification technologies produce a synthesis gas (CO + H2) from which a wide range of long carbon chain biofuels, such as synthetic diesel or aviation fuel, can be reformed.

Ethanol from lignocellulosic biomass is produced mainly via biochemical routes. In biochemical conversion the plant fibre is separated into its components cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin. The cellulose is then further broken down to simple sugars that are fermented to produce ethanol. Typically the process is carried out in 4 stages

1. Physical or chemical pretreatment of the plant fibers to expose the cellulose and reduce its crystallinity. 2. Hydrolysis of the cellulose polymer, with enzymes or acids, to convert it into simple sugars (glucose). 3. Microbial fermentation of these simple sugars to ethanol. 4. Distillation and dehydration to produce 99.5% pure alcohol.

Lignin is a byproduct of this process, and this can be used as a boiler fuel or processed into specialty chemicals. Hydrolysis and fermentation can be conducted simultaneously in one stage but simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) is yet to be implemented commercially, significant advances are being made in this area.

CONCLUSION The reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emission has become a major target in efforts to suppress global warming. Bio-ethanol is considered as an important renewable fuel to partly replace fossil-derived fuels. Ligno-cellulosic biomass is seen as an attractive feedstock for renewable fuels, particularly ethanol. Bioethanol production from these feed stocks could be an attractive alternative for disposal of these residues. Ligno- cellulosic feed stocks do not interfere with food security and are important for both rural and urban areas in terms of energy security reason, environmental concern, employment opportunities, agricultural development, foreign exchange saving, socioeconomic issues etc.