THE
FINANCIAL EXPRESS Our Corporate Bureau Hyderabad, March 15 Southern Biofe Bio Fuels Ltd (SBBFPL), a diversified group company of Southern Online, is planning to start a biodiesel project in Hyderabad with an investment of Rs 15 crore. The company is planning to commence commercial production of biodiesel by mid of this year with a capacity of 30 tonnes per day which is expected to become the first plant in the country producing fuel from non-edible vegetable oils like karanja, jatropha, palm sludge, non-edible rice bran oil, etc. The company has already received a letter of assurance for buying the produced biodiesel from the rural development ministry, which is the nodal agency to promote biodiesel programme for encouraging the usage of biodiesel in the country, Mr N Satish Kumar, director of SBBFPL said. With the thrust given by the Centre on eco-friendly fuels, biodiesel can be used as replacement-cum-blend for petro-diesel in order to reduce pollution or as an alternative fuel, he said. The letter from the rural development ministry has assured the company for bringing customers on permanent basis like the IndianOil Corporation, Indian Railways, etc following the terms and conditions made by bulk purchasers. The total investment for this project is estimated at about Rs 15 crore. About Rs 6 crore is being mopped up through internal accruals and the remaining Rs 9 crore is yet to be mobilised either through debt or equity, he said. The project appraisals are being done by the ministry of environment, forests, science and technology and Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board, he said. ``We have also approached the International Finance Corporation (IFC) for financial assistance besides other VCs from Germany. The project details are being appraised by the German Technical Cooperation, (GTZ) for obtaining the funds,'' according to Mr N Satish Kumar. The technology for converting crude oils into diesel will be provided by Chemical Construction India Ltd, New Delhi which has technical collaboration with LURGI of Germany, a leader in biotechnology, he added. |
