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FINANCIAL TIMES BV MAHALAKSHMI Hyderabad The Southern Online Bio Technologies Ltd (SBT) has teamed up with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi- Arid topics (Icrisat) for cultivation of oilseed bearing trees on degraded lands for its proposed biodiesel project in Andhra Pradesh. The company has signed an agreement with Icrisat recently. The agreement, valid for a period of five years, was signed by Dr William Dar, director general of Icrisat and SBT director N Satish Kumar. Together, Icrisat and SBT will assist farmers to undertake the plantation lid processing of Pongamia, Jatropha and other oilseed bearing trees on the site at Icrisat campus and on famers' fields close to SBT's proposed biodiesel production unit near Patancheru, Mr Kumar said. The total estimated capacity of the plant through extraction is about 30 tonnes per day. "The proposed project is envisaged to serve as a model for replication in rainfed areas and under watershed programmes implemented by Icrisat in India and other developing countries," Mr Kumar said. Further, SBT will offer buy-back arrangements to the local fanners to procure oilseeds or raw oils for use in the biodiesel plant. Icrisat will use the oil cakes that are by-products of the oil , extraction for use in agricultural fields besides providing the raw materials. The technology involves extraction of biodiesel from non-edible' seed oils like Pongamia or Jatropha seeds or vegetable fats by esterification and trans-esterification using methanol or ethanol and chemical catalysts. The project, expected to be initiated this year, has already obtained the lEC (Import and export code) from the joint director general of Foreign 1rade along with clearances from the industries department, Mr Kumar said. Meanwhile, the company has received a letter of intent I from 500 PPM GmbH, for purchase and sale of certified emission reductions (CERs) at a price of at least 6-8 Euro for 3,000 - 5,000 CERs. From the proposed project. |
