Naturol to start India's first biodiesel plant

Mumbai, Oct 10 (UNI) India's first private owned bio-fuel producing company Naturol Bioenergy Limited (Naturol) today announced that its production unit at Kankinada in Andhra Pradesh will be operational in mid-October this year.

The fully-automated integrated bio-diesel plant, with a production capacity of 30 million gallons of biodiesel and 10,000 tonnes of pharmaceutical glycerin, will market its products in India as well as abroad in US and European markets, the company said here today.

Naturol has invested total amount of Rs 140 crore, of which 40 per cent was financed by equity from Venture Capital Investors and rest 60 per cent by term loans from banks and financial institutions, the company's Managing Director and CEO C S Bhaskar told repoters.

The company has also entered into long-term agreements with petroleum intermediaries for export to USA and EU countries. It is currently importing feedstock from Indonesia, Malaysia and Africa.

However, in future, the company plans to develop local feedstock through contract farming of Jatropha, one of the most highly suitable non-edible crops for bio-diesel production, he said.

Naturol has also invested in creating the required infrastructure to scale upto 5 times and is actively planning to foray into value added products such as Surfactants from renewable sources, Mr Bhaskar added.

UNI