Turning soya bean waste into energy in India

ECN closes license agreement with Thermax.

ECN has granted the Indian company Thermax a license to build and sell MILENA biomass gasification installations. ECN collaborates with the Dutch company Royal Dahlman, which sells filters and gas cleaning installations, among other things.

The MILENA technology has been developed by ECN to convert various kinds of biomass such as wood and agricultural waste into a gas. This gas can be used to produce substitute natural gas, biodiesel or electricity.

Soya beans
The first step in the collaboration between ECN, Dahlman and Thermax is the construction of a pilot plant that uses MILENA technology to convert vegetable waste from agriculture into electricity. The first small-scale gasifier with a capacity of 1 Megawatt electricity will be built near a large soya plantation of Ruchi Soya Industries. The company will convert the waste of the soya harvest into energy, which, in turn, will be used to process soya beans. Dr. R.R. Sonde of Thermax explains: “ In a very unique collaboration, ECN- Dahlman in the Netherlands and  Thermax - RuchiSoya from India will  build a first of a kind biomass gasification technology from waste biomass in India. The basic know-how is  based on ECN's indirect biomass gasification technology transferred  to Dahlman. Engineering  and manufacturing will be  done by Thermax and project development by Ruchi Soya in one of their sites in Central  India. The success of the project will open up an entirely new vista in  renewable energy in India.”

Thousands of gasifiers
If the pilot installation is successful, a bright future awaits the MILENA technology in India. For the longer term, Thermax and the Indian government have ambitious plans with the MILENA technology. They plan on installing thousands of small-scale gasifiers throughout India. Due to the high efficiency, this will deliver low-cost and cleaner energy to the Indian population. Moreover, such a small-scale network will give more backbone to the unstable electricity system in India.

License
MILENA is the intellectual property of ECN, which means that ECN will receive payment for every installation in which the technology is used. Royal Dahlman also shares in the proceeds. ECN will use the license fees to develop new technology for a sustainable energy system.

About Thermax
Thermax Limited, is a global solution provider in energy and environment business, that offers integrated systems and services in the areas of heating, cooling, power, water and waste management, air pollution control and chemicals.

Contact
For more information please contact:
ECN, press officer Florentine de Maar
Telephone: +31 88 515 4050 or +31 6 12798123, email: demaar@remove-this-part-ecn.nl

 

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