Clariant India's Swadhin Banerjee explains Sunliquid Technology for 2G Ethanol

Indus Exposium has organized the second edition of the Waste Management Series of Summits between January 30 and 31, to which Devdiscourse is the media partner.

On the second day of Waste Management Series of Summits (SMSS 2020), Swadhin Banerjee, GM, Clariant India explained the Sunliquid process of Clariant group which is aimed at producing second-generation (2G) Ethanol. He claimed that the product is at par with gasoline in energy content besides, it has several added advantages including low emission, agriculture waste management, job creation and produces fertilizer as a by-product.

"We have sold three licenses of the technology one each in Brazil, Romania, and Poland," said Banerjee. He also emphasized that seven years of pre-commercial testing was conducted for Sunliquid Technology. In technology, agriculture residues such as straw, non-food lignocellulosic materials, and waste are used in Ethanol production. "We pay the farmers to purchase their agriculture waste which besides being a liability for them is also a major source of air pollution if it is brunt. Thus, we convert the agriculture waste for the farmers into wealth," he added. He also claimed that the 2G Ethanol produced with the Sunliquid technology could be enhanced into superior energy density product required for heavy-duty road transport, aviation and marine sectors, can be easily blended into gasoline, and produces fertilizer as a by-product.

Explaining the process, he informed that Sunliquid Technology uses chemical-free mechanical and thermal pre-treatment wherein enzymes are produced exactly when and where they are required. "At the experimental level, we have produced 1,000 t/a of cellulosic ethanol," he added. In the process, various types of feedstock are converted into cellulosic ethanol after undergoing pre-treatment, enzymatic hydrolysis, and fermentation. He sees Asia as the largest Biomass abundant in the world due to its land availability and resources. The global potential of cellulosic ethanol is about 700 million tonnes per annum, claimed Banerjee.

He also emphasized that the technology could provide a sustainable solution to the farmers in Haryana and Punjab who are compelled to burn the agriculture waste causing huge air pollution in Delhi – NCR in winters. Clariant in India, headquartered in Navi Mumbai, operates in the business areas of Care Chemicals (BU Industrial & Consumer Specialties), Plastics & Coatings (BU Pigments, BU Masterbatches, and BU Additives), Natural Resources (BU Functional Minerals, BL Mining Services) and Catalysis (BU Catalysts).