Ruchi Soya, Thermax sign MoU for 1MW biomass project in India

Indian companies Thermax and Ruchi Soya have entered a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to set up 1MW fluidised bed biomass gasification plant in the Indian state of Maharashtra.

Ruchi Soya will construct the 1MW fluidised bed biomass gasification plant at its Washim unit in Maharashtra to generate clean energy.

Thermax will execute the project based on an acquired technology from the Energy Research Centre and Dahlman, Netherlands.

Ruchi Soya MD Dinesh Shahra said the project will not only help the company in utilizing biomass at its crushing plant at Washim but also generate additional income for local community.

"Biomass, which is not useful as animal feed can be used in this power generation project," Shahra added.

The new proposed gasification system is expected to have higher conversion efficiency at over 95% when compared to the existing gasification systems with 80% to 85% conversion rate.

This plant will also help in demonstrating biomass gasification technology for generation of grid quality power.

The plant is also expected to have a gas clean up system; the plant will also generate operating data that will be used for the standardisation and for the determination of separate tariff, and for the demonstration of tri-generation.

Ruchi Soya is a manufacturer of edible oils, soya foods, vanaspati and bakery fats.

Thermax provides a range of engineering solutions to the energy and environment sectors.