The Rs108-crore turnover biotech services provider for the treatment of wastewater in distilleries and breweries, and fabricating wastewater treatment equipment, has entered into end-to-end promotion of sweet sorghum.

The company has developed a high yielding seed variety as well as the technology that would yield more ethanol. "We have filed our application for patenting the ethanol production process in India. Soon we will file for patent in other countries," says Pramod Chaudhari, chairman of the 20-year old company.

"By February-March next, we will start distributing the seeds and offer farming advice. It is a sort of backward integration for us," he explains Chaudhari.

With the world, including India, taking a serious look at blended automotive fuels, Praj Industries has expanded its R&D facility, Matrix - The Innovation Centre, to focus on more productive processes and energy crops for fuel grade ethanol production.

The current molasses production in India is around 140 crore litres which is sufficient to meet the potable and industrial alcohol requirements. For blending with petrol, though, an additional 40 crore litres is required.

After looking at other feed stock options, the company finally zeroed in on sweet sorghum. After several field trials, Chaudhari claims to have identified a high yielding variety suitable for cultivation in different regions.

Alongside, Praj has also developed an innovative ethanol production process called Thermopermeation.

According to Chaudhari, an additional investment of Rs1.5 crore for the Thermopermeation process can enable a unit to produce 4 to 5 litres of additional ethonal per tonne of sweet sorghum.

Chaudhari is betting on the sweet sorghum route for making ethanol as it is less water intensive and has similar properties as sugarcane stalk. According to him, the company has achieved sweet sorghum stalk yields as high as 20 tonne / acre with a sugar content exceeding 10.5 per cent in just 3.5 months,.

He lists out other advantages of sweet sorghum. "Not only is the crop less water intensive vis-a-vis sugarcane, distilleries using sweet sorghum generate less waste water. And like sugarcane bagasse, the crushed residue could be used for firing boilers or even making pulp for paper production, " says Chaudhari.

The other advantage is that the sugar mills can work their factory round the year, since sweet sorghum is a two-cycle crop, while sugarcane crushing units are occupied for just 180 days a year.

"The additional investment needed to modify an existing crushing unit is only around Rs50 lakh," he adds. And sweet sorghum farmers can earn between Rs8,000-Rs10,000 per acre per year.

Chaudhari says a new company will be formed to handle seed distribution and coordination with farmers and sugar / distillery units, which requires different skill-sets. Praj will be the coordinating agency for seed cultivation and distribution, while the cultivation will be contracted out.

Having launched the seeds and the technology, Chaudhari hopes to see ethanol production through sweet sorghum to touch 50,000 litres next fiscal. For now, though, Praj is logging a healthy growth in its current business. Last year the company grew by 25 per cent and this fiscal it expects to grow at 50 per cent.

The company has bagged five orders for fuel ethanol plants totally worth Rs140 crore in Columbia.