Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar opened the country’s first Greenfield grain-based ethanol plant in Purnea.
The Rs 105-crore plant by Eastern India Biofuels Pvt Ltd is the first one developed since the Centre gave a go-ahead to Bihar’s ethanol production and promotion policy-2021.
The Purnea plant, built with latest technology using zero waste discharge, has been set up on about 15 acres of land and will buy 130 tons of rice husk and 145-150 tons of maize or rice from farmers every day
The ethanol will be exclusively sold to Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum in the state and in neighbouring West Bengal and Jharkhand, for which a 10 year purchase agreement has been inked with the OMCs.