Maharashtra's single-feed distilleries get the nod to use grains, mainly maize, to produce ethanol

Time of India

5 days ago

Kolhapur: State govt has approved existing single-feed distilleries, which primarily rely on molasses and sugar cane juice, to operate as dual-feed. This approval allows these distilleries to use grains, such as maize and broken rice, as an alternative feed for ethanol production.
While a few standalone distilleries in Maharashtra already utilise grains as feed, the majority are attached to sugar mills, depending on molasses and sugar cane juice to produce ethanol. These distilleries could operate only three to four months annually due to raw material shortages. With the inclusion of grains, they can now function nearly all year round, benefiting grain producers, especially maize farmers in Maharashtra.
In states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, and Haryana, distilleries have been permitted to use maize and rice for ethanol production. Experts noted that Maharashtra's distilleries have significant potential to produce ethanol from maize, a crop predominantly grown by non-irrigated farmers. Nearly 54 lakh tonnes of maize, primarily a kharif crop, are produced in Maharashtra.
State govt issued a notification on July 23 to allow single-feed distilleries to adopt dual feed.
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"Now, the mills that are financially capable of setting up silos to store the grains, developing facilities to grind the grains and fermenting, can easily start using the distilleries to convert grains into ethanol. Around 70% of the sugar mills have distilleries attached. Most of them have increased their capacity, but they are short of raw material.
Now, with maize, which is a prominent crop in Maharashtra, they can run the distilleries for most parts of the year and thereby overcome the financial hurdles they are facing," said Vijay Autade, a sugar cane industry expert.
For the past three years, sugar mill associations sought dual feed status for distilleries from state govt and have now succeeded. "Centre had allowed ethanol production from grains since 2018; however, the distilleries in Maharashtra had no such permission and relied only on molasses and sugar cane juice, unlike the north Indian states, where the distilleries started using grains and benefited a lot. We were also trying to get permission.
Accordingly, state govt, through a notification, has given permission. We expect that the mills can run their distilleries for 12 months. The farmers producing maize will get a good price. Also, we can achieve ethanol blending to 27% from the current 20%. The oil import dependency will thus be reduced," said B B Thombare, the president of the West India Sugar Mills Association.
Dual-feed distilleries require specific equipment and process mechanisms for handling, fermenting, and distilling both types of feedstock. Currently, in Maharashtra, molasses-based distilleries can produce 316 crore litres of ethanol in a yearly cycle, while grain-based distilleries can produce 50 crore litres.