“Innovation is the most important virtue in an entrepreneur’s journey” quotes Dr. Pramod Chaudhari, widely acclaimed as the Ethanol Man in industry circles. He is the first-generation techno-entrepreneur and Founder and Executive Chairman of Praj Industries. He aspired to dream and made it come true; and has been a flag bearer of the Bio-Industrial sector in India and around the world. He is relentlessly pursuing development and deployment of innovative clean and green technologies. Praj Industries is regarded as India’s most successful industrial biotech company with global footprints. The company has recently forayed into Renewable Chemical & Materials (RCM) industry globally which is acknowledged as the next frontier in the bioeconomy. In an exclusive interview under the Pro MFG Sustainable Circular Economy Series- Doing Well by Doing Good powered by BiofuelCircle , Dr. Pramod Chaudhari shared his vision on the role of innovative technologies for sustainability and conservation of environment.
Praj’s avant-garde end-to-end technologies and engineering expertise has helped optimize energy and water footprints of process plants. Over the past four decades, Praj has focused on the environment, energy, and agri-process industry, with over 750 customer references spanning 75 countries across 5 continents.
Praj’s Endeavours
“Right from the beginning, as a proponent of sustainability I had endeavored to strike a balance between three P's namely Planet, People and Profit,” said Dr. Pramod Chaudhari.
Dr. Chaudhari said an end to end solution based on the Innovate-Integrate-Deliver philosophy is the bedrock of Praj’s sustainability solutions. Since the beginning of this millennium, initiatives to combat climate change have started gaining momentum.
Carbon emitted post combustion of fossil fuels is a major concern and hence it is an imperative to achieve de-carbonization. Praj developed technologies to make biofuels which are clean fuels and reduce carbon emissions.
Growth Drivers of Biofuel Industry
The biofuels concept started taking shape in Brazil in the mid ‘70s, which was then followed by USA in the mid ‘80s. So both these countries played an important role in launching & furthering the movement of biofuels.”
“Biofuel usage in Brazil and USA brought to the forefront advantages like less pollution and it avoided the use of MTBE in gasoline - an additive to enhance octane level. So, ethanol became a very important biofuel in the late ‘90s.”
It was around the beginning of this millennium that India started to look into biofuels eminently.
In India, there were two important parameters to be mainly considered; one of them being the saving of foreign exchange - India being dependent on imports of crude oil. The other parameter was related to the inclusive growth of rural economy where biofuel could provide additional income to farmers. So, in addition to the environment aspect, it impacts the energy security and social upliftment.
Praj’s pioneering Bio-MobilityTM platform of technology solutions envisages use of renewable biological resources to produce low carbon transportation fuels across all modes of mobility i.e. Surface, Air and Marine.
Bio-MobilityTM platform positively impacts the interest of stakeholders across the value chain delivering differentiated value. Biofuels produced from captive resources i.e. agri residues, facilitates energy self-reliance as it reduces dependency on the imported crude and associated forex bill. It also provides additional revenue stream for farmers. Carbon neutral cycles triggered by Bio-MobilityTM help curtail health hazards attributable to the air pollution due to burning of agri residues and emissions from fossil fuel combustion.
India is signatory to the Paris COP -21 agreement and has obligations to fulfill. It has further added impetus in the Indian context. As biofuel help achieve reduction in GHG reductions, their adoption has started gaining momentum in the last 5-7 years with conducive policy environment.
Bio-MobilityTM has tremendous potential for growth globally with deeper penetration into surface travel, headway in aviation and beginning in marine biofuels on the back of conducive regulations. In India alone, the bioenergy sector is expected to contribute at least US$30 bn to the overall Bio-Economy basket in 2024. Biofuels are poised to play a role in fulfilling the India government’s vision of $5 Tln GDP by 2024. Bio-MobilityTM facilitates sustainable decarbonization on the circular bio-economy principle and is recognised as one of the drivers of India’s Bio-economy
Role of Matrix R&D Centre in Praj’s Success
“Technology has a big role to play in biofuels industry especially to improve project viability and processing of newer varieties of bio feedstock. We at Praj have always regarded technology as our growth engine. Our state of the art R&D facility, Praj Matrix, forms the backbone for the company’s endeavours towards a clean energy-based Bioeconomy.”
Dr. Chaudhari explained biochemical processes for production of ethanol and mentioned that it calls for controlling bio elements like feedstock and microbes. Praj has contributed by deploying innovative technologies leading to efficient conversion of sugars present in bio feedstock into ethanol. The effluent generated out of the process generates wastewater stream that needs to be treated with ZLD for minimizing water footprint.
“Hence Praj designed its business model with a framework of providing end-to-end solutions- Right from the raw material and feedstock analysis all the way to life cycle management of the projects. Feedstock changes every 20 to 50 miles which necessitates analysis of its properties. In order to have a good grip on the process, we analyze the stock samples. This leads to the best output in terms of yield and the quality. This becomes our starting point and then comes the area of processing where we aim to control the energy values and get a consistent yield. Treating effluent for recovery of water is the last yet important step. We have developed technologies for producing different co-products, to improve the viability of the entire process.”
Dr. Chaudhari asserted: “Biofuel cuts across three planes: one being that it creates home grown fuels. The other aspect is that it helps in social upliftment and the rural economy. The third aspect is that the use of biofuels along with gasoline helps to reduce pollution. Also, the waste from these processes goes back as fertilizer. So, what comes from the soil can be deployed back to the soil aiding the circular economy. All these aspects are very attractive in terms of embracing the circular process and supporting the rural economy. That is why agri residue processing is the main purpose of our endeavor and that's what we are consistently aiming for the betterment. The Government of India realized these additional benefits and is working towards doubling the farmer’s income; and biofuel fits very well into this philosophy. And that is how the policy of ethanol blending is evolving.”
About Dr Pramod Chaudhari
Dr Pramod Chaudhari,widely acclaimed as Ethanol Man in the industry networks, a first-generation techno-Entrepreneur, is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Praj Industries. Dr. Chaudhari was the President of prestigious Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) Pune, for 2016-18. At Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), he spearheaded the Biofuels movement in India since 2007. He has been actively contributing on various Climate Change platforms including that of UN Leadership Forum on Climate Change. He has numerous awards and recognitions to his credit such as:
• Prestigious ‘George Washington Carver Award 2020’ by BIO-Impact, Washington DC, USA – he is the first Indian to receive this global honour.
• ‘D.Litt.’ by Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth (TMV). This is in recognition of his exemplary contribution to the Biofuel Industry worldwide, and for establishing & institutionalizing quality benchmark of Indian products & services at global level.
• He is named amongst ‘Globally Top 100 People’ in BioEnergy Industry by USA based publication, ‘Biofuels Digest’
• ‘Asia’s Greatest Leader 2018’ award by URS AsiaOne Magazine – Process reviewers PriceWaterhouseCoopers P.L.
Pramod is a ‘Distinguished Alumnus of IIT Bombay (1971) and an alumnus of Harvard Business School (AMP 1995). He is a great proponent of entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship development and is passionate about furthering social causes.
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