Thaindian News

Bangalore, March 31 (IANS) State-run Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) will partner with UOP LLC, a Honeywell International subsidiary, to produce green transportation fuels from non-food feedstock, the global technology firm said Wednesday.
As per the agreement, the partners will explore setting up a bio-fuel production unit at a select IOC site using domestic feedstock and evaluate the viability of pyrolysis oil technology to convert plant biomass into renewable power and heat.

“The collaboration is focused on developing viable and sustainable green fuels to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in India,” UOP’s renewable energy and chemicals business unit vice-president Jennifer Holmgren said in a statement here.

The oil marketing firm will also focus on research and development to produce algal oil for use as a feedstock in the green fuels production.

Admitting that the oil firm had to reduce the carbon footprint by 25 percent to sustain business growth with green fuels, IOC’s research and development director Anand Kumar said the green approach would cut costs by reducing the energy intensity of its operations and becoming cost competitive.

The green plan uses catalytic hydro-processing technology to convert natural oils and animal fats to Honeywell green diesel fuel. The product, which is chemically indistinguishable from traditional diesel fuel, offers enhanced performance, including a higher cetane value and reduced emissions over both bio-diesel and petroleum-based diesel.

Honeywell’s UOP developed process technology to produce its green jet fuel under a contract from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for both military and commercial aircraft.

The process produces a fuel that meets critical specifications for flight while offering reduced emissions and improved energy density to enable aircraft to fly farther on less fuel.