On 25 May 2023, the Board of Indian Multinational Project Engineering Company Praj Industries Limited gave its in-principle approval to form a joint venture with Indian Oil Corporation Limited.

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Praj Industries Limited’s diversified portfolio includes Bio-energy solutions, High Purity Water Systems, Brewery & Beverages, Critical Process Equipment and Modularization and Zero Liquid Discharge Systems. The company has customers spread across countries including India, North America, Latin America, Thailand, Caribbean, Philippines and South Africa.
Indian Oil Corporation Limited is the largest Indian Central Public Sector Undertaking oil producer in India, both in terms of capacity and revenue, with a consolidated refining capacity of 80.55 MMTPA.
The business of Indian Oil Corporation includes refining, pipeline transportation, exploration, and production of crude oil, natural gas, and petrochemicals. India is the 6th largest chemical producer in the world and the 4th largest in Asia.
The Indian chemicals and petrochemicals sector currently has a market size of USD 190 billion with demand expected to almost triple to USD 1 trillion by 2040.
Praj Industries Limited and Indian Oil Corporation Limited will have 50:50 equity participation in this Joint Venture Company and both the companies will infuse an initial capital of Rs 50 lakh each.
The JV company between Praj Industries Limited and Indian Oil Corporation Limited will set up biofuel production facilities and marketing of Compressed Bio Gas (CBG), ethanol, Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and various by-products and intermediates.
Air Asia flight (I5 767), India’s first commercial passenger flight using indigenously produced Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) blend successfully took off from Pune to Delhi on 19th May 2023.
This passenger flight was powered by SAF Blended Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) produced by Praj Industries Limited using indigenous feedstock supplied by Indian Oil Corporation Limited and used by Air Asia.
At present the civil aviation sector in India consumes around 8 million tonnes of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) and currently India has feedstock for potential production of up to 24 million tonnes of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) per year.
“25% of the growth in global energy demand over the next two decades is going to be driven out of India”, said Hardeep Singh Puri, Indian Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Housing & Urban Affairs, at the Asian Petrochemical Industry Conference (APIC) in New Delhi on Friday, May 19.
If India aims to have 10% Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) blending in jet fuel by 2025, approximately 1400 million liters of Sustainable Aviation Fuel will be required per year. On the other hand, Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80% compared to conventional jet fuel. This initiative is one of the efforts of the Government of India towards the country’s net zero emissions by 2070.
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