ICAR-IISR, Lucknow and NSI, Kanpur will work together to develop low-cost microbe based 2G ethanol production

A team of IISR Scientists led by Dr R. Viswanathan, Director, met Dr Narendra Mohan, Director, National Sugar Institute and his team at NSI, Kanpur on 13.09.2023 to develop low-cost microbial-based technology for the production of 2G ethanol from the sugarcane biomass like sugarcane trash, bagasse, etc. Sugar industry generates large amounts of lignocellulosic biomass/residues mostly, bagasse. The use of this sugarcane lignocellulosic biomass can be a potential source for the production of second-generation ethanol (2G). The country also needs additional feedstock to meet the requirement of about 10,000 million litres of ethanol for ethanol blending @20 per cent with petrol by 2025.

Currently, 1G ethanol is produced directly from cane juice, molasses and food grains feedstocks in the country. In 2G ethanol production, the biomass (bagasse) is pre-treated with acid and hydrolysed with commercially available enzymes. Besides this, the 2G ethanol production technology could be made more efficient and economical with indigenous technology. Dr R. Viswanathan, Director, ICAR-IISR, Lucknow, said that this lignocellulosic sugarcane biomass is a potential feedstock that could be used in 2G ethanol production using potential microbial strains. It was also felt that the developed microbial-based 2G ethanol production technology has to be economically sound for its adoption. Hence, both the institutions are ready to work together to develop low-cost 2G ethanol production technology. Dr Dinesh Singh, Project Coordinator, AICRP (S) and Dr Lalan Sharma, Senior Scientist accompanied the Director and participated in the Ddiscussion