Balrampur Chini Mills, one of the largest sugar manufacturing companies in India, is moving forward with plans to build the country’s first industrial polylactic acid (PLA) plant.
The company announced it has inked agreements with Sulzer, Alpine Engineering GmbH, and Jacobs Solutions for technology services.
Switzerland-based fluid engineering company Sulzer will deliver the manufacturing technologies for the key process stages including lactide synthesis, lactide purification, and polymerisation. Once the plant is complete, the company’s field service experts will also be on-hand to support the commissioning and start-up procedures.
The planed facility will have a capacity of 75,000 tonnes per year and is expected to be completed by mid 2027. Balrampur Chini Mills estimates to invest INR 20,000,000 (€222.45 million) in phases.
Austria-based Alpine Engineering will provide technical advisory services for the manufacturing of PLA grade Lactic acid from sugar, using fermentation technology alongside advanced distillation and purification processes.
Finally, the Indian subsidiary of US-based Jacobs Solutions will provide Engineering, Procurement, Construction Management (EPCM) services.
The facility will be built next to an existing sugar plant in the state of Uttar Praadesh, northern India. The PLA plant will be integrated with this sugar plant, where a ‘significant proportion’ of the necessary infrastructure is already in place, according to Balrampur Chini Mills.
“We are elated to closely engage with Sulzer, Alpine and Jacobs for our PLA business,” said Stefan Barot, president chemical division at Balrampur Chini Mills. “For BCML it’s very important to use the best-in-class technology and we are very happy that all our technology-partners are leaders in their respective fields. This alliance marks a significant milestone in BCML’s journey towards sustainable innovation and it reinforces our commitment to environmental sustainability and drives the positive change for future generations as envisaged by the Indian government,” he concluded.