India’s TruAlt Bioenergy teams up with SCAO on SAF, bioenergy

Left to right: Mr. Vinayaka Kashyap, CTO - Leafiniti Bioenergy; Mr. Murugesh Hattikal, Technical Director, Nirani Sugars Limited; Mr. Sangamesh Nirani, Executive Director, Nirani Sugars Limited; Mr. Vijay Nirani, Founder and Managing Director, TruAlt Bioenergy Limited; Mr. Hiroshi Karashima, Deputy CEO, Sumitomo Corporation Asia & Oceania; Mr. Isao Nakamura, General Manager, Energy Transformation Business Unit; Mr. Hiroto Fujimoto, General Manager, Bioenergy Department, Sumitomo Corporation India Private Limited; Mr. Hiromasa Ebihara, Deputy General Manager, Energy Transformation Business Unit, Sumitomo Corporation Asia & Oceania.

Indian renewable energy firm TruAlt Bioenergy announced that it has teamed up with Sumitomo Corporation Asia & Oceania (SCAO) to explore development of bioenergy business including production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) across India.

“We are delighted to join forces with Sumitomo Corporation Asia & Oceania… Together, with Sumitomo’s global expertise and TruAlt Bioenergy’s dedication to biofuels, we are poised to unlock scalable and consistent solutions that will drive India’s energy transition while addressing global sustainability challenges, including decarbonization and energy security, as we work toward achieving the net-zero goal by 2070,” said Vijay Nirani, founder and MD, TruAlt Bioenergy.

Under the agreement, the two firms will explore projects across several key areas, including biogas and compressed biogas (CBG), first generation (1G) ethanol, second generation (2G) ethanol, SAF and biochemicals derived from the sugar value chain.

Earlier, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) highlighted that India has immense potential to become a leading SAF producer and supplier due to its abundance of feedstocks.

IATA’s senior director of Net Zero Transition Hemant Mistry said that the country could benefit by utilising its ethanol supplies and availability of lipids feedstocks like non-edible industrial oils.

He said that India has immense potential in terms of SAF feedstocks like agricultural waste while adding that there is a growing understanding on what to do for SAF production.

Mistry added that IATA is currently in discussion with multiple Indian firms to collaborate on SAF production and scaling domestic industry.