First-of-its kind Paddy Straw based Briquetting Plant set up in Punjab

The Country’s First-of-its-kind paddy straw briquetting plant of 100 ton per day capacity was virtually inaugurated today by Capt. Amarinder Singh, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Punjab for promoting gainful utilization of paddy straw in the State.  This plant has been set up by Punjab State Council for Science & Technology at village Kulburchan, District Patiala in collaboration with Private Partner M/s. Punjab Renewable Energy Systems Pvt. Ltd with the support of Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Govt. of India under Climate Change Action Program. The event was witnessed by Ms. Vini Mahajan, IAS, Chief Secretary, Punjab; Mr. Rahul Tiwari IAS, Secretary, Department of Science, Technology & Environment, Punjab; Industry captains and  senior officers from Central and  State .Govt.

In his inaugural address, the  Chief Minister stated that Punjab has been able to serve as  ‘Food Bowl’ of the country due to the commendable role played by scientists, farmers and the farm machinery manufacturing industry.  The State is now looking forward to their contribution in managing paddy straw also to curb its burning in fields. He applauded the efforts of Punjab State Council for Science & Technology in developing a new technological intervention for conversion of paddy straw to green fuel and getting production plant set up with enough capacity to utilize paddy straw from 35 villages in its vicinity every year. This will not only help farmers to clear their fields well in time to sow the next crop but will also generate additional revenue source for them. He also acknowledged the support provided by  Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change, Govt. of India for  this project.

Mrs. Vini Mahajan IAS, Chief Secretary, Punjab shared in her Opening Address  that development of this indigenous technology  is a unique initiative which will contribute towards  Green House Gas reduction to the tune of 70,000 ton CO2 per annum. She appreciated that the briquettes produced by the plant are already finding use in industry as replacement of fossil fuel.  She  urged industry captains  to contribute towards greener & cleaner Punjab by adopting cleaner technologies and using locally produced green fuel.  She exhorted that this technological intervention has immense replication potential not only across the State but the entire country.

Dr. Jatinder Kaur Arora, Executive Director, Punjab State Council for Science & Technology   made presentation on salient features of the project. Dr. Arora shared that extensive R&D was carried out to stabilize machinery,  process of briquette manufacturing from paddy straw as well as combustion behavior of briquettes for use as fuel in industry. . She also shared that Punjab Pollution Control Board and NABARD had supported these activities at initial stages of the project. Thereafter, the first briquetting plant with 24 TPD production capacity was successfully set up at village Jalalabad, District Moga, Punjab. Subsequently, within one year of its setting up, the second paddy straw briquetting plant with four time higher production capacity has been set up in village Kulburchan, District Patiala, Punjab.

She further  informed that with support of Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India, the Council is also setting up a pilot unit within the Briquetting Plant site at Patiala which can be used by R&D institutions to carry out research for further increasing the life cycle of wearable components of paddy straw processing machinery.