RIL turns to sugar mills to fuel green energy plans

Mumbai: Reliance Industries (RIL), the country's most valuable company, is in talks with sugar mill operators for supply of sugarcane press mud, a feedstock for the production of compressed biogas, said two people aware of the development.

"For their compressed biogas plants, RIL is seeking press mud from sugar mills. It has reached out to large sugar mills which can supply thousands of tonnes of press mud to the company on a daily basis for its biogas plants," said an executive aware of the development, adding that RIL has reached out to companies operating sugar mills in different locations across the country.

RIL did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment.


In September, RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani had announced plans to set up 100 CBG plants over the next five years. These plants are expected to consume 5.5 million tonnes of agri-residue and organic waste.

RIL already operates one CBG plant at Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh.

Industry executives said that assuming RIL sets up a plant of an average capacity of 10 million tonnes per day of biogas, it will need 250,000 tonnes of press mud to be supplied on a daily basis. The cost of press mud is between ₹200 and ₹500 per tonne, depending on the location of the sugar mill and the quality of press mud.