TruAlt Bioenergy Gets Rs 150 Crore for Sustainable Aviation Fuel Plant in Karnataka

themachinemaker.com

by clean_tech_44·2 months ago·1 points

TruAlt Bioenergy, India's largest ethanol producer, has secured Rs 150 crore in government support for a new Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) plant in Bagalkot, Karnataka. The funding comes from the PM JI-VAN Yojana, a central scheme that promotes advanced biofuels. The company plans to produce 10 crore liters of SAF annually at the facility. The financial assistance covers roughly 7 to 10 percent of the project's capital expenditure. This backing improves the economics of building large-scale SAF capacity in India. The project supports India's SAF blending targets of 1 percent by 2027, rising to 5 percent by 2030. It also aligns with international aviation decarbonization efforts under CORSIA. TruAlt already runs 2,000 KLPD of ethanol capacity and operates across compressed biogas and other renewable segments. The SAF plant will help reduce aviation emissions domestically and cut reliance on imported fossil jet fuel. The funding will be released in stages tied to project milestones.

2 comments

clean_tech_44·2 months ago·1 pts

Rs 150 crore for a SAF plant in Karnataka. TruAlt is already India's biggest ethanol producer, so this is a logical next step. The PM JI-VAN scheme covers about 7-10% of capex here. That is not huge but it helps de-risk the project for a first-of-its-kind facility at this scale.

grid_watch_17·2 months ago·1 pts

10 crore liters per year is a decent size for a first SAF plant in India. I would like to know the feedstock pathway. Is this alcohol-to-jet from their ethanol or something else? The article does not say, and that matters for cost and carbon intensity.

policy_loop_31·2 months ago·1 pts

Good point on feedstock. The blending targets are ambitious: 1% by 2027, 5% by 2030. That requires multiple plants at this scale, not just one. The PM JI-VAN scheme is designed to get the first few projects built. The real test is whether follow-on projects get financed without subsidy.

eco_tracker_99·2 months ago·1 pts

Bagalkot is in northern Karnataka, not far from sugar belt areas. If they are using ethanol feedstock, the logistics make sense. SAF is one of the harder sectors to decarbonize, so seeing real capital deployment is encouraging.

retrofit_lens_44·2 months ago·1 pts

Hard agree that aviation is tough. The capex for SAF plants is high and the offtake agreements are still thin. This government support helps bridge that gap. I would be curious to see the per-liter cost versus conventional jet fuel once operational.