India's Essar Future Energy, part of Indian conglomerate Essar Global Fund, plans to build a 800,000 t/yr hydrotreated biofuels plant in India, projected to start operations between the second half of 2028 and early 2029.
The plant will be located in the Gujarat state's Devbhumi Dwarka district and is expected to reach a final investment decision (FID) in the next few months, its chief commercial officer Nikunj Nangalia told Argus. It aims to process 1mn t/yr of hydrotreated esters and fatty acids (HEFA) feedstocks to produce around 800,000 t/yr of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), Nangalia said.
The facility will consume fats, oils and greases as feedstock, primarily used cooking oil (UCO) from both domestic sources and imports from main UCO markets abroad. But Essar is also considering other feedstocks like tallow, palm oil mill effluent (Pome) oil and non-edible oils, Nangalia said.
The SAF and HVO produced will have both ISCC EU and Corsia certification. A large part of the product will be shipped to the UK for captive consumption in Essar's Stanlow refinery, where it will be blended with fossil jet and diesel and supplied to the market to meet UK renewables targets. The remaining volumes will be exported to other destinations and supplied in India when SAF mandates come in, Nangalia said.
India aims to achieve 1pc of SAF usage in international flights by 2027, to rise to 2pc by 2028 and 5pc by 2030.
The facility will require a 51bn rupees (US$566mn) initial investment, and subsequent capital injections in phases to total an estimated $1bn in capital expenditure over the next few years. This includes other required infrastructure such as pipeline logistics to ports, water treatment facilities and more.
Essar Future Energy's chief executive Vibhav Agarwal signed an initial agreement with the Gujarat government this week to get approval to build the facility.
