TruAlt Bioenergy to expand biofuel capacity

TruAlt Bioenergy, which is among the largest biofuel players, is planning to expand its capacity by 2.7 lakh litres per day by next fiscal and will invest around Rs 600 crore to set up more plants.

The Bengaluru-based company is also expecting around 30 per cent revenue growth this fiscal year.

TruAlt is primarily into biofuels such as 1G ethanol, 2G ethanol, compressed biogas, sustainable aviation fuel, fermented organic manure, and green hydrogen.

It operates five 1G ethanol units with a capacity of 2 million litres per day, making it the country’s largest ethanol producer while its compressed biogas capacity is 10 tonne per day. The company’s existing plants are also in Bijapur and Pune.

It had clocked Rs 1,170 crore in topline last fiscal but has grown exponentially with achieving around Rs 700 crore in the first half of this fiscal. And Nirani expects at least 30 per cent topline growth this fiscal and earn around 18-20 per cent net margin.

Recently, TurAlt had entered into a $72-million compressed biogas joint venture with the national gas major GAIL India to set up 10 plants with targeted production of over 33 million kg of compressed biogas using organic waste as raw material.

GAIL will hold 49 per cent in the joint venture called Leafinti Bioenergy and TruAlt will have the remaining 51 per cent. The investment, a mix of debt and equity, is contingent on due diligence and regulatory approvals.

Each plant will process 10,000 kg of organic waste daily and produce 1,00,000 kg of compressed biogas. The initiative will also produce solid fermented organic manure and liquid fermented organic manure.

Massive expansion is due to two reasons — the plants are running at over 90 per cent capacity and secondly due to the massive demand growth as the government is pushing ethanol blending and other biofuels.