Web exclusive posted April 28, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. CST

Praj Industries inaugurated its new integrated biotech research and development center, Praj Matrix-the innovation centre, on April 21 near the company's headquarters in Pune, India. Built on five acres, the facility includes 12 laboratories, seven clean-room facilities, a biodiesel pilot plant and a cellulose-to-ethanol pilot plant. It also houses a brewery laboratory meeting European Brewing Convention standards.

During the inauguration ceremony, Praj chairman Pramod Chaudhari also announced that the company's work in cellulosic ethanol processes has culminated in patent applications on a novel pre-treatment process for agricultural waste followed by fermentation with a specific micro-organism. Bench-scale studies have concluded and the company is working on improving the economic viability of the process. "Praj is in step with global development in this area," Chaudhari said. "Commercialization of this technology is already on the drawing board."

According to Praj officials, the company has also developed a process involving a special micro-organism that boosts the energy content of ethanol mixtures by 25 to 35 percent when blended with gasoline.

Praj provides engineering design, plant and equipment and project management for ethanol, biodiesel and brewery plants, as well as related wastewater treatment systems worldwide. The company is also nearing completion on the construction of the first dedicated commercial sweet sorghum plant using the company's patented process to produce ethanol. Following its success with sweet sorghum, Praj has expanded its strategic focus on crop science, creating a division to work on plant tissue culture, variety selection, farm yield studies and cultivation practices for second generation energy crops including miscanthus and switchgrass for ethanol production; and algae, jatropha, Pongemai and safflower for biodiesel production.