Energetic partnership

A twig of jatropha. You can make biofuel from the seeds. Photo.

New research will boost biofuel production. Photo: CSE.

Lund University signs agreement with Bio-Energy Centre of India’s biggest energy company.

Lund University and the DBT-IOC Centre for Bioenergy at Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) have signed a partnership agreement on the sharing of research expertise. The partnership is based on developing and researching renewable forms of energy.

“This is a significant partnership for us,” says Gunnar Liden, Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Lund University. “India’s biggest energy company, has established a dedicated bio-Energy Research Centre which is involved in such an initiative in renewable energy.” DBT-IOC bio-Energy Research centre has been established by Department of Biotechnology, Govt of India and IOCL in 2012 and has state of the art infrastructure to carry out advanced research in bio-energy.

A few years ago, Lund University established a network for researchers in the field of biofuels, LU Biofuels. DBT-IOC bio-Energy research Centre will now have access to this network, whilst Swedish researchers will have access to dedicated resources for initiatives in renewable forms of energy that exist at the newly launched Centre for Bioenergy in India.

“Both parties are obviously interested in each other’s research expertise. It was decisive for us that our researchers are getting net worked,” confirms Gunnar Liden.

“IOCL is dominant in the domestic energy market and has significant research resources, including a new pilot plant. We can also learn a lot about issues that are interesting from an Indian perspective, in terms of both different feedstocks and other market conditions. The initiative of the Centre for Bioenergy is an important investment for the future by the Group, and the partnership agreement is therefore also important for us,” comments Gunnar Liden.

DBT-IOC bio-Energy centre has a main mandate of developing and commercialising sustainable and economically viable bio-energy technologies and partnerships like the present one goes a long way to fulfil these aspirations ‘ commented Dr R K Malhotra, Director (R&D) of IOC and head of the centre.

Funding for the first phase of the partnership is being provided in equal parts by the Swedish Energy Agency and DBT-IOC bio-energy centre.. The Swedish Energy Agency sees, among other things, that the agreement is in line with the bilateral agreement that Sweden has signed with India on initiatives in the field of renewable energy.

The agreement gives Swedish researchers an extended network of contacts and new competence in bioenergy research in Asia.

Business Sweden and Invest in Skåne have played an important role in realising this partnership, by such means as initiating the contact between the parties, maintaining the process on an ongoing basis and providing support while the agreement was drawn up.

The agreement runs for a period of one and a half years from 1 October 2013, and involves exchanges of 4–5 researchers in the first instance.

For more information please contact:

Professor Gunnar Liden, Professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Lund University
+46 (0)46 222 08 62
gunnar.liden@chemeng.lth.se

Dr D K Tuli, Executive Director and Centre Coordinator , DBT-IOC bio-Energy Research Centre
+91 9899177277
tulidk@indianoil.in

Therese Lindsley, Head of Industrial Services and Cleantech, Invest in Skåne
+46 (0)768 89 08 12
therese.lindsley@skane.com

Göran Stegrin, Senior Investment Advisor Energy and Environmental Technology, Business Sweden
+46 (0)703 43 60 60
goran.stegrin@business-sweden.se