Alcohol Technology & Biofuels - Achievements

14 Government funded R & D projects (Total estimated cost of Rs. 580 Lakhs.) and 12 VSI funded projects. Total 29 sophisticated equipment purchased from funding (Fermenter (9), Raman Spectrophotometer, HPLC, Anaerobic digesters (6), anaerobic workstation (1), rotary evaporator (1), cavitation units (3), pilot digester (2), pre-clarification pilot plant (0 1), Ion exchange chromatography (1), Batch stirred evaporator (1), Ball mill (1), Refrigerated centrifuge (1)).

Department of Bio-technology, GoI and Innovate UK has funded collaborative project on “Valorizing Waste (vWa) from sugarcane industries” (Funding of Rs. 193.00 Lakhs to VSI). VSI is the leading institute for the project from India (along with IITB, IITD & IIP) & QUB from UK (along with CU & NU).

DPRs (323), Tender documents (295), Distillery consultancies (106), Consultancy visits (3209), CREP Reports (60), Distillery ETP Adequacy Assessment & validations (49), Grossly polluting industries inspection (693), Process validation for ethanol production for DFPD guidelines (138), Distillery valuation reports (6), Revival of sick Distillery reports (7), Technical feasibility & financial viability of different feedstock for ethanol production (32).

Total income-Rs. 2926 Lakh (2008-09 to 2021-22). Income of Rs. 728 Lakh ( 2021-22).

Distillery (B-class) annual contribution fee of Rs. 774.8 Lakh (2013-14 to 2020-21) and B-class annual contribution of Rs. 103 Lakh (2021-22).

Improvement in alcohol percentage in wash and reduction of steam consumption (0.5 kg/L of alcohol) & spent wash generation (2 lit per lit of alcohol) by introducing fed-batch fermentation on commercial scale in the distillery.

Implemented advanced technologies in the field of distillery industry such as fed batch fermentation, multi-pressure distillation, dehydration using molecular sieves, incineration boiler, spentwash dryer, spentwash reduction/evaporation technologies (RO, MEE, MVR), etc.

Provided guidance to sugar mills for conversion of ethanol unit in distillery for oxygen production.

DIFAT (Total 1289 students pass out with 100% placement)

Started M.Sc. in Wine, Brewing and Alcohol Technology course from year 2010 (Total 217 students pass out with 100% placement).

Established Pilot Scale Winery, Brewery & Sensory analysis suit.

FSSAI certification for Wine manufacturing and sale.

Short term courses (25) for distillery operators & chemist.

Special training programme (5) for State Excise and State & central pollution control board.

Analytical income of Rs. 258 Lakh and more than 30,000 sample analysis in 2021-22.

NABL accredited laboratory, State Excise Authorization (molasses, spirit, Country liquor, IMFL, Wine, Beer samples and Denaturants)

Developed Sophisticated analytical facility (GC (2), HPLC (2), CHNS analyzer (1), GC-MS (1), Spectrometer (1), Anton-Paar Densitometer (1), FT-NIR (1), Karl fisher (1).

Technical support to Government organizations/departments (Central pollution control board (CPCB), MPCB, Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD), GoI, SDF, State Excise, Commissioner of Sugar).

Recognized as the member on Government Committees (Expert Appraisal Committee for environmental impact assessment, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC), Expert Committee constituted by CPCB to formulate Action Plan/Charter for distilleries in Ganga basin, Revival of co-operative sugar by the Punjab State Federation of Co-operative Sugar Mills Ltd, Ethanol working group constituted by Bureau of Indian Standards for finalization of specifications for E 85 and E 25 blends, Committee formulated by Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Directorate of Sugar & Vegetable Oils, Government of India to study various aspects relating to standalone grain based distilleries, Committee formulated by State Excise Department, Government of Maharashtra, for issues related to microbreweries).

Publications (Peer Reviewed Journals-18, International Conferences-06, National Conferences-34 & VSI Annual Distillery publication-15, Patent-04). Received 8 awards for research paper

Conducted 18 Workshops and staff participated in 64 workshops

Delegates visited from Aboard to VSI (17 Nos.). Staff visited to Abroad (21 Nos.).


3 MoU (CPCB, National research center for grapes (NRCG), International center for spirit and liquors (ICSL), France).