Catalysts Group

Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh

Molasses is being the most important and valuable by-product of the sugar making process holds a key place in the energy security needs of the country. India is an agri economy and even though production of ethanol from grains is picking up, food security needs puts the onus of fuel ethanol production squarely on the back of molasses processing. India is the fourth largest producer of ethanol in the world and the second largest producer in Asia after China. The country produces around 460 million gallons of ethanol annually contributing approximately 4% to the world total production. Though India produces such large quantities of ethanol, still it has the capacity to produce even larger quantities of around 713 million gallons per year. That is why it can be said that the utilization rate in the country is usually low. There are only 10 ethanol plants that exist in India and 20 more ethanol plants are proposed to be constructed in the near future to cope up with the increasing demand. Most of the plants are located in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra & Tamil Nadu. In the last sugar year season, with the production of sugar crossing 27 million tons, molasses production has crossed 12 million tons, enough to process and produce almost 2.75 billion liters of ethanol. Molasses to ethanol is fermentation based typical process which has a great potential for the intervention of biotechnology for improvement in process efficiencies.

Grain Alcohol is produced by fermenting and distilling grain. It is also known as Ethyl Alcohol or Ethanol. There are a number of industrial uses for grain alcohol: antiseptic, fuel, solvent, etc. Our products are unique researched enzyme based innovation which overall improves the sugar profile that in turn bring better alcohol yield. It improves conversion of starch to dextrin, consequently dextrins to glucose.

Sugar Industry in India is the second largest agro-based industry in the country next to cotton textiles. The Indian Sugar Industry is playing a pivotal role in rural development, supporting over about 50 million sugarcane farmers, their dependents and a large mass of agricultural laborers involved in sugarcane cultivation, harvesting, machine manufacturing etc. of almost 671 sugar mills and ancillary activities, constituting some 7.5% of the rural population. In addition, about 0.5 million skilled and semiskilled workers, mostly from the rural areas are engaged in the sugar industry.

Granulated sugar containing 99.93% sucrose and sold as castor sugar (fine crystals) and 1A sugar is the major refined product. Soft brown sugar is a specialty product with a Characteristic flavor, produced by crystals used from a selected syrup with a high reducing sugar and ash content. Coffee crystals are made from the same syrup as brown sugar, but are crystallized over a much longer period of time giving much larger crystals.

Malt is the name given both to germinated grain, and to the sugar derived from it. The process of germinating (“sprouting”) grain converts the starch to a mixture of sugars, thus increasing the sweetness, and the process is then halted by drying in a special kiln. The malted grain then used to add flavor and sweetness to , milkshakes and baked goods. The process extracts and concentrates the sugar into thick gloppy brown syrup quite suitable for eating directly. Not only is malt extract very delicious, it is also highly nutritious as it contains a lot of minerals, amino acids, folic acid, and B vitamins. The domestic demand for Malt and Malt Extract is poised for growth because of growth of end user industry. The major portion of malt consumption is expected from the breweries and there would also be requirement for better quality malt as a number of foreign companies have joint ventures in India now. According to the experts, the industry is expected to maintain a growth rate of 15-20% per annum for the next ten years. The food and pharma industry (malt extract users like cornflake manufacturers, health foods etc) is also poised for growth due to a small production at present, and this is likely to grow at 10% per annum. Taking a moderate growth rate for 5% of the remaining end user segments.

A wide range of enzymes & additives are used for improving & facilitating the brewing process such as improving the liquefaction of malt & brewing adjuncts, improving trub separation, increasing the free amino acid content of the wort, improving saccharification of liquefied starch, facilitating yeast fining, foam stabilization etc.