Assam sets up India’s first boilerless sugarcane plant for jaggery production
Assam’s first boilerless sugarcane processing plant in Hojai, developed by SEDL and Ecotech Agro Mills, marks a carbon-neutral breakthrough, producing jaggery without fuel, emissions, or waste. With 500 TCD capacity, solar integration, and water recycling, it’s revolutionizing sustainable agro-processing. Plans to scale up and expand value chains aim to boost local farmer income and reduce imports.
Assam farmers are now treading on uncharted territory in sugarcane production. At the forefront of this initiative is the first boilerless sugarcane processing plant developed by Punjab-based Spray Engineering Devices Limited (SEDL) in partnership with Ecotech Agro Mills.
Located at Bamungaon near Lanka in the Hojai district, the plant boasts a crushing capacity of 500 tonnes per day (TCD).
Unlike conventional sugar mills that burn bagasse to power boilers, this new-age system is entirely fuel-free. It processes sugarcane into high-quality jaggery without emitting smoke, steam, or waste — marking a paradigm shift in sustainable agro-industrial technology.
“This is the first sugarcane processing plant in the world to eliminate boilers altogether,” said SEDL Managing Director Vivek Verma.
“The system requires no fossil fuel and is 100 per cent carbon neutral. All water recovered during the process is recycled for irrigating nearby organic sugarcane farms. Solar power integration further reduces the environmental footprint, ” added Verma
Since its installation, the plant has processed over 1.8 lakh tonnes of sugarcane annually, saving an estimated 60,000 tonnes of bagasse. Plans are already afoot to scale the capacity up to 750 TCD, with cultivation underway on 800 bighas of nearby farmland to ensure a steady cane supply.
The developers are now exploring additional value chains, such as converting unused bagasse into bioethanol and bioproducts.
“The goal is to create a circular economy that triples farmer income and builds resilience in rural Assam,” Verma added.
Assam, currently, has over 29,000 hectares of land under sugarcane cultivation, with a potential to produce 1.35 lakh tonnes of jaggery annually. However, the absence of viable processing units has forced the state to depend on jaggery and sugar imports from other regions.
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Source : The Statesman
