The establishment of the world’s first boilerless sugarcane processing machine, designed by Punjab-based Spray Engineering Devices Limited (SEDL) in partnership with Ecotech Agro Mills, is bringing a new era of sugarcane growing to the farmers of Assam. Located in the Hojai district’s Bamungaon, close to Lanka, this state-of-the-art facility can crush 500 tonnes per day (TCD). This new facility is entirely carbon neutral because it doesn’t utilize any fossil fuels, unlike traditional sugar mills that require burning bagasse to power boilers.
The factory transforms sugarcane into high-quality jaggery without any smoke, steam, or trash, which represents a significant advancement in sustainable agro-industrial technology, according to SEDL Managing Director Vivek Verma. Since its founding, the factory has been processing more than 180,000 tonnes of sugarcane a year, saving over 60,000 tonnes of bagasse in the process. In order to create a reliable supply of sugarcane, plans are in place to expand the facility to 750 TCD, and sugarcane cultivation operations are being conducted on 800 bighas of adjacent land.
In addition, the developers are looking into other value chains, such as turning leftover bagasse into bioethanol and other bioproducts. According to Verma, the initiative’s goal is to establish a circular economy in Assam that will boost farmer income and fortify rural resilience. With more than 29,000 hectares currently under cultivation for sugarcane, Assam has the capacity to generate 135,000 tonnes of jaggery a year; but, due to a lack of processing facilities, the state is now dependent on imports from other areas.
