Praj secures $4M equipment order for Range Fuels

Pune, India-based distillation equipment maker Praj Industries (BOM:522205) said today it signed a Rs 20 crore ($3.89 million) order to supply processing equipment from Broomfield, Colo.-based cellulosic ethanol producer Range Fuels.

Shares of Praj closed at Rs 48.35, down 1.43 percent today.

In January, Range Fuels announced a conditional commitment for an $80 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Agriculture—the final, critical step needed for the company to complete its first commercial plant in Soperton, Ga., by the first quarter of 2010 (see Range Fuels secures $80M for cellulosic ethanol plant).

Range Fuels uses a thermo-chemical conversion process, dubbed K2, to convert biomass to a synthetic gas, and then uses catalysts to convert syngas to ethanol or methanol.

In June 2008, Praj secured a $10 million contract to supply fermentation, distillation, and dehydration equipment for Peru-based Maple Energy's (AIM:MPLE) $222 million sugar cane project expected to produce 35 million gallons of ethanol per year and generate 37 megawatts of electricity.

Last week, Maple signed a $22 million deal with Netafim to engineer and build the irrigation systems for 8,000 hectares of sugar cane crops (see Netafim signs $22M supply deal for irrigation in Peru). 

In late 2007, Praj signed a deal to build Tata Chemicals' first sweet sorghum to ethanol plant in India, just two weeks after Tata Group, the parent of Tata Chemicals, grabbed a 7 percent stake in Praj for approximately $85.5 million (see Tata Chemicals hires Praj to build ethanol plant in India).

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