Alcar working on cellulosic agreement in India

Alcar Chemical Group (PINKSHEETS: ACMG) has announced it's working with Bajaj Hindusthan Ltd. (BHL) of India towards licensing its technology for the production of cellulosic ethanol.

According to the company, ACMG and BHL have begun work to optimise the process for ethanol production from by-products of the sugar manufacturing process to progress toward a multi-year and multi-site licensing agreement.

The company expects to close this licensing agreement, estimated to increase ACMG annual revenues by $30 million USD, on or before June 15, 2007.

With an annual production rate of 1.8M metric tons of sugar, Bajaj Hindusthan Ltd. is one of the most prominent sugar manufacturers in the world. BHL is valorizing molasses using conventional technologies to produce 180K metric tons of ethanol per annum. BHL has ambitious plans to become the world leader in sugar, ethanol and bio-chemicals manufacturing using eco-friendly technologies. The company expects an economically viable solution will be achieved within 4 to 6 months.

Alcar was in the news last week on word that the company was in talks to be acquired by US Sustainable Energy Group (as reported in last week's the Cleantech Group dealflow roundup here.)

Friday, a day later, the company issued a press release stating the deal was off, and that it had received a better bid from a South East Asia consortium. The company expects to disclose the name of the consortium and the offer once all terms and conditions have been established and a letter of intent signed. The letter of intent is expected to be executed on or before February 15, 2007, the company said.

Bajaj Hindusthan is India's number One sugar and ethanol manufacturing company headquartered at Mumbai (Maharashtra), India.

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