Indian Oil Corporation Ltd and Tezpur University have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for promotion of compressed biogas in the northeast region of the country, a statement said on Saturday.

The MoU was signed by Tezpur University’s Registrar Dr Biren Das and IOCL’s General Manager (alternate energy division) Bijay Kumar on Friday.

The university’s acting Vice Chancellor Prof Dhruba Kumar Bhattacharyya said the agreement will strengthen industry-academia collaboration and hoped that it will lead to an extension of such a partnership in several other areas soon.

Tezpur University has been engaged in promoting biogas through target-oriented research, and “several locally available biomasses have been identified as a promising feedstock for the generation of fuel (biogas) and organic fertiliser with assured recycling of crop nutrients”, the statement said.

The research work on biogas on the Tezpur University campus, especially the production of bio-methane and organic fertiliser using a range of plant residue and waste, had drawn the attention of IOCL officials, which finally led to the formal collaboration, Kumar said.

The entire NE region will be benefitted from the Centre’s Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation scheme, which aims at setting up industrial-scale compressed biogas (CBG) plants and making it available for use as automotive fuel, the statement added.