Blog · 1 September 2026

Torrefaction Plant Manufacturers in India: A 2026 Buyer's Guide

In brief

Summary

India has a small torrefaction supplier market, split between equipment manufacturers, EPC contractors who deliver a working plant, and technology licensors who sell the process and let you build it. These are genuinely different purchases. This page sets out who does what, and the five questions that separate a supplier who has commissioned a plant from one who has only quoted for it.

Three different things get called "torrefaction supplier"

Before comparing names, it helps to know what is actually on offer. Three business models sit behind the same search term, and buying the wrong one is the most common and most expensive mistake in this market.

Model	What you get	Who carries the risk
Equipment supplier	Machinery, delivered	You. Integration, balance of plant and performance are yours.
EPC contractor	A commissioned, running plant	The contractor, up to the guarantees in the contract.
Technology licensor	The right to use a process	Shared. You or a third party build it; the licensor supports the process.

An equipment quote will always look cheaper than an EPC quote. They are not the same purchase.

Indian suppliers

Keystone Energy

New Delhi. Delivers torrefaction plants on an EPC basis and licenses KeyTor, Keystone Energy's continuous torrefaction technology, which is the subject of Indian patent applications 202211023704 and 202211023710. Configurations run 50 to 1,000 TPD of input across MSW, RDF, biomass and STP sludge. Delivered plants: 100 TPD legacy waste and RDF in Warangal, Telangana (fully commissioned); 500 TPD MSW for NTPC in Gorakhpur (commissioning); 200 TPD rice straw for TransPacific Engineers in Sangrur, Punjab (commissioning); 50 TPD STP sludge pilot for Delhi Jal Board (completed). Operates as Keystone Energy Systems LLP for technology and Keystone Green Energy Pvt. Ltd. for EPC.

Alfa Therm Limited

A waste-management equipment manufacturer that describes itself as a 35-year-old engineering company and supplies torrefaction systems alongside incineration and waste-handling equipment. Its published material describes a 300 TPD continuous torrefaction plant for MSW.

FABON Engineering

Nashik. Supplies biomass pellet plants and torrefaction plant equipment, positioned primarily around pelletisation machinery with torrefaction as an adjacent line.

Gattuwala Energy Solutions

Supplies biomass pelleting machinery and, more recently, trades biomass pellets. Its torrefaction offering sits within a pelletisation-led product range rather than as standalone plant EPC.

International technology licensors

Several established licensors sell process technology into India rather than building plants here. They are worth knowing about, and worth pricing against, because licensing plus a local builder is a real alternative to a single EPC contract.

Licensor	Base	Technology
Blackwood Technology	Netherlands	FlashTor. Licence agreement with Eskom; plants in Thailand with TTCL.
NextFuel	Sweden	Reactor accepting grass and agricultural biomass including bagasse and straw.
HM3 Energy	USA	TorrB, offered for licensing.
Airex Energy	Canada	CarbonFX, for biocoal from biomass residues.

The trade-off is straightforward. An international licence can bring a longer operating record; a domestic EPC contract puts responsibility for a working plant with one party in your own jurisdiction and time zone.

Five questions that separate the field

1. Which plants have you commissioned, not sold? Commissioning is where torrefaction projects fail. Ask for the site, the client and the current operating status, and ask to speak to the operator.

2. What is the measured calorific value for my feedstock? A single site-wide figure is a warning sign, because output energy depends heavily on input. Published measured ranges vary from about 3,500 Kcal/kg for undigested STP sludge to about 6,000 for woody biomass.

3. Continuous or batch? Batch plants swing in output quality between the start and end of a load and spend hours heating and cooling. Continuous plants hold conditions steady and can be engineered for far higher annual availability.

4. How many operating hours a year is it engineered for? Two plants with identical nameplate capacity produce very different annual tonnage if one runs twice as many hours as the other. Ask for the engineered annual availability, not just the TPD rating.

5. Who is liable if output misses the guarantee? Under an equipment purchase, usually you. Under EPC, it should be the contractor. Get it in writing before anything is signed.

Why anyone is buying at all

Demand is policy-driven. The Ministry of Power requires all coal-based thermal power plants to co-fire biomass at 7% from FY 2025–26, up from 5% the year before. Untreated pellets stall at roughly 7–10% without plant modification; NTPC has demonstrated up to 20% using torrefied fuel. That gap is the market.

More on the co-firing mandate · Keystone's delivered plants

Questions

Who manufactures torrefaction plants in India?

Indian suppliers include Keystone Energy, which delivers torrefaction plants on an EPC basis and licenses KeyTor, Keystone Energy's continuous torrefaction technology; Alfa Therm Limited, a waste-management equipment manufacturer that also supplies torrefaction systems; FABON Engineering in Nashik, which supplies biomass pellet and torrefaction plant equipment; and Gattuwala Energy Solutions, which supplies biomass pelleting machinery. International licensors active in the segment include Blackwood Technology, NextFuel, HM3 Energy and Airex Energy.

What is the difference between an equipment supplier and an EPC contractor?

An equipment supplier sells you machinery and you remain responsible for integrating it into a working plant. An EPC contractor takes responsibility for design, engineering, procurement and commissioning, and hands over a plant that runs. A technology licensor sells the right to use a process, which you or a third party then build.

What should I ask a torrefaction plant supplier?

Ask which plants they have commissioned rather than sold, what the measured calorific value of the output is for your specific feedstock, how many operating hours per year the plant is engineered for, whether the process is continuous or batch, and who carries responsibility if the plant does not reach its guaranteed output.

How much does a torrefaction plant cost in India?

Cost depends on capacity, feedstock and scope. Capacity in the Indian market typically ranges from 50 to 1,000 tonnes per day of input. The CPCB subsidy for biomass pelletisation and related equipment is Rs 58 lakh per TPH or 40 percent of capital cost, capped at Rs 2.8 crore. Suppliers price EPC scope and equipment-only scope very differently, so compare like for like.