Praj Industries Limited has been awarded with the Bio- Excellence award for its performance in the Industrial Biotech sector at the Bangalore Bio 2009 function held in Bangalore, recently. The Bio-Excellence award has been instituted by the department of IT-BT & ST, government of Karnataka to recognise the contribution of eminent Biotech leaders for their outstanding achievements in the field of science andtechnology. Debhashish Das Gupta, Minister, department of IT, BT S&T, West Bengal, gave away the award. On receiving the award, Pramod Chaudhari, chairman, Praj Industries said,” It’s a great honour for us to receive this award. Our R&D facility, Praj Matrix – the innovation centre, has been engaged with technology development for Industrial Biofuels including second generation, non-food Biofuels. We have one of the best facilities and human capital at Praj Matrix to promote sustainable solutions. ”

On behalf of Praj Industries, Ravikumar Rao, Centre of Excellence Leader, Process and Systems Engineering, Praj Matrix, accepted the award.

Praj’s state-of-the-art R & D facility, Praj Matrix - The Innovation Center spearheads technology research and development in the areas of BioFuels, BioChemicals, Environment, and Health & Wellness Products. The facility houses 14 laboratories including a 10000 Class Clean Room Facility, and Pilot Plants for cellulosic and conventional ethanol and biodiesel. It also houses a brewery laboratory as per European Brewing Convention standards. Praj Matrix has Centres of Excellence in the following technology domains: a) Chemical Fermentation and Microbiology, b) Ethanol Fermentation and Microbiology, c) Molecular Biology, Genetic Engineering and Biochemistry, d) Process and Systems Engineering, e) Chemical Engineering, f) Chemical Sciences, g) Algal Sciences, h) Analytical Sciences and i) Intellectual Property and Business Analytics. Praj Matrix has nine patents to its credit and has seven patent pending applications. Focused on biotech related R & D, Praj Matrix - The Innovation Center is concurrently working on other industrial biotech programs focused on high energy biofuels, biochemicals and health and wellness products.