Dastur Energy is in the centre of a growth opportunity
Today, the world is paving the low carbon pathway with a new approach and technology. And, Dastur Energy Private Limited is at the forefront of carbon sequestration and clean energy solutions. The company helps industries move towards a sustainable future.
An energy technology company, Dastur Energy is equipped with its own proprietary IP and significant clean energy solution delivery experience. It offers complete end-to-end commercial-scale clean energy solutions that deliver significant sustained long-term techno-economic impact. The solutions areas include industrial carbon capture, clean hydrogen, CO2 to products, green methanol, green steel, green cement, and other clean chemicals.
“It is important not to ignore the existing energy system,” explains Atanu Mukherjee, President & CEO, DEPL, while talking about the energy transition challenges. “But, the need of the hour is to find out how to clean the energy.” He is also upbeat about India’s unprecedented opportunity, as the country is working towards its goal of getting to net-zero emission by 2070. “The driver of our success has been core technology options analysis and engineering design capability. It is not easy to replicate. And, this fact helps us gain customer’s confidence globally for quality and consistency,” Mukherjee adds. The leadership of Mukherjee and his knowledge of the industry, core competence, and yen for technology have resulted in Dastur Energy’s growth.
Expert in the industrial decarbonisation value chain, Dastur Energy was recently invited to participate in the Prime Minister’s Advisory Council on Science, Technology & Innovation. The invitation is a result of the recognition of Dastur Energy’s sustained work in this space since 2020 that has been leveraged globally and in India.
The company’s collaboration with the government of India in the area of carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) began when, based on its deep global experience in this space, Dastur Energy reached out to NITI Aayog with a recommendation to formulate a policy, technology & financing framework and a roadmap on CCUS for India – sharing insights that pointed to the potential of industrial-scale CCUS as a viable pathway towards the overarching net-zero goal.
Recognising the strategic importance of this, NITI Aayog commissioned an official study in 2021, which was led by Dastur Energy that resulted in a detailed report on CCUS policy framework and its deployment mechanism in India. This work has received wide recognition globally across policymakers and business communities and continues to be cited in key discussion and decision-making forums. Subsequently, NTPC and the Ministry of Power commissioned Dastur Energy to develop a report on ‘CCUS technology gap across G20 countries’, which was launched during the G20 summit.
Clear action plan
A key outcome of this is that, recently, NITI Aayog and PSA Office made the decision to include CCUS as an important focus of the PM-STIAC (Prime Minister’s Science, Technology, Innovation Advisory Council) to define a clear action plan in this space and drive the nation’s efforts towards reaching net-zero by 2070. Dastur Energy was invited to be a part of this forum as a thought leader and expert in the CCUS space, to provide directional insights and recommendations.
“Armed with global experience of creating elemental CCUS value chains, we at Dastur Energy presented our perspective on how India could embed CCUS technologies across hard-to-abate sectors and industries to ramp up the total CO2 being captured, sequestered, and converted into useful products,” contends Mukherjee, while elaborating on the vision put forth during his presentation, synthesising a complete CCUS value chain in the Indian context.
DEPL is the Indian subsidiary of US-based Dastur Energy, founded in 2020. It is a part of the MN Dastur group – one of the oldest and most reputed consulting engineering organisations. Mukherjee, who had joined MN Dastur & Co as president in 2008, was instrumental in setting up Dastur Energy and taking the group to the emerging industry. “It is in perfect synergy with the parent company,” Mukherjee says. “Our expertise and nearly seven decades of experience in working with heavy process industries positions us to deliver pragmatic, competitive and commercially feasible energy solutions, tailored for maximum business impact.”
DEPL’s expertise and commitment to sustainable energy solutions have won the company several projects in design, engineering, techno-economic assessments, and technology & policy roadmap development from Fortune 500 clients, as well as respected funding agencies like the US Department of Energy, the US Trade and Development Agency, the G20 Presidency, and the Government of India. Dastur Energy’s offering includes market design and analysis, policy design, concept & feasibility, technology options analysis, technology licensing, techno-economic analysis, process design and engineering, and project management.
DEPL’s innovative thinking, creativity, and business and technical expertise are adored by its coveted customers in governments, institutions, and industries around the world, including the US, the Middle East, Europe, and India. The company has kept back the names of some of the projects it is involved with now in feasibility studies in India. The management of DEPL, which is privately held, has also refused to disclose the turnover, citing that it is a start-up, but admitted that 60 percent of the revenue comes from the US markets. The company is working on several important projects funded by the US Department of Energy (US DOE). The US leads in carbon capture technology.
Carbon capture systems
During the last five years, DEPL has worked in 20 large projects as a consultant in India across all industrial sectors. Coal gasification, blue hydrogen, and carbon capture dominate the company’s offering. The company is advising on coal gasification projects for PSUs and steel companies like JSPL and Dalmia Bharat. It is also involved in designing cost-competitive carbon capture systems for IOCL’s refineries in Assam.
Carbon capture projects require careful consideration of different carbon capture technologies, capture points, and gas conditioning, as well as carbon disposition schemes to achieve maximum efficiency and sustainability. Systematic estimation of the life cycle cost of carbon capture (LCoC) and life cycle cost of hydrogen (LCoH) is critical for guiding a plant’s decarbonisation strategy and future path.
“The CO2 capture cost varies between $20 and $30 per tonne,” says Debarka Chakraborty, principal consultant. “So, the key issue with carbon capture is storing and commercial usage for viability. In India, it is still at a premature level. The US took almost two decades to develop the CO2 storage after intense research.” DEPL is working closely with the government and IIT Mumbai for geological mapping to enable large-scale storage of carbon dioxide in the country.
“The cost of decarbonisation technology is high today,” Mukherjee adds. “So, the government’s participation is indispensable for viability, like in the US.” Gasification is gaining traction as the Government of India has come up with viability gap funding schemes, both for the PSUs and the private sector projects, with a lump sum grant of 15 percent of capex for each project. The coal sector is working on the government’s target to gasify 100 million tonnes of coal by 2030.
DEPL is designing and implementing some of the largest gasification projects with integrated carbon capture in the Middle East and India. These projects utilise the gasification of pet coke, coal, and biomass to produce an array of clean chemicals, hydrogen, and other sustainable fuels in cost-effective solutions. The company’s integrated business approach is helping its clients move toward a cleaner and sustainable future.
“We have primarily been focusing on steel for decades,” says Chakraborty. “So, all large steel manufacturers are connected to our energy company and seeking our help to mitigate their carbon emissions. The CBAM (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism) is likely to change the game for the exporters of iron & steel, aluminium, fertilisers, and cement, among others.” CBAM is a pioneering policy tool for the European Union — to be implemented in January 2026 – to put a fair price on the carbon emitted during the production of carbon-intensive goods that are entering the EU, and seeks to foster a global market that prioritises carbon efficiency.
DEPL aims to become a leading enabler of industrial-scale clean energy transition and carbon management.