New ethanol facility in Brazil underway

Construction of a new commercial biomass to ethanol plant has begun in Brazil.

The $100 million (€72.9 million) project between Raizen Energia and technology provider Iogen will be located by Raizen’s sugarcane mill in Sao Paulo and aims to produce 40 million litres of cellulosic ethanol a year from sugarcane bagasse and straw.

Iogen will supply all related process technology, process designs and operational services via Iogen Energy, a joint venture of the two companies.

‘This announcement is just the beginning of our partnership with Iogen,’ says Vasco Dias, CEO of Raízen. “We plan to combine their cellulosic ethanol technology platform with seven more of our sugar caneproduction operations. We see potential for this technology in meeting the world’s growing demand for cleaner and more sustainable fuels.’