Raizen to commence commercial scale cellulosic biofuels production in 2014

November 27, 2012 |

In Brazil, Reuters is reporting that Raizen CEO Vasco Dias is projecting that the Shell-Cosan joint venture will begin producing commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol in 2014 at its Costa Pinto plant in Piracicaba in Sao Paulo state. Construction is expected to cost $90 million and capacity of the project is expected to be 10.58 million gallons (40 million liters). Dias said that the Raizen expects to have eight plants producing advanced ethanol by 2024.

The comments follow announcements in June that the company would invest $7 billion in a program to reach 100 billion tonnes in cane crushing capacity, a 50 percent increase over current capacity. In June, Raizen exec VP Pedro Mizutani said that the company, which now has 10 percent of the cane crushing capacity in Brazil, would increase production by 5 million tonnes at its current plants, and achieve the remainder of growth through new project, as well as acquisitions.

At this time, Raizen has not confirmed details of its precise technology path, although the company is the largest shareholder in both Iogen and Codexis, and has indicated that it is working on a design with Iogen for next-generation ethanol.

More on the story.

Category: Top Stories

Thank you for visting the Digest.