GranBio starts cellulosic ethanol production at 21 million gallon plant in Alagoas, Brazil

September 24, 2014 |

GranBio-011414-smWorld’s largest-known cellulosic ethanol project to date comes online in Brazil in record time.

In Brazil, GranBio has initiated production at the first commercial-scale plant for second-generation ethanol in the Southern Hemisphere.  The Bioflex 1, unit built in São Miguel dos Campos, Alagoas, has an initial production capacity of 82 million liters of ethanol per year (21.6 million US gallons)

GranBio invested US$190 million to build the plant and US$75 million on the steam and electricity co-generation system, the latter investment along with the Carlos Lyra Group’s Caeté facility.  Construction was completed in 20 months, quick as compared to any other undertaking of its size, and was managed by GranEnergia, a company also controlled by GranInvestimentos S.A.

That was then, this is now — images from commissioning and construction

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Above: at commencement of ethanol production.

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Above: during construction

The 2G ethanol produced by GranBio is the cleanest fuel produced on a commercial scale in the world in carbon intensity – 7.55 gCO2/MJ, as confirmed by the Air Resources Board in California.  No other fuel produced on a large scale is better for the environment and reversing climate change than that of GranBio, the first producer of 2G ethanol to have the carbon footprint approved by the American agency.

The GranBio team in Brazil

The GranBio team in Brazil

The 2G ethanol makes it possible to increase Brazilian production capacity per acre by 50% using agricultural waste – straw and bagasse, without need of expanding the cane fields.  GranBio developed a system to harvest, store and process 400,000 metric tons of straw per year for Bioflex 1, which places it among the world’s largest and most competitive.

Then and now.

Alagoas 07/08/2014 - Nucleo de producao de biocombustivel da GranBio Alagoas. Foto: Jonne Roriz/GranBio

Above: At the commencement of ethanol production.

 

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Above: During construction

GranBio’s facility uses the PROESA pre-treatment technology from the Italian company BetaRenewables (a company in the M&G Group), enzymes from Novozymes in Denmark, and yeast from DSM in Holland.

Reaction from the principals

“When we announced the construction of the plant in Alagoas, in mid-2012, we took the risk of an innovator and pioneer in a project with transformative potential for the biofuels and biochemicals industries,” said GranBio’s president, Bernardo Gradin. “Beyond the inauguration of a plant, this project is proof that Brazil can lead the global biotech industry based on its agricultural potential,” he added.

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No kidding, contrast that with the five- and six-year journeys for some projects from their first announcement to mechanical completion. It’s been stealthy if only because it is not an easy project for media to get to – in the Northeast region of Brazil, in the historic heartland of the sugarcane industry as opposed to the vast plantations that have been established to the south in Sao Paulo state and Minas Gerais — and it is in the south that most cooperative activity between US or European technologies and Brazilian ethanol interests have been situated.

The power equation

GranBio and Caeté, from the group Carlos Lyra, created a partnership for the integrated production of steam and electricity.  Installed next to Bioflex 1, the co-generation system is fed by sugarcane bagasse and lignin – a byproduct of producing second-generation ethanol.  This is an unprecedented bioenergy solution in Brazil, the first time lignin is being used to this purpose in the sugar-based alcohol industry.  The companies’ combined investment was US$75 million.

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The boiler of the cogeneration system will remain in operation for eleven months of the year, or eight thousand hours, in the harvest and inter-harvest period at the Caeté plant.  As such, beyond meeting the needs of the two plants, the boiler will generate excess electricity on order of 135,000 MWh/year – enough to power a city of 300,000 inhabitants – which will be sold and become a source of revenue for the companies.

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The investment in bioenergy reinforces an irreversible trend in the Brazilian energy market. In addition to being an alternative to meet Brazilian demand, generating energy with wastes previously left on the ground considerably reduces environmental CO2 emissions.

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