Raizen to invest US$101.4 million in cellulosic ethanol plant

Raizen, the sugar and ethanol joint venture of Brazilian sector player Cosan and Anglo-Dutch oil major Shell, will invest US$101.4 million in the construction of its first cellulosic ethanol plant.
The venture, however, still needs to obtain the approval of Raizen’s executive board, Brazilian daily Valor Economico reported, citing Raizen Energia’s Vice-CEO Pedro Mizutani.
The unit is planned to have an annual production capacity of 40 million liters (10.6 million gallons) of cellulosic ethanol made from sugar cane bagasse and straw.
It will be built at the Costa Pinto sugar and ethanol mill, in the Piracicaba municipality of southeastern Sao Paulo state. Construction work is scheduled for completion by the end of 2014.
Shell, which owns half of the Raizen JV with Cosan, has been investing in technology from Iogen and Codexis but it was not clear which company’s technology would be represented in the new facility.
(March 14, 2013)