- The project will increase Brazil’s growing biofuels business, with production initially aimed at the foreign market where products are already approved for sale.
- According to a 2021 report by the International Energy Agency, approximately 70% of Brazil’s total renewable energy supply comprised biomass energy.
Mubadala Capital’s Acelen has announced that it will invest $2.44bn (BRL12bn) over ten years to make biofuels in Brazil. This work will begin in 2026. The company signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Bahia in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
The new biorefinery, which the company plans to begin building in 2024, will have the capacity to produce one billion litres per year of hydrotreated vegetable oil, a diesel-like fuel dubbed “green diesel”. The biorefinery will substitute the fuel without fossil fuels from resources that come from vegetable oils and animal fats. When burned, green diesel emits around 80% less carbon dioxide than fossil fuel diesel.
The project will reinforce Brazil’s role as a strategic provider of renewable fuels by capitalising on its natural resources. The country already has the infrastructure to produce soy-based biodiesel and ethanol from sugar and corn.
The first phase of the new project will use soybean oil and complementary raw materials to produce biofuel in Brazil. These materials have the largest available volume in Brazil, Acelen said. The plant will require up to 900,000 tonnes of soy oil per year, with an additional annual consumption of 100,000 to 150,000 tonnes of corn oil and animal fat.
According to a 2021 report by the International Energy Agency, approximately 70% of Brazil’s total renewable energy supply comprised biomass energy. About 25% of transport fuels in Brazil also come from biofuels, a high percentage compared with most other countries. In 2019, biodiesel’s role was growing, representing 9.6% of diesel use in the country.