Construction and engineering firm Metodo will build a 150-200MW sugar cane residue-burning biomass plant in Sao Paulo that will source bagasse feedstock from surrounding ethanol plants.
"There are over 100 sugar and ethanol mill owners in the state of Sao Paulo that are wasting sugar cane residues because they only produce enough electricity to feed the workings of their own plant," Fernando Ferreira, a director for Metodo, told New Energy Finance.
The Sao Paulo-based firm plans to build a collection of high-efficiency boilers in Bauru, Sao Paulo that will burn pellitised sugar cane bagasse it will source from ethanol mills within a range of 30km. It is also studying developing similar projects in Ribeirao Preto, Araraquara, and Piracicaba in the same state.
"Our project will provide a vehicle for international investors hoping to gain exposure to Brazil's burgeoning cogeneration sector without the hassle of building rickety partnerships with local farmers or acquiring sugar and ethanol mills, many of which are laden with debt. It also means they forego the technical complications of retrofitting the mills, some of which are more than 30 years old," he added.
Metodo is in "advanced talks" with a US company that owns more than one ethanol plant in Brazil and is discussing the venture with a series of other investors, Ferreira said.
"We are in partnership with a Brazilian firm that has developed a technology that produces water, fertiliser and methane from another sugar cane waste, vinasse. The methane can be burnt in the boilers. This would free up more bagasse to be incinerated in our centralised biomass plant," said Francisco Junior, another director at Metodo.
Metodo is also planning to develop five sugar and ethanol mills in Catalao, Goias state for state-owned oil company Petrobras and Japanese trading house Mitsui.
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