Energy company Acelen Renewables has secured US$1.5bn to develop a biorefinery in Brazil with capacity to produce 1bn litres/year of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel.
Scheduled to become operational in 2029, the biorefinery would be built on an existing industrial site in São Francisco do Conde, Bahia, a city on the Atlantic coast in east-central Brazil, the company said on 21 May.
“We have now entered a new stage of large-scale industrial execution,” said Luiz de Mendonça, CEO of Acelen Renewables.
Once operational, the facility would produce bio-based fuels from a range of feedstocks including soyabean oil, used cooking oil (UCO) and macaúba – a type of palm and native Brazilian crop – using hydro-processed esters and fatty acids (HEFA) technology.
A native tree in Brazil, macaúba or Acrocomia aculeata is adapted to semi-arid conditions and low-quality soils and its fruits can be processed into pulp oil, kernel oil and residual biomass.
As part of the project, the company said it planned to cultivate 144,000ha of degraded land, with 20% of that volume allocated to partnerships with family farms and small producers.
Acelen said it was partnering with Honeywell UOP, Alfa Laval and Construcapon on the project and had commercial agreements with Trafigura, Moeve, Bunge and BGN.
Overall, the company said its first integrated unit would involve an investment of more than US$3bn and would include agro-industrial development with planting, extraction and processing of macaúba co-products.
Acelen Renewables is owned by Mubadala Capital, a global alternative asset management company headquartered in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
