Global agribusiness giant Bunge has signed a five-year agreement with Energy company Acelen Renewables to supply 300,000 tonnes/year of certified soyabean oil for the company’s planned biorefinery in the Brazilian state of Bahia, due to become operational in 2029, World Grain wrote.
Announcing the supply agreement on 8 July, Acelen said this would be the first large-scale sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel (HVO) production project in South America, representing a milestone for regional agribusiness and Brazil.
Acelen said the agreement represented an important step in building an integrated raw material supply platform for its future biorefinery.
“This agreement reinforces Acelen Renewables’ strategy of developing a robust supply chain, securing part of the certified raw materials necessary to sustain the biorefinery’s operations and enable the large-scale production of renewable fuels in Brazil,” said Cristiano da Costa, vice president of sales and trading for Acelen Renewables.
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, Acelen said when first announcing the project in May.
Acelen Renewables said its first integrated production unit would have the capacity to produce 1bn litres/year of SAF and HVO.
In addition to using soyabean oil as a feedstock, the facility would produce bio-based fuels from used cooking oil (UCO) and macaúba – a type of palm and native Brazilian crop – using hydro-processed esters and fatty acids (HEFA) technology.
Acelen Renewables is owned by Mubadala Capital, a global alternative asset management company headquartered in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
