Date: February 13, 2008

Source: Biofuels Digest

In Brazil, Infinity Bio-Energy Ltd has acquired a $75 million stake in Disa Overseas, with the capital to be used for construction of two new sugar cane processing and ethanol plants, and a 30 MW power plant in Itaunas, in Espiritu Santo province. 

Recently, the president of the sugar producers industry association (UNICA), Marcos Jank, said that bagasse could supply up 11.5 terawatts, or up to 15 percent of Brazil’s electricity by 2015. 

Bagasse is the waste biomass left over from sugar extraction. Today, the sugar industry supplies 1.6 terawatts, or about 2 percent of the country’s electricity needs. Jank said that burning more bagasse to generate electricity would complement the country’s hydroelectric projects because sugar cane harvests occur during the dry season, when hydro plants produce less power owing to reduced water levels. 

Brazilian conglomerates such as Odebrecht are increasingly focused on the benefits of investment in co-generation projects. Obebrecht will invest $581 million, via its ETH Bioenergia subsidiary, in three ethanol plants in Mato Grosso do Sul state. The plants will have a combined capacity of 15 million tons of sugarcane. The plants will manufacture sugarcane, ethanol and will produce energy from sugarcane bagasse.