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Brazil
to Produce Biodiesel from Sugarcane
By
Todd Woody
May 9, 2008
California startup Amyris engineers microbes
to transform them into molecular oil refineries, digesting
sugar to produce low-carbon equivalents of gasoline, diesel
and jet fuel. Now in a bid to commercialize its technology,
Amryis has struck a deal to create a joint venture with Brazilian
ethanol giant Crystalev to produce biodiesel from sugarcane.
 Some
three-quarters of Brazil’s cars run on ethanol made
from domestic sugarcane but the country imports diesel. “This
is a game changer,” Amyris co-founder Jack Newman told
Green Wombat this week at Fortune’s Brainstorm Green
conference in Pasadena. “It gives us the ability to
make a difference in terms of scale by tapping into existing
agricultural land and Brazil’s ethanol infrastructure.
It’s a great step forward for Amyris, and Brazil gets
the option of producing ethanol or diesel from the same resources.”
Most biodiesel
today is made from soybeans or recycled vegetable oil and
does not offer the same performance as petroleum-based diesel.
The biodiesel produced by Amyris’ custom-designed microbes
matches that performance and can be used in existing engines
while cutting greenhouse-gas emissions by 80 percent, according
to Newman, a microbiologist who is Amyris’ senior vice
president of research.
If Amyris,
an Emeryville-based company backed by marquee venture capitalists
Khosla Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers,
can replicate its laboratory success in the field the environmental
benefits could be substantial.
For Brazil to become
self-sufficient in diesel it would otherwise have to plant
more soy, which means cutting down more of the Amazon rainforest
that already is being destroyed to plant soy destined for
North American dinner tables. Sugarcane grown on reclaimed
pasture land and distilled with Amyris technology can produce
ten times as much diesel per acre as soy. “You won’t
have to displace crops into the rainforest area,” Newman
says.
Production of the
Brazilian biodiesel is expected to begin in 2010 if all goes
according to plan and the necessary regulatory approvals are
obtained.
“One
of the reasons Brazil is so excited about the technology is
that this gives them a biodiesel option with this great infrastructure
they already have,” Newman says. “It could provide
them with 90 billion gallons a year without having to reclaim
new land.”
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