Amyris seeks expansion in Brazil with purchase of two plants this year
DCI
Amyris do Brasil, a subsidiary of the North-American company Amyris Biotechnologies, is negotiating the purchase of two plants still this year. Although it has not informed the details of the deal, the purpose of the company is to turn the plants into biorefineries for the manufacturing of products of higher added value like diesel, aviation kerosene and chemical products through the technology applied to the sugarcane. Amyris intends to put its fuels and renewable chemical products in the market in 2011. According to the company, the investment required to turn each plant into a biorefinery should stay between US$ 40 million and US$ 50 million with an expected return of the investment in two years.
Amyris wants, as of 2012, to increase the production working with partner plants through agreements in which the company provides the technology and the project of the plants and the plant owners convert their plants into biorefineries in order to produce Amyris renewable products. The sale of the products will be under the responsibility of the company. Roel Collier, managing officer of Amyris Brasil, said the company sees in Brazil a source of creation of wealth through the adoption of technologies in the sugar and alcohol sector as a core of development in industrial scale. According to the Amyris executive, that was the reason why the "North-American company decided investing in Brazil due to the fact that the Country owns the cheapest and most sustainable raw material of the world".