Partnership between São Martinho and Amyris to produce chemical specialties
Valor Econômico
The national group São Martinho, from Pradópolis (SP), and the American company Amyris have announced the formation of a joint venture to produce chemical specialties from the sugarcane juice. Both the companies will invest US$ 50 million in the building of a unit next to the Boa Vista (GO) plant, which belongs to São Martinho. The unit will also receive a R$ 90 million (US$ 52.3 million) investment to increase the productive capacity from the current 2.25 million tons of sugarcane to 3.4 million tons per harvest. The start of the operations is scheduled for the 2011/12 harvest. The Boa Vista unit will allocate 2 million tons of sugarcane, from the 3.4 million foreseen, for the production of chemical specialties.
The technology brought by Amyris to Brazil will allow the production of farnesene, a chemical compound that results from the fermentation of the sugarcane juice with yeast. Farnesene is used as a raw material for the production of lubricants, cosmetics, diesel and jet fuel.
Specialized in biotechnology, Amyris has got to such technology from researches to fight malaria, said John Mello, Chief Executive Officer of the company. At a first moment, Amyris wanted to use its technology for the production of diesel from sugarcane. Last year, it managed to enter into an alliance with Santelisa Vale, from Sertãozinho (SP), but the union was undone this year, since the sugar and alcohol group, absorbed in October by French Louis Dreyfus, was undergoing financial difficulties.
The decision of joining São Martinho reflects the fact that the sugar and alcohol company from São Paulo has a profile of production of alcohol aimed at the chemical industries. "Our decision of entering into a partnership with Amyris reflects the fact that the technology is innovative", said Fábio Venturelli, Chief Executive Officer of São Martinho. The company already produces alcohol aimed at the chemical and pharmaceutical industries and it has an export trade agreement with the Japanese Mitsubishi. Venturelli emphasizes that the sector is turning towards the chemical industries, with the difference that it has a renewable product.
Amyris intends to replicate its technology in six sugar and alcohol plants of the country until 2012, when it should start producing the chemical compound in industrial scale. To do so, it intends to enter into a joint venture with another group of the sector and close an agreement to use the technology in four other plants. One of them will be Iracema, which also belongs to São Martinho. John Mello said the company has closed an agreement to supply Procter & Gamble with farnesene and it has other contracts that are ready to be signed.
The industrial output of farnesene is estimated at 50 liters per ton of sugarcane. The production of Ethanol, to have an idea, gets to 75 liters per ton of sugarcane. The liter of farnesene in the international market is priced between US$ 20 and US$ 25.