Caramuru bet in soy ethanol plant

In 2012, when Caramuru Alimentos began producing concentrated soy protein in the Smile factory, in Mato Grosso, the company encountered a problem: what to do with the residue, soy molasses? "It was such a huge amount that could jam factory," Vice President, César Borges.
From then on, the 230 tons of molasses has been used for livestock feed and power generation. Now the company has decided to produce soy ethanol from molasses, a pioneer project in the country on an industrial scale, says Borges. The hydrated ethanol can be used as fuel for vehicles and as a raw material in the chemical industry.
The kickoff for the manufacture of soybean and ethanol also soy lecithin, from molasses, has just been given. Finep, public company to encourage technology and innovation, has released $40 million for R Caramuru play the project. Is the first installment of financing of R $69 million to implement the factory, which start in two years. The total investment will be R$115 million and the difference-R $46 million-are features of the own company.
The plant will have capacity of 6.8 million liters of ethanol per year and 3000 tons of soy lecithin. Should generate 60 direct jobs and 200 indirect. When the production of ethanol and second-generation lecithin is in full operation, must aggregate $20 million per year to the result R of the company. In 2016, the company grossed R $4 billion. The forecast is to reach R $4.2 billion this year.
Luis Felipe Maciel de Souza, Manager of the Department of Agribusiness and Biofuels from Finep, says the project is innovative and it is the first time there is the possibility of reaching the ethanol production of soybeans on a commercial scale.
As for the cost of soybeans compared to ethanol from sugar cane and corn, the expert says that it is not possible to make comparisons. Souza explains that wouldn''t be feasible a soybean production focused on the extraction of ethanol. "Soybeans for ethanol is not economically viable, but as a by-product, Yes." He says that the cane is "unbeatable" in relation to other inputs on the extraction of ethanol because of the high sugar concentration.
Technology. The technology for ethanol production is developed by the national chemical engineering Paula Fernandes de Siqueira, who founded the Intecso, a centre of advanced technology in agribusiness. She has licensed the technology to the Caramuru, who will have permission to commercially exploit the production. By using the Intecso received a fixed value that, for contractual issues is not revealed.
The other part will be on the production performance. The contract does not provide for exclusivity and the engineer can license the technology to other companies that produce concentrated protein and by-product molasses. Today there are two companies that could produce soy ethanol: the Incopa and Selecta. Sought, companies didn''t return.