The first large-scale commercialization of Ottawa-based Iogen Corporation’s cellulosic ethanol technology was launched earlier this week, when Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff officially opened Raizen’s Costa Pinto sugar cane mill in São Paulo.
Raizen, a Brazilian-based ethanol producer, teamed with Iogen to build the plant, which was finished in December. It will convert biomass such as sugar cane straw into advanced, second generation cellulosic biofuel.
Iogen CEO Brian Foody said called the opening a “milestone” that proves the “commercial viability” of cellulosic biofuels, biofuel produced from inedible parts of the plant.
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“This initiative represents a significant success story for our company. We have a great team of engineers, scientists and operators who’ve been working tirelessly with Raízen’s own excellent team,” Mr. Foody said in a statement. “Large scale commercialization in Brazil will open the door for global deployment of our technology.”
Raizen has already announced plans to use Iogen’s technology in seven other sugar cane mills across Brazil.
“We plan to be producing up to 1 billion liters of cellulosic biofuel from bagasse and cane straw by 2024,” Raizen executive vice-president Pedro Mizutani said in a statement.
