California-based Amyris, a producer of renewable products focusing on fuels and chemicals, said Tuesday it has signed an agreement with sugar cane processor Paraiso Bioenergia that will boost its production capacity in Brazil.
Under the manufacturing deal, Amyris will build a fermentation and separation facility to produce sugar-cane specialty chemicals, while Paraiso will supply up to 1 million mt of cane annually, the company said.
Paraiso Bioenergia is located in Brotas, in the state of Sao Paulo, close to the fuel distribution center of Paulinia and near the Santos harbor. It produces sugar, ethanol and electricity from sugar cane.
With the partnership with Paraiso, Amyris expects its new facility to come on stream in 2012.
"Our agreement with Paraiso...gives us another springboard to move quickly to commercial scale production," said Amyris CEO John Melo in a statement.
The company said it aims to produce Biofene, Amyris' renewable farnesene, at the new facility and then sell it directly to industrial customers or chemically finish it into a range of products.
In 2010, Amyris set up a joint venture with Brazilian sugar and ethanol group Sao Martinho for the construction of a plant in Pradopolis, Sao Paulo, which is also expected to start production in 2012.
The Sao Martinho group is one of the largest processors of sugarcane in the world, having milled 8.1 million mt during the 2009-10 harvest season.
