Sumitomo Corp. (Tokyo; www.sumitomo.co.jp) has signed a contract to acquire up to 20% of Cosan Biomassa S.A., based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, a subsidiary of the world’s largest sugar company Cosan S.A. Industria e Comercio, and producer and distributor of sugarcane biomass pellets used for power generation, subject to the prior approval of anti-trust authorities in some jurisdictions.
“Brazil is already among the largest producers and exporters of agricultural commodities in the world. Pelletized biomass is a new commodity being created to serve the low carbon economy” said Mark Lyra, Cosan Biomassa CEO. “By making use of sugarcane residues and benefiting from the economic and environmental advantages that the shift to rail logistics brings to the game, Brazil is positioned to become the Saudi Arabia of renewable energy.”
“By the year 2030, we foresee that Japan will consume as much as 10 million tons of pelletized biomass, or even more. Majority of which would come from overseas. Renewable energy including biomass will play a prominent role in our power generation sector by that time. We envision that a relevant portion of this demand will be met by agricultural waste, particularly sugarcane biomass pellets produced in Brazil. Sugarcane’s productivity and abundant availability tied to the fact that we are using its residual byproduct as a raw material gives us an unique sustainability condition when compared to other biomass sources in the world”, said Yoshinobu Kusano, General Manager, Biomass Business, Sumitomo Corp.
Cosan Biomassa has developed a fuel pellet made from sugarcane residues, such as bagasse from sugar mill and straw leftover from sugarcane fields, and built a large-scale production plant with a capacity of 175,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr), which commenced commercial production in December 2015.
Through the participation of Sumitomo Corp., Cosan Biomassa will increase its exports to Japan and Europe, along with increased domestic sales.