Raízen builds a vinasse biomethane plant in Piracicaba: 26 million m³ a year and contracts with Yara and Volkswagen

Raízen – a Brazilian sugar and fuel group – announced on 27 April 2022 the construction of the second biogas plant in its portfolio, and the first dedicated to producing renewable natural gas (biomethane). The installation at the Bioparque Costa Pinto complex in Piracicaba (São Paulo state) is to cost about 300 million reais and produce 26 million m³ of biomethane a year from vinasse and filter cake.

Parties and scale

The project is carried out by the company Raízen Geo Biogás S.A., a joint venture with Geo Energética. According to the announcement, production will be enough to supply about 200 thousand households. All of the biomethane has been sold under long-term contracts: Yara Brasil Fertilizantes will take 20 thousand m³ a day for the production of green hydrogen and ammonia, and Volkswagen do Brasil – 50 thousand m³ a day for its factories, as the first car manufacturer in Brazil to use biomethane in production.

Feedstocks

Vinasse (vinhaça) is the liquid residue from distilling ethanol from sugar cane, and filter cake (torta de filtro) is the solid residue from filtering the juice. Both materials arise in huge quantities at sugar mills and traditionally serve as fertiliser. Anaerobic digestion makes it possible to recover energy from these streams, and the digestate can still be managed on the cane fields.

The predecessor: Bonfim

Raízen's first biogas plant in Guariba (SP), at the Bonfim mill, started up in 2020 and focuses on electricity generation with an installed capacity of 21 MW; it has been described as one of the largest of its kind in the world. Costa Pinto is meant to show a second model – production of a gaseous fuel.

Market significance

The combination of biomethane with industrial buyers shows that the renewable gas market in Brazil is not limited to transport. Hydrogen from biomethane, ammonia and the decarbonisation of car production are applications in which renewable gas competes with natural gas, supported among other things by the RenovaBio system (to the extent that biomethane is recognised as a biofuel) and other incentives.

What this means for Poland and Europe

Biomethane production at sugar mills and distilleries is a model that in Poland could apply to the sugar, distilling and food industries. Contracts with industrial buyers – instead of sales to the grid alone – increase revenue predictability and make financing easier.