Raizen, a Brazil-based joint venture of Royal Dutch Shell plc, the largest oil company in Europe, has announced the investment of $1 billion into eight ethanol plants in the country over the next ten years. The investment is being made to support Shell’s goal of increasing its biofuel output in Brazil by 50% by the year 2024. Construction of the first of eight plants has been completed with annual capacity to produce 40 million liters of biofuel. Upon completion of all eight of the plants, Shell will have the production capacity to produce 1 billion liters of cellulosic biofuel per year. All eight plants will use sugarcane waste as feedstock. Currently Brazilian conventional ethanol producers are operating at a breakeven level, and producing cellulosic ethanol is more expensive in comparison. However, Shell is investing upon the belief that global demand for biofuels is climbing, and states that once the enzymes used in the production process become more readily available, production costs will decline.
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