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Environment

Petrobras Inks Biofuels Partnership With KL Energy

by Melody Voith
August 30, 2010 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 88, Issue 35

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Credit: Shutterstock
Brazil is a sugarcane ethanol powerhouse.
Credit: Shutterstock
Brazil is a sugarcane ethanol powerhouse.

Under a joint development agreement, the U.S. arm of Brazilian energy firm Petrobras will optimize KL Energy’s cellulosic ethanol process to use sugarcane bagasse, the residue that remains after sugarcane processing, as a feedstock. KLE is demonstrating its process, which involves thermomechanical pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis, at a plant in Upton, Wyo., that uses Ponderosa pine as a feedstock. Petrobras will provide $11 million to test the technology on bagasse. According to Petrobras, the new process has the potential to increase ethanol output from sugarcane by 40%.

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