Brazil’s largest biofuels producer BSBios will build the country’s first big facility that uses wheat to produce ethanol. Whereas wheat-based ethanol plants are common in Europe and Canada, most of Brazil’s production comes from sugarcane and more recently from corn. CEO Erasmo Battistella said that farmers will expand wheat area and production, reducing dependence on imports and creating an even bigger domestic market for the cereal. Brazil is expected to produce a record 9 million-ton crop this year, with growers sowing the largest area in 32 years. The BSBios unit should go on-stream in the second half of 2024 in Rio Grande do Sul. It will produce 111 million liters (29.3 million gallons) of ethanol in the project’s first phase. Battistella noted that his factory will increase food supply as it will also sell dried distillers’ grain, a by-product of ethanol used as livestock feed.
Sources: Reuters/Noticias Agrícolas (*Translated by Ia Niani)