(Notícia em Inglês)
Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), the world’s biggest distributor of biofuels, is shifting research to waste from sugar-cane farming after ending an algae project in Hawaii.
Shell, Iogen Corp. and Codexis Inc. (CDXS) have been researching enzymes to produce cellulosic ethanol from wheat stalks and sugar-cane bagasse, a sugar industry waste product. The Anglo- Dutch company has set up a $12 billion venture with Cosan SA Industria & Comercio to produce and market traditional sugar- cane ethanol in Brazil, where it’s used to fuel cars.
“Brazil still leaves a lot of plant material on the fields to burn,” Mark Williams, downstream director at Shell, said in an interview in Paris. “The idea is to apply this technology with existing plants or next to existing plants” and to “accelerate the application of these things, if they work technically, by a substantial fraction.”
The Hague-based Shell, Europe’s largest oil company by market value, expects the share of renewable energy in transport fuels worldwide to double over the next 10 years. In January, Shell exited its Cellana algae biofuel research joint venture in Hawaii that was formed in 2007 with closely held algae biofuels company HR BioPetroleum Inc.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), the world’s biggest distributor of biofuels, is shifting research to waste from sugar-cane farming after ending an algae project in Hawaii.
Shell, Iogen Corp. and Codexis Inc. (CDXS) have been researching enzymes to produce cellulosic ethanol from wheat stalks and sugar-cane bagasse, a sugar industry waste product. The Anglo- Dutch company has set up a $12 billion venture with Cosan SA Industria & Comercio to produce and market traditional sugar- cane ethanol in Brazil, where it’s used to fuel cars.
“Brazil still leaves a lot of plant material on the fields to burn,” Mark Williams, downstream director at Shell, said in an interview in Paris. “The idea is to apply this technology with existing plants or next to existing plants” and to “accelerate the application of these things, if they work technically, by a substantial fraction.”
The Hague-based Shell, Europe’s largest oil company by market value, expects the share of renewable energy in transport fuels worldwide to double over the next 10 years. In January, Shell exited its Cellana algae biofuel research joint venture in Hawaii that was formed in 2007 with closely held algae biofuels company HR BioPetroleum Inc.