Brazil. GranBio, a local biotechnology company, and Rhodia, a Solvay Group company, signed an agreement to create a partnership in the production of bio n-Butanol.
Bio n-Butanol is made from straw and sugarcane bagasse, the same raw material used for the manufacture of second-generation ethanol that is abundant in Brazil.
Under the agreement, the companies plan to build Brazil's first n-Butanol plant from biomass, which is due to come online in 2015. Both companies will benefit from the agreements each of them has already made with the companies that own the technology.
Investment in the n-Butanol plant from biomass requires the approval of company boards. The structure of the agreement will be submitted for approval by Brazil's antitrust body, Cade.
