FOOD, FUEL & FIBER using INTERCROPPING & ROTATIONS
Planting Oil Seed Trees and Food Crops between Trees to Fix Nitrogen:
Sustainable BioBrazil is involved in a program working with local agricultural coops and the State of Maranhao to plant oil seed trees and food crops between trees. The overall aim is to combine production of food and fuel crops to increase income from the land, lower input requirements per crop, and improve sustainability. Sustainable BioBrazil has presented a plan to the State of Maranhao Secretary of Agriculture to plant oil seed tree, biofuel feedstock, food and fiber crops on state agricultural land and they have expressed interest in providing as much as 2.8 million hectares of land for the program. The objective is to provide feedstock for biofuel production, food for local consumption and fiber for new industrial markets in a program that will attract investment from various sources and provide employment for small agricultural producers, processors and marketers of food, fuel and fiber. The program is also designed to optimize sustainability of production through careful planning and utilization of new crops and technology to lower life cycle carbon and soil and water impacts of crop production.
Sustainable BioBrazil has undergone an agronomic evaluation of a set of crops that can be planted between the trees that can maximize fixation of nitrogen and provide other benefits to soil enhancement. This will be combined with use of plant, animal and fish waste in bio-digesters to produce organic fertilizer to further reduce chemical inputs and still improve soil quality. This will include various bean and pea crops, particularly new varieties such as faba, cowpea and other beans with high nitrogen fixing capacity. The objective is to optimize yields of oil seed and food crops while minimizing the cost and carbon impact of using chemical inputs. The other objective is to choose crops that can be harvested easily in the space between trees and that have acceptable harvest intervals to also allow harvest of oil seed crops from trees.
Oil seed trees being considered include macauba and moringa olifeira. Macauba is an oil palm tree that is native to most of Latin America and has a large fruit bunch that has oil seeds with high oil content and an edible meal and fruit cover. The oil is good for biodiesel or renewable diesel production with one of the best cold flow characteristics for a tropical palm. A research project funded by EMBRAPA was able to demonstrate yields of 4 to 5 tons of oil per hectare in a test planting program. The meal has high protein content. There is limited commercial production experience with planting this oil seed tree with limited nursery capacity to produce seedlings. While some seedlings can be obtained from wild stock at a low cost, the fruiting results will not be certain until the tree is mature. The time to fruiting is about 5 years.
Moringa Olifeira is a crop native to the Philippines and India that is commonly used as a subsistence food in both countries. The oil has excellent properties for production of biodiesel and the meal is non-toxic when the seed is ripe for harvest of oil. It is a small tree that reaches fruiting stage fairly quickly (3 or 4 years). A commercial planting effort is now occurring in the Philippines where 700,000 hectares are being planted by one company. India is also considering an expanded Moringa harvest and planting effort. The major disadvantage of the crop is the lack of agronomic data on its suitability and viability as an oil seed tree in Brazil, since there is very little experience with planting of the crop anywhere in South America.
Rotation Cropping of Oil Seed and Other Row Crops
Sustainable BioBrazil is also looking at achieving goals for production of feedstock for biofuels and food for agricultural industries using traditional intercropping of row crops. Various oil seed crops are being considered in combination with other crops that will improve soil conditions. The preferred rotation will probably involve peanuts and sesame in combination with faba beans and cowpeas.
Peanuts grow well in sandy soil that is typical of most of Maranhao. Peanuts also fix nitrogen which improves soil quality. Peanuts have high oil content (45%) and the oil has good characteristics for production of biodiesel. The meal is edible and has high protein content. Peanuts also have food markets for snacking or as an input for production of peanut butter. Faba beans have very high nitrogen fixing potential (as high as 60% (5kg) with one species). Sesame is a seed with relatively low production costs, able to withstand cycles of dry and wet periods and with characteristics of oil fatty acids that make it suitable for biodiesel production. Some species have very high oil content (up to 50%). There is a good market for whole sesame seeds as a taste supplement for bread and the seed can also be put through normal oil and meal extraction equipment to produce edible meal and oil.
These rotations will be done twice per year in tropical climates, allowing for a 2 year rotation cycle that produces large amounts of both vegetable oil and food. Rotations will match seasonal rainfall with dry season crops matched to low rainfall periods. The use of optimized rotation strategies, even if the details of individual crops need to be changed to optimize the soil and climatic conditions and suitability of specific crops to the micro-region, offers a very effective strategy to minimize high cost inputs like nitrogen that are also the main greenhouse gas contributor to farming of energy crops.
The agronomic plan for rotation planting stress sustainability results through higher yields, greater carbon reduction good soil and agronomic practices. Farm management will be directed by the best teams of University agronomists who will devise plans to show how the farms can grow seed trees with good agronomic results and minimize input costs and carbon impacts. training workshop planned in April, 2009 will result in getting experts from Brazil and all over the world to evaluate the best strategies for such rotation planting in looking at the potential duplication of the model on millions of hectares of state land in Maranhao.
Production of Vegetable for Local Food Markets and Hunger Programs:
Maranhao is a state with good soil conditions, adequate rainfall and very low utilization rates of agricultural land. Yet it is also a net food importer with most vegetables being imported from other states. It also has high rates of poverty, malnutrition and hunger. One important benefit program Urban Bio-Alliance will be promoting in the concept of planting food to alleviate hunger. Production of food does not occur because of underinvestment in land and agriculture and lack of sufficient resources by small farmers to do anything but subsistence farming.
Sustainable BioBrazil is working with the State of Maranhao and small producer cooperatives to develop a program that focuses on local vegetable production, with a portion of the crops going to local supermarkets and the balance being distributed to feed the hungry. Investment will focus on providing key tools, seeds and inputs to poor farmers while also providing direct employment to the same farmers to provide income to reduce poverty. This will lead to food production on both the State agricultural land and individual small farms. The focus of production efforts will be on high quality vegetables (carrots, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, beets, cabbage, spinach, potatoes, etc.) that are sold to local supermarkets. Some of the excess food will also be distributed to residents in the region that are still poor and hungry.
Fish Production in Conjunction with Irrigation and Fertilization System
Maranhao is a state with an equatorial rain cycle of a wet season and dry season. In order to optimize production of oil seeds, vegetables and bean crops, some production plans will involve the establishment of ponds that will provide water for irrigation and a habitat for fish production. This will involve the construction of simple earth dam ponds that will catch water from rainfall and runoff and supplement water requirements with a simple shallow well. The pond will be seeded with various fish including tilapia and other fish. Tilapia is ideal in this environment because it can grow very quickly, withstands environments with high fish density and tolerates water conditions expected in ponds. The fish can also eat algae, which can be seeded in the pond and used to supplement traditional feeds.
An advantage of the fish pond concept is that it provides a disposal option for new meal products being developed including Moringa and Macauba meals. These meals will be used as fish feed to document the benefits nutritionally and help establish a market for these meal products in commodity markets. Other technology will also be evaluated in conjunction with pond construction and operation including methods to put oxygen in the pond, eliminate sulfuric acid build up and move water with fertilizer value to the fields. This will involve a set of perforated pipes that will be used to both move oxygen and disinfection systems to the pond and to suck water from the bottom of the pond in conjunction with waste residues from fish production. This will help keep the water oxygenated, lower levels of pathogens and eliminate sulfuric acid buildup. In addition, the water moved to the fields will have high fertilizer value because of the fish feces, algae and feed residue and minerals at the bottom of fish ponds that are then moved to fields.
Sisal and Animal Production in Semi-Arid Regions of Maranhao:
One crop option that is being actively developed by Sustainabale BioBrazil semi-arid areas is sisal, an agave type cactus leaf that produces a high quality fibers and a green feed material for animals (mucilage). This crop will be grown in dry areas of the state with low rainfall where other crops often have problems and high failure rates. Sisal is very resilient in a dry climate and produces from the same planting over a period of ten years. The fibers are valuable and can be sold in various industrial markets (auto, cordage, paper, other) while the mucilage is a good feed material for some animals.
Depending on the location of the sisal production, some of will be purchased in its whole form to produce paperand other sisal will be processed at the farm into fibers and mucilage for sale of fibers to other markets. Paper will be made with a combination of sisal leaves, sugar cane leaves and recycled paper. is investing tof millions of dollars building a paper plant in Porto Franco,Maranhao. of sisal will occur in semi arid areas near this paper plant and Sustainable BioBrazil will aid producers in sale of their whole leaves to Suzanno. Sustainable BioBrazil is also working with several major auto companies interested in signing a long term purchase agreement to buy sisal for various auto parts including interior ceiling finish, reinforcement for thermoplastics and other applications. This will allow for contracting with farmers to plant and purchase of fibers.
To make the production of fibers feasible, it will also be important to aid small producers in setting up animal production The sisal plant is mostly mucilage when it is processed (about 80%) and the feed provides high nutritional value in its green form if it can be digested. Several animals adapted to the feed in this form include goats and ostrich. Sustainable BioBrazil will assist small producers through provision of baby goats and ostrich and help them in breeding efforts to increase meat, egg, milk and cheese production. This will increase the overall income from sisal planting and make the program economically viable for small producers.
Coop Farms to Produce Sugar Cane for Biofuels (alcohol, 2nd generation biofuels)
One of the most productive crops in Maranhao is sugar cane, which can produce an average of 73 tons of biomass per hectare and provide sugar for alcohol production and bagasse for second generation biofuel production. One of the easiest ways to reduce poverty for producers to usea communal farm approachin production of sugar cane and sell this cane in areas where production of alcohol and new biofuels is planned. can generate significant income for producers, since the current price of $40 Reis per ton results in about 2300 Reis per hectare ($1000 USD). This will require providing equipment for planting, harvesting and fertilization and taking all steps necessary to minimize carbon impacts of cane production.
The agronomic plan for the sugar cane plantationswill stress sustainability results through higher yields, greater carbon reduction good soil and agronomic practices and other measures to insure environmental and economic health of cane . Farm management will be directed by the best teams of University agronomists who will devise plans to show how the farms can grow for and cellulose minimize input costs and carbon impacts. cane can be a very sustainable crop because the high yields of biomass production and use of bagasse for steam production means that sugar cane typically achieves life cycle carbon reductions of about 60-80%. With the use of bagasse for 2ndgeneration biofuel production, the net carbon reduction is likely to be 100-130%. This is much better than other biofuels on the market and will put any producers involved in sugar cane biofuel production in a strong sustainability position relative to other producers and crops.
Sustainable BioBrazil is planning to plant a large amount of sugar cane in conjunction with plans to develop projects on state lands. A plan to plant up to 1 million hectares of land in sugar cane is planned depending on the results of agronomic surveys of the land and suitability of soil, rainfall and other factors. Other critical elements will be the availability of a market for sugar cane, since planting cane requires a market and a decision to site an alcohol or 2ndgeneration biofuel plant requires either vertically integrated operations or identification of sugar cane producers nearby (or typically both). The planting of this large amount of acreage is expected to result in substantial economic benefits to farmers including coop participants and other farmer associations.
Babacu Collection & Processing into Oil & Meal and Wood Briquettes or Pellets
Sustainable BioBrazil is working withvarious collectors processors babacoconuts to devise a program for maximizing their income while also providing feedstock for the production of , meal and wood pellets and briquettes from babacu coconuts. They key to the approach is to introduction of new technology for automated processing of coconuts with improved collection systems with provision of equipment for efficient movement of coconuts from the fields to the roads. Cutting of coconut clusters that is now done mostly by tree climbing will be replaced with use of knives on long poles used in West African palm cluster harvest. Use of netting or tarps will simplify catching and moving coconuts to trailers or donkeys. collection and miles of walking with bags over shoulders will be replaced with use of vehicles and four wheelers with trailers, donkeys and other equipment. Hand processing of coconuts will be replaced with automated equipment with the same workers in the plant processing oftimes the volume of coconuts per day.
An equipment partner developed automated technology to process babacu nuts into , oil seeds and other by-products. company currently produces briquettes from babacu coconuts and will be using a design provided by Sustainable BioBrazil to separate oil seeds from other biomass. system is set up for large scale industrial processes associated with biomass systems and the company has a track record of processing wood into biomass products over a 20 year period. They also have equipment that can handle the very hard nature of the coconut. Thewoody biomass in the endocarpal layer the babacu coconut of very high energy density (,mj per kg or about 25% higher than most coal). This makes it an ideal wood for production of charcoal, briquettes or pellets. markets are now being identified in conjunction with the introduction of processing machinery for production of babacu briquettes and pellets. This includes a local industrial partner, Alumar, that will potentially be replacing coal for babacu briquettes.
Other food and cosmetic products also result from babacu processing. Tgranular residue from processing of the exocarpal layer is a feed supplement for animal or human feed. resulting oil seeds extracted from the process will be used to produce oil and meal for various markets. Sustainable BioBrazil is working with various partners such as Agencom Brazil to site an oil seed crush plant in an area that can access babacu oil seeds and soybeans. The plant will also be used for processing of oil seeds from oil seed tree planting. This plant will be able to produce babacu moil pressing oil seeds. Meal will be sold to local cattle producers and oil will be further refined for various markets. Babacu oil is an excellent for use in cosmetics and can also be used as a for of renewable diesel or.
Planting Oil Seed Trees and Food Crops between Trees to Fix Nitrogen:
Sustainable BioBrazil is involved in a program working with local agricultural coops and the State of Maranhao to plant oil seed trees and food crops between trees. The overall aim is to combine production of food and fuel crops to increase income from the land, lower input requirements per crop, and improve sustainability. Sustainable BioBrazil has presented a plan to the State of Maranhao Secretary of Agriculture to plant oil seed tree, biofuel feedstock, food and fiber crops on state agricultural land and they have expressed interest in providing as much as 2.8 million hectares of land for the program. The objective is to provide feedstock for biofuel production, food for local consumption and fiber for new industrial markets in a program that will attract investment from various sources and provide employment for small agricultural producers, processors and marketers of food, fuel and fiber. The program is also designed to optimize sustainability of production through careful planning and utilization of new crops and technology to lower life cycle carbon and soil and water impacts of crop production.
Sustainable BioBrazil has undergone an agronomic evaluation of a set of crops that can be planted between the trees that can maximize fixation of nitrogen and provide other benefits to soil enhancement. This will be combined with use of plant, animal and fish waste in bio-digesters to produce organic fertilizer to further reduce chemical inputs and still improve soil quality. This will include various bean and pea crops, particularly new varieties such as faba, cowpea and other beans with high nitrogen fixing capacity. The objective is to optimize yields of oil seed and food crops while minimizing the cost and carbon impact of using chemical inputs. The other objective is to choose crops that can be harvested easily in the space between trees and that have acceptable harvest intervals to also allow harvest of oil seed crops from trees.
Oil seed trees being considered include macauba and moringa olifeira. Macauba is an oil palm tree that is native to most of Latin America and has a large fruit bunch that has oil seeds with high oil content and an edible meal and fruit cover. The oil is good for biodiesel or renewable diesel production with one of the best cold flow characteristics for a tropical palm. A research project funded by EMBRAPA was able to demonstrate yields of 4 to 5 tons of oil per hectare in a test planting program. The meal has high protein content. There is limited commercial production experience with planting this oil seed tree with limited nursery capacity to produce seedlings. While some seedlings can be obtained from wild stock at a low cost, the fruiting results will not be certain until the tree is mature. The time to fruiting is about 5 years.
Moringa Olifeira is a crop native to the Philippines and India that is commonly used as a subsistence food in both countries. The oil has excellent properties for production of biodiesel and the meal is non-toxic when the seed is ripe for harvest of oil. It is a small tree that reaches fruiting stage fairly quickly (3 or 4 years). A commercial planting effort is now occurring in the Philippines where 700,000 hectares are being planted by one company. India is also considering an expanded Moringa harvest and planting effort. The major disadvantage of the crop is the lack of agronomic data on its suitability and viability as an oil seed tree in Brazil, since there is very little experience with planting of the crop anywhere in South America.
Rotation Cropping of Oil Seed and Other Row Crops
Sustainable BioBrazil is also looking at achieving goals for production of feedstock for biofuels and food for agricultural industries using traditional intercropping of row crops. Various oil seed crops are being considered in combination with other crops that will improve soil conditions. The preferred rotation will probably involve peanuts and sesame in combination with faba beans and cowpeas.
Peanuts grow well in sandy soil that is typical of most of Maranhao. Peanuts also fix nitrogen which improves soil quality. Peanuts have high oil content (45%) and the oil has good characteristics for production of biodiesel. The meal is edible and has high protein content. Peanuts also have food markets for snacking or as an input for production of peanut butter. Faba beans have very high nitrogen fixing potential (as high as 60% (5kg) with one species). Sesame is a seed with relatively low production costs, able to withstand cycles of dry and wet periods and with characteristics of oil fatty acids that make it suitable for biodiesel production. Some species have very high oil content (up to 50%). There is a good market for whole sesame seeds as a taste supplement for bread and the seed can also be put through normal oil and meal extraction equipment to produce edible meal and oil.
These rotations will be done twice per year in tropical climates, allowing for a 2 year rotation cycle that produces large amounts of both vegetable oil and food. Rotations will match seasonal rainfall with dry season crops matched to low rainfall periods. The use of optimized rotation strategies, even if the details of individual crops need to be changed to optimize the soil and climatic conditions and suitability of specific crops to the micro-region, offers a very effective strategy to minimize high cost inputs like nitrogen that are also the main greenhouse gas contributor to farming of energy crops.
The agronomic plan for rotation planting stress sustainability results through higher yields, greater carbon reduction good soil and agronomic practices. Farm management will be directed by the best teams of University agronomists who will devise plans to show how the farms can grow seed trees with good agronomic results and minimize input costs and carbon impacts. training workshop planned in April, 2009 will result in getting experts from Brazil and all over the world to evaluate the best strategies for such rotation planting in looking at the potential duplication of the model on millions of hectares of state land in Maranhao.
Production of Vegetable for Local Food Markets and Hunger Programs:
Maranhao is a state with good soil conditions, adequate rainfall and very low utilization rates of agricultural land. Yet it is also a net food importer with most vegetables being imported from other states. It also has high rates of poverty, malnutrition and hunger. One important benefit program Urban Bio-Alliance will be promoting in the concept of planting food to alleviate hunger. Production of food does not occur because of underinvestment in land and agriculture and lack of sufficient resources by small farmers to do anything but subsistence farming.
Sustainable BioBrazil is working with the State of Maranhao and small producer cooperatives to develop a program that focuses on local vegetable production, with a portion of the crops going to local supermarkets and the balance being distributed to feed the hungry. Investment will focus on providing key tools, seeds and inputs to poor farmers while also providing direct employment to the same farmers to provide income to reduce poverty. This will lead to food production on both the State agricultural land and individual small farms. The focus of production efforts will be on high quality vegetables (carrots, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, beets, cabbage, spinach, potatoes, etc.) that are sold to local supermarkets. Some of the excess food will also be distributed to residents in the region that are still poor and hungry.
Fish Production in Conjunction with Irrigation and Fertilization System
Maranhao is a state with an equatorial rain cycle of a wet season and dry season. In order to optimize production of oil seeds, vegetables and bean crops, some production plans will involve the establishment of ponds that will provide water for irrigation and a habitat for fish production. This will involve the construction of simple earth dam ponds that will catch water from rainfall and runoff and supplement water requirements with a simple shallow well. The pond will be seeded with various fish including tilapia and other fish. Tilapia is ideal in this environment because it can grow very quickly, withstands environments with high fish density and tolerates water conditions expected in ponds. The fish can also eat algae, which can be seeded in the pond and used to supplement traditional feeds.
An advantage of the fish pond concept is that it provides a disposal option for new meal products being developed including Moringa and Macauba meals. These meals will be used as fish feed to document the benefits nutritionally and help establish a market for these meal products in commodity markets. Other technology will also be evaluated in conjunction with pond construction and operation including methods to put oxygen in the pond, eliminate sulfuric acid build up and move water with fertilizer value to the fields. This will involve a set of perforated pipes that will be used to both move oxygen and disinfection systems to the pond and to suck water from the bottom of the pond in conjunction with waste residues from fish production. This will help keep the water oxygenated, lower levels of pathogens and eliminate sulfuric acid buildup. In addition, the water moved to the fields will have high fertilizer value because of the fish feces, algae and feed residue and minerals at the bottom of fish ponds that are then moved to fields.
Sisal and Animal Production in Semi-Arid Regions of Maranhao:
One crop option that is being actively developed by Sustainabale BioBrazil semi-arid areas is sisal, an agave type cactus leaf that produces a high quality fibers and a green feed material for animals (mucilage). This crop will be grown in dry areas of the state with low rainfall where other crops often have problems and high failure rates. Sisal is very resilient in a dry climate and produces from the same planting over a period of ten years. The fibers are valuable and can be sold in various industrial markets (auto, cordage, paper, other) while the mucilage is a good feed material for some animals.
Depending on the location of the sisal production, some of will be purchased in its whole form to produce paperand other sisal will be processed at the farm into fibers and mucilage for sale of fibers to other markets. Paper will be made with a combination of sisal leaves, sugar cane leaves and recycled paper. is investing tof millions of dollars building a paper plant in Porto Franco,Maranhao. of sisal will occur in semi arid areas near this paper plant and Sustainable BioBrazil will aid producers in sale of their whole leaves to Suzanno. Sustainable BioBrazil is also working with several major auto companies interested in signing a long term purchase agreement to buy sisal for various auto parts including interior ceiling finish, reinforcement for thermoplastics and other applications. This will allow for contracting with farmers to plant and purchase of fibers.
To make the production of fibers feasible, it will also be important to aid small producers in setting up animal production The sisal plant is mostly mucilage when it is processed (about 80%) and the feed provides high nutritional value in its green form if it can be digested. Several animals adapted to the feed in this form include goats and ostrich. Sustainable BioBrazil will assist small producers through provision of baby goats and ostrich and help them in breeding efforts to increase meat, egg, milk and cheese production. This will increase the overall income from sisal planting and make the program economically viable for small producers.
Coop Farms to Produce Sugar Cane for Biofuels (alcohol, 2nd generation biofuels)
One of the most productive crops in Maranhao is sugar cane, which can produce an average of 73 tons of biomass per hectare and provide sugar for alcohol production and bagasse for second generation biofuel production. One of the easiest ways to reduce poverty for producers to usea communal farm approachin production of sugar cane and sell this cane in areas where production of alcohol and new biofuels is planned. can generate significant income for producers, since the current price of $40 Reis per ton results in about 2300 Reis per hectare ($1000 USD). This will require providing equipment for planting, harvesting and fertilization and taking all steps necessary to minimize carbon impacts of cane production.
The agronomic plan for the sugar cane plantationswill stress sustainability results through higher yields, greater carbon reduction good soil and agronomic practices and other measures to insure environmental and economic health of cane . Farm management will be directed by the best teams of University agronomists who will devise plans to show how the farms can grow for and cellulose minimize input costs and carbon impacts. cane can be a very sustainable crop because the high yields of biomass production and use of bagasse for steam production means that sugar cane typically achieves life cycle carbon reductions of about 60-80%. With the use of bagasse for 2ndgeneration biofuel production, the net carbon reduction is likely to be 100-130%. This is much better than other biofuels on the market and will put any producers involved in sugar cane biofuel production in a strong sustainability position relative to other producers and crops.
Sustainable BioBrazil is planning to plant a large amount of sugar cane in conjunction with plans to develop projects on state lands. A plan to plant up to 1 million hectares of land in sugar cane is planned depending on the results of agronomic surveys of the land and suitability of soil, rainfall and other factors. Other critical elements will be the availability of a market for sugar cane, since planting cane requires a market and a decision to site an alcohol or 2ndgeneration biofuel plant requires either vertically integrated operations or identification of sugar cane producers nearby (or typically both). The planting of this large amount of acreage is expected to result in substantial economic benefits to farmers including coop participants and other farmer associations.
Babacu Collection & Processing into Oil & Meal and Wood Briquettes or Pellets
Sustainable BioBrazil is working withvarious collectors processors babacoconuts to devise a program for maximizing their income while also providing feedstock for the production of , meal and wood pellets and briquettes from babacu coconuts. They key to the approach is to introduction of new technology for automated processing of coconuts with improved collection systems with provision of equipment for efficient movement of coconuts from the fields to the roads. Cutting of coconut clusters that is now done mostly by tree climbing will be replaced with use of knives on long poles used in West African palm cluster harvest. Use of netting or tarps will simplify catching and moving coconuts to trailers or donkeys. collection and miles of walking with bags over shoulders will be replaced with use of vehicles and four wheelers with trailers, donkeys and other equipment. Hand processing of coconuts will be replaced with automated equipment with the same workers in the plant processing oftimes the volume of coconuts per day.
An equipment partner developed automated technology to process babacu nuts into , oil seeds and other by-products. company currently produces briquettes from babacu coconuts and will be using a design provided by Sustainable BioBrazil to separate oil seeds from other biomass. system is set up for large scale industrial processes associated with biomass systems and the company has a track record of processing wood into biomass products over a 20 year period. They also have equipment that can handle the very hard nature of the coconut. Thewoody biomass in the endocarpal layer the babacu coconut of very high energy density (,mj per kg or about 25% higher than most coal). This makes it an ideal wood for production of charcoal, briquettes or pellets. markets are now being identified in conjunction with the introduction of processing machinery for production of babacu briquettes and pellets. This includes a local industrial partner, Alumar, that will potentially be replacing coal for babacu briquettes.
Other food and cosmetic products also result from babacu processing. Tgranular residue from processing of the exocarpal layer is a feed supplement for animal or human feed. resulting oil seeds extracted from the process will be used to produce oil and meal for various markets. Sustainable BioBrazil is working with various partners such as Agencom Brazil to site an oil seed crush plant in an area that can access babacu oil seeds and soybeans. The plant will also be used for processing of oil seeds from oil seed tree planting. This plant will be able to produce babacu moil pressing oil seeds. Meal will be sold to local cattle producers and oil will be further refined for various markets. Babacu oil is an excellent for use in cosmetics and can also be used as a for of renewable diesel or.
