Brazilian partnership to consider macauba palm’s SAF suitability
The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) is to partner with Acelen Renewables and the Brazilian Company of Research and Industrial Innovation (Embrapii) to assess the suitability of macauba palm for SAF production .
The “open innovation partnership” aims to help better use the products of the macauba palm tree (including peel, pulp, endocarp and almond) through more effective processes for extracting high-quality oils and generating byproducts, such as SAF and green diesel.
The five-year research project will be partly funded by Embrapii and BNDES (the Brazilian development bank), with a further R$13.7 million ($2.46 million) of investment from Accelen Renewables and Embrapa Agroenergia. Four other scientific research centres will also contribute scientific input.
Embrapa explains that as well as helping fuel the energy transition, greater adoption of the plant will “create decarbonized production systems in semi-arid areas, creating new economic options for needy communities”. Crucially, the growth of macuba in semi-arid areas will not compete with land designated for food production.
“We have to understand the macauba tree very well, to unlock [the] obstacles and make possible the high production of fruit and, consequently, of oil per hectare that the project requires,” explained Victor Barra, Agribusiness Director at Acelen Renováveis. He believes that the macauba domestication project could help the company become “the largest and most competitive producer of renewable fuels”.
