Brazil
Brazil is the world’s largest sugarcane producer and second largest ethanol manufacturer. With more than 30 years Brazil has by far the longest experience in developing an infrastructure and capacity to produce biobased energy based on sugar cane. This provides major opportunities and lessons for BE-Basic partners. Interestingly Brazil also has strong federal and regional investments in fundamental and applied research in the bioenergy field.
The foundations for the collaboration with Brazil originate from the B-Basic consortium, the predecessor of BE-Basic. In the last few years several missions to Brazil were undertaken by representatives of B-Basic. Within BE-Basic the collaborations with Brazil continue in a more integrated way with the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) an its BIOEN Research Programme.
FAPESP
In 2010 BE-Basic signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), the São Paulo Research Foundation. A joint research programme of circa 6 M $ is set up between BE-Basic and the FAPESP Research Program on Bioenergy (BIOEN). Thematic priorities include synthetic biology for biofuels and bio-based chemicals and sustainability. FAPESP is an independent public foundation with the mission to foster research and the scientific and technological development of the State of São Paulo.
BIOEN
The BIOEN Progamme of FAPESP aims to integrate comprehensive research on sugarcane and other plants that can be used as biofuel sources, thus assuring Brazil’s position among the leaders in the area of Bioenergy. Research includes from biomass production and processing to biofuel production and its impacts.
Contact
Contact Patricia Osseweijer for more information about the BE-Basic collaboration with Brazil.
