Rhodia and Cobalt Technologies Join Hands to Develop Biofuel Using Bagasse

Cobalt Technologies and Rhodia collaborate through a Memorandum of Understanding to develop bio n-butanol refineries in Latin-America.

The agreement is a strategic alliance, under which the two companies will work together to make use of the technology developed by Cobalt for converting sugarcane bagasse into n-butanol. The final product after conversion n-butanol will be used as a fuel and also in the chemical market.

The conversion process will first be carried out at a sugar mill using Cobalt’s technology. After the completion of this process, the companies will work towards building a plant for demonstrating Cobalt’s technology at a site in Brazil. After the successful installation of the demonstration plant, the companies will work together to build a number of bio-refineries across Latin America. The CEO of Cobalt technologies pointed out they will be able to derive maximum benefit out of Rhodia’s expertise in the sugar mill operations and the bagasse-based power plants located near the sugar mills. The president of Rhodia on the other hand spoke about the advanced technologies at Cobalt and the promising opportunities for bio n-butanol fuels in Latin America.