Mascoma: Inside the SunOpta Acquisition

Agriculture/Food Processing Residues nonfield crop, BioRefineries, Brazil, Business News/Analysis, Canada, Feedstock, Field/Orchard/Plantation Crops/Residues, Forestry/Wood, Funding/Financing/Investing, International, New Hampshire, Process, R & D Focus

September 2, 2010

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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In New Hampshire, Mascoma reported yesterday that it had acquired SunOpta BioProcess, a division of SunOpta Inc. (STKL) This combination brings together the fiber preparation and pretreatment technologies of SBI and the consolidated bioprocessing technology of Mascoma, to create a company with comprehensive capabilities for converting non-food cellulose (wood chips, energy crops and organic solid waste) into ethanol and high value co-products.

,,,But Brazil is right there – cars in the market, distribution of ethanol is ubiquitous, and drivers are used to the mechanics of figuring out if gasoline or ethanol is a good buy for their flex-fuel cars in a given week. Plus, pipelines are in place and more are being built.

Brazil has, well, a lot of bagasse, used right now for combustion to generate renewable power for the sugarcane mills and to supply power to the grid. On a good day you get 400 Kwh per tonne of bagasse – about $40 worth of power per tonne if you have pretty good pricing. Those tonnes hold up to 100 gallons of ethanol, worth as much as $160 per tonne, plus there is still residue to burn for some residual power.

…To get more color on the acquisition, the Digest spoke this week with Mascoma CEO Bill Brady. READ MORE and MORE

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