According to the CEO of Grupo BBF, palm is an example of a crop that combines the recovery of the biome, the replacement of fossil raw materials with renewable ones, as well as generating jobs and income for the local population. "From palm oil, it's possible to talk about the bioeconomy within the electricity, chemical and biofuel sectors, as well as agribusiness. The region has a real green pre-salt," he says.
Brazil has the potential to grow oil palm in a totally sustainable way on around 31 million hectares of degraded areas in the Amazon region, according to extensive work carried out by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa). Brazilian legislation for palm cultivation is based on Decree 7.172, established in 2010 by the Federal Government, and is considered the strictest in the world in this sector, as it only allows palm to be cultivated in areas that were deforested in the Amazon region until December 2007.
"Despite the fact that its cultivation is allowed throughout this area, without cutting down a single tree in the forest, today palm is planted on just 300,000 hectares in Brazil, 75,000 hectares of which are in Grupo BBF. The figures for this sustainable "green pre-salt" are also huge for the Brazilian economy: each hectare is capable of generating up to 6,000 liters of palm oil. 6,000 liters times 31 million hectares gives Brazil the opportunity to produce 186 billion liters of palm oil a year, a figure higher than the volume of oil extracted by Petrobras in 2022 - which was around 175 billion liters," says the executive.
Currently, Brazil's palm oil production is still timid, placing the country in tenth place in the ranking of the largest producers, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The production of this oil, which is the most consumed in the world, is concentrated in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, countries that hold 87% of world production, estimated at around 80 million tons per year.
From 2026, Grupo BBF will start supplying SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel) and Green Diesel (RD). The raw material for the advanced biofuels will be palm oil grown by Grupo BBF in the Amazon region. Refining will be carried out at the country's first biorefinery to produce the unprecedented biofuels on an industrial scale, which will have the capacity to produce around 500 million liters of SAF and Green Diesel annually.
In addition, Grupo BBF generates clean, renewable electricity for more than 140,000 residents of isolated locations in the Amazon, served by the Isolated Systems, with 25 thermoelectric plants in operation, powered by biofuels produced from palm oil. The company has developed a vertically integrated business model, generating around 6,000 direct jobs and 18,000 indirect jobs, making a significant contribution to the sustainable development of the northern region, keeping the forest standing and generating income and opportunities for thousands of Amazonians in the five states where it operates.
read the full article here: Brazilian Amazon holds the energy of the future, with high potential for the production of advanced fuels | LÍDER.INC - News, podcasts, videos and more (lider.inc)
