By Greentech Lead America: Evofuel, a wholly owned
subsidiary of Evogene, has collaborated with T6 Industrial, a biodiesel
producer in Argentina for the development of castor bean seeds as a sustainable
and cost competitive feedstock for biodiesel production.
The collaboration enables Evofuel and T6 Industrial to
evaluate and develop Evofuel’s advanced castor bean varieties, displaying high
oil yield under rain-fed conditions, for commercial production in Argentina.
The companies anticipate initiating field trials in
Argentina as well as validating the economics and scalability of using
Evofuel’s castor bean varieties as a feedstock to supply T6 Industrial’s
biodiesel facilities.
According to the USDA Foreign Agriculture Service,
Argentina’s 2011 biodiesel production
was 2.5 billion liters, with soybean oil being the main feedstock. Evofuel’s
castor varieties are aimed at being highly attractive economically with
currently available feedstock, such as soybean, enabling sustainable oil
production at a cost equivalent to approximately $50 per barrel.
With this partnership, Evofuel is looking to provide a
viable and economically attractive feedstock solution for the biodiesel
market in Argentina and expand its Latin American
Operations.
“Our announced collaboration with T6 Industrial is a
strategic step towards expanding our activity into additional markets in Latin
America, further to our ongoing activity in Brazil, which bears substantial opportunities
for large scale commercial production of castor,” said Assaf Oron, general
manager of Evofuel.
T6 Industrial will support Evofuel to achieve together a
successful plantation of castor bean in specific areas in Argentina. The
collaboration with Evofuel is a strategic alliance for T6 Industrial in order
to obtain the feedstock necessary to produce 2nd generation biodiesel.
“In the next three years, T6 is planning to lead the
international market of 2nd generation Biodiesel; reinforcing its actual worldwide
leadership in biodiesel production,” declared Gabriel Rios, general
manager of T6.