Andritz to Provide Equipment for Brazil Cellulosic Ethanol Plant

Andritz AG (ANDR), the world’s second- biggest maker of hydropower turbines, will furnish equipment to Brazilian sugar-cane research agency Centro de Tecnologia Canavieira for an 80 million-real ($40 million) plant that will produce cellulosic ethanol fuel from sugar-cane waste.

The gear will use steam to expose cellulose in fibrous biomass to enzymes that break it down into fermentable sugars, Robson Cintra de Freitas, director of business and new technology at Piracicaba, Brazil-based CTC, said today in a telephone interview.

CTC expects to sign a contract with Austria’s Andritz this month, he said, without revealing the value of the deal. The company is in talks with biotechnology companies including Novozymes A/S (NZYMB) and Codexis Inc. (CDXS) to supply enzymes. Finnish engineering company Poyry Oyj will build the plant.

Construction is expected to begin in July and the demonstration plant will start producing fuel in the middle of next year, he said. It will be added to an existing mill in the city of Sao Manoel. Alstom SA is the biggest supplier of hydropower equipment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stephan Nielsen in Sao Paulo at snielsen8@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net