Following completion, bp will have the capacity to produce around 50,000 barrels a day of ethanol equivalent from sugarcane. The company operates with an integrated business model that covers the entire production chain through to sales of ethanol and sugar.

At closing, which is expected to happen in the fourth quarter of 2024, bp will own 100 percent of the business.

We are pleased with the way the business is operating and the great work the team has done to become a leader in sugar and bioenergy since we created this joint venture with bp. However, this business is not core to Bunge’s long-term strategy and this transaction will allow us to focus and invest in our core businesses while also further strengthening our balance sheet. bp has been a valued partner to Bunge, and we wish them and the team continued success, commented Greg Heckman, CEO at Bunge.

This second and final monetization event of Bunge’s ownership in the business is expected to yield net proceeds close to US$800 million, depending on the timing of closing and customary closing adjustments.

Closing of the transaction is subject to customary conditions, including receipt of required regulatory approvals.

J.P. Morgan is acting as exclusive financial advisor to Bunge, and Tauil & Chequer Advogados associated with Mayer Brown, is acting as legal counsel.

Grow bioenergy in Brazil

According to bp, the enterprise value of the stake to be acquired is approximately US$1.4 billion.

The acquisition will result in the consolidation of 100 percent of the venture’s financial results, including net debt of approximately US$0.5 billion and lease obligations of approximately US$0.7 billion.

The acquisition meets bp’s expected returns threshold for bioenergy of more than 15 percent and is fully accommodated within bp’s disciplined financial framework, including CAPEX targets of around US$16 billion in each of 2024 and 2025.

bp says that it believes ownership will also “offer the potential to unlock further growth opportunities in the region and to develop new platforms for bioenergy such as next-generation ethanol, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and biogas.”

bp Bunge Bioenergia is widely recognized as a leader in the industry. I am excited by the opportunity for bp to now add further value from our trading and technology capabilities. bp was an early entrant into the bioenergy business in Brazil and we look forward to continuing to grow and develop here, said Emma Delaney, EVP of Customers and Products at bp.

Focusing biofuel development plans

In parallel to this acquisition, bp is scaling back plans for the development of new SAF and renewable diesel projects at its existing sites, pausing planning for two potential projects while continuing to assess three for progression.

This is aligned with bp’s drive to simplify its portfolio, focusing on value and returns.

The bp Bunge Bioenergia acquisition and focus on key biofuel production projects are expected to support the continuing growth of bp’s strategic bioenergy business which includes both biofuels and biogas.

They contribute to bp’s unchanged 2025 targets of delivering around US$2 billion EBITDA from bioenergy and US$3-4 billion across all its transition growth engines.

Focusing our plans to develop new biofuel projects is also driven by value. Taken together, these changes can enable us to deliver the growth and returns we expect from biofuels, but in a simpler, more focused way. This is fully in line with bp’s priorities of driving focus into the business and growing shareholder returns, ended Emma Delaney.

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The recently signed agreement to design a biogas plant at Perstorp’s industrial park is a step towards the goal.

The plant’s capacity is planned to be 130 GWh of biomethane aka renewable natural gas (RNG) and 17,000 tonnes of liquid carbon dioxide (LCO₂) per year and is expected to be completed in 2027.

Biogas is an important piece of the puzzle in Perstorp’s efforts to switch to renewable and recycled raw materials, so contributing to increased production of this important raw material is something we are very happy about. We believe that biogas production in Sweden needs to be increased fivefold to satisfy the industry’s needs, and this initiative is a step on the way, said Michael Cronqvist, Site Manager at Perstorp.

The planning process is considering the possibility of connecting the plant to the gas grid to distribute the gas to western Sweden and northern Europe.

We are very pleased to be able to take another step towards our long-term goal and have the opportunity to contribute to the green transition within the industry sector. Perstorp is a pioneer within the Swedish industrial sector as an advocate for biogas, and we are proud to be able to take the next step in this project, said Michael Wallis Olausson, VP of Growth at Biokraft.

The plant will use approximately 300,000 tonnes of substrate per year, of which a large majority is manure and other residues from agriculture and the food industry.

The same amount of processed biofertilizer will also leave the plant and go back to agriculture, where it can supplement or replace fossil fertilizer and contribute to the green transition.

New site

Previously, the biogas plant in Perstorp was planned for another site, however, after positive dialogues with both residents, the municipality, and Perstorp, this possibility within Perstorp’s industrial park was identified.

Perstorp municipality is a very suitable place to build a biogas plant. It is close to northern Europe, has good road connections, and is located in a landscape where there is good access to manure and organic waste from surrounding farms. In the dialogues we had prior to the design of our original site, Perstorp’s industrial park was highlighted as an opportunity and we are happy about that today. Now we have the opportunity to build a larger facility with better scalability and significantly better infrastructure. We have the residents of Perstorp to thank for that, ended Michael Wallis Olausson.

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Addressing this issue, a research team at North Carolina State University investigated a potential new textile recycling method.

Led by Dr Sonja Salmon, and funded by EREF, the research has been presented in a Grant Report entitled “Converting Textile Waste to Pumpable Slurry for Biogas Production“.

Deploy enzymatic hydrolysis

By focusing on the transformation of common textile materials like cotton and polyester/cotton blends into biogas through enzymatic hydrolysis, the research delves into a novel approach that not only aims to mitigate the environmental impact of textile waste but also contributes to the generation of sustainable energy resources.

Enzymatic hydrolysis is a biochemical process where enzymes are used to break down complex molecules into simpler ones through the addition of water.

In the context of this research, enzymatic hydrolysis specifically refers to the use of cellulase enzymes to decompose the cellulose in cotton textiles.

By employing enzymatic hydrolysis, the research team successfully separated cotton fibers from polyester fibers and created a pumpable slurry that could be used for biogas production.

Dr. Salmon’s team focused on various cotton and cotton blend textiles, which were processed in different forms to simulate real-world waste.

Effect of dyes and fabric treatments

One of the primary variables studied was the effect of different dye treatments on the hydrolysis process and how they affected the breakdown of cotton fibers into pumpable slurries.

Cotton fabrics were treated with different types of fiber-reactive dyes known for their complex molecular structures that can hinder enzyme activity.

In addition to dyes, the team also explored the impact of other fabric treatments, particularly durable press finishes.

These finishes, commonly applied to textiles to reduce wrinkling, involve the use of cross-linking agents that can significantly impede the enzymatic degradation of cotton.

They assessed the effectiveness of enzymatic hydrolysis in breaking down these chemically treated fibers and explored various pre-treatment methods to enhance the process.

The outcomes demonstrated the necessity of adapting the enzymatic treatment to accommodate the chemical complexity introduced by dyes and finishes.

Several promising findings

The project yielded several promising findings, most notably the capability to convert both dyed and undyed cotton fabrics into slurries under mild conditions (pH 5 and 50°C) within 24 hours.

When tested in lab-scale anaerobic digesters by co-PI Dr. Doug Call’s team, the cotton fiber fragment (CFF) slurries did ultimately produce biogas, although methane production was lower than expected potentially due to a non-acclimated microbial sludge consortium.

This suggests that the method could be viable with more research.

Researchers were able to cleanly separate cotton from cotton blends and synthetic fibers, thereby isolating pure synthetic fibers suitable for recycling.

This not only underscores the efficiency of the process but also its potential to contribute to sustainable textile management.

Another important aspect of the research, led by co-PI Dr Nelson Vinueza, was understanding the fate of dyes and chemicals in the process. The findings indicated that increased enzyme treatments led to higher concentrations of dye-related compounds in the slurries.

However, these levels did not significantly impact the efficiency of the anaerobic digestion process, suggesting the presence of dyes and chemicals will not impede the bioconversion process.

While the initial project’s value proposition focused on biogas generation, a preliminary feasibility assessment suggested that savings from diverting waste from landfills, combined with the value of recycled synthetic fibers or potential value from CFFs, could offer a commercially favorable opportunity for the enzymatic fiber separation process.

Complex problems like textile waste require creative and multidisciplinary solutions. We appreciate the support by EREF that allowed us to form such a team and make tangible progress on new ways to approach solid waste management, said Dr Sonja Salmon.

The implications of this research suggest that future PCTW could be managed by using enzymes to degrade organic fabrics, and the products of that process could be used to generate energy or other manufacturing inputs, and then recover the synthetic fibers for recycling.

This could represent a positive step toward both managing textile waste and generating renewable energy.

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This new operation marks Qualitas Energy’s reentry into the Spanish market and represents its first venture into renewable natural gas (RNG) investment within the country.

A 1 TWh per annum RNG project pipeline

At EUR 2.4 billion, Qualitas Energy Fund V stands as the largest private equity fund in Spain and one of the most significant in renewable energy across Europe.

The initial projects have already entered preliminary approval stages and are anticipated to become operational between 2027 and 2028.

Collectively, these projects are set to deliver a production volume of approximately 1 TWh per year, equivalent to the average annual natural gas consumption of over 120,000 households, significantly reducing carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions.

Álvaro Pérez has been appointed as Director of Renewable Gases to lead this new business venture.

With over 15 years of industry experience, he brings valuable expertise to the company and will be backed by a team of seasoned professionals with deep expertise in the development, design, and construction of renewable energy assets.

Complement UK RNG project portfolio

In 2022, Qualitas Energy acquired a controlling stake in Acorn Bioenergy, a British company specializing in the production of RNG and biogenic CO₂ through the upgrading of biogas generated in anaerobic digestion (AD) facilities.

Currently, Acorn Bioenergy has a portfolio of 14 AD projects, with construction already underway for two of them.

Once fully commissioned Acorn Bioenergy is expected to become a leading RNG and green-CO₂ platform in the UK.

Qualitas Energy is also exploring investment opportunities in RNG across other regions where it has business operations.

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The significant mandate the value of which has not been disclosed bolsters BioticNRG’s ability to build value, create a highly sustainable bioenergy platform, and deploy its decarbonization credentials across hard-to-access sectors such as transport, waste, energy, and agriculture.

Concurrently, Palisade Real Assets has announced that on June 1, 2024, it signed the parallel acquisitions of AD Aggregator Platform Ltd (ADAP) and Material Change Ltd (MCL).

These acquisitions build on the establishment of BioticNRG over the past two years and expand its footprint in the organics and bioenergy sector in the UK.

Investing in biogas and biomethane offers a promising solution to mitigate climate change, reduce waste, and provide renewable energy solutions while contributing to carbon-negative practices. We have been working with the Palisade Real Assets team to establish BioticNRG and ensure it fits ABP’s commitment to the energy transition while securing attractive returns for its participants. Their subsequent acquisition of ADAP and MCL brings the expertise and commitment that will underpin our long-term vision for sustainability. We look forward to the further growth of the BioticNRG platform, said Iulia Grosu, APG’s Senior Portfolio Manager Infrastructure.

Six AD plants

ADAP is a bioenergy platform located in the east UK and consists of six operating anaerobic digestion (AD) plants and a composting business.

The AD assets have strong operating track records and includes four gas-to-grid biomethane plants and two combined heat and power (CHP) plants.

MCL is a UK-based AD and composting operator and developer with certified sustainability and ESG credentials.

MCL has been operating since 2003 and currently manages five of the ADAP AD plants and the ADAP composting business.

The MCL acquisition brings a wealth of in-house operational capability across the bioenergy supply chain to the BioticNRG platform.

This will help Palisade Real Assets build, grow, and run AD assets and adjacent infrastructure while meeting the highest sustainable investment standards.

We are thrilled to have closed the APG mandate and signed these milestone transactions which brings together infrastructure asset ownership and strong operational capability within the same organization. The MCL team, led by CEO Ed Bastow, are industry veterans with exceptional experience in development, operation, and supply chain management. Their expertise is key to delivering the growth ambitions for the ADAP assets and the BioticNRG platform, which play an important role in renewable energy generation in the UK, said Stephen Burns, CEO of Palisade Real Assets.

BioticNRG was advised by Stifel Nicolaus Europe Ltd (financial advisory), White & Case (legal), A&M (tax and financial) and Marsh (insurance).

We are looking forward to joining BioticNRG and delivering the PRA vision for BioticNRG and APG. We have exciting times ahead with a pipeline of opportunities and the support of our new partners which will allow us to innovate and optimize for long-term growth, said Ed Bastow, CEO of Material Change.

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Investments are crucial to fully unlock biomethane production potential and streamline the development of new plants across Europe.

The 2^nd edition of the EBA Biomethane Investments Outlook forecasts some EUR 2.1 billion extra investment in the pipeline but that is yet to be allocated.

According to EBA’s Outlook, the projected investments by 2030 will result in the installation of 950 new biomethane plants across Europe, alongside the 1,300 facilities already operational.

This will add 6.3 billion cubic meters (bcm) of biomethane capacity annually to the continent, which could contribute to avoiding nearly 29 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions each year, providing renewable energy to 5 million European households year-round, and producing 830,000 tonnes of biofertiliser annually.

According to the report, investments will be mostly located in Denmark (EUR 3.6 billion), Poland (EUR 3.4 billion) and Italy (EUR 2.4 billion).

In the case of Denmark, the share of biomethane in the gas grid is close to 40 percent and there are plans to increase this production to substitute 100 percent of the gas demand before 2030.

Policy alignment will direct capital

EBA stresses that aligning the EU Taxonomy with the REPowerEU objectives for biomethane will direct capital towards the sector.

The EU Taxonomy plays a “crucial role in incentivizing green investments, although challenges in implementing screening criteria persist. To secure the announced investments, it is essential to implement aligned policies, maintain stable regulatory frameworks, and facilitate long-term end-use of biomethane and its co-products.”

EBA will present the key outcomes of this analysis on July 5, 2024, at a webinar “Biomethane scale-up in figures: Mapping new plants and investments across Europe”, which will also unveil the new edition of the European Biomethane Map.

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These, the “Big Five”, are an important part of the company’s plan to significantly increase the availability of biomethane aka renewable natural gas (RNG) in the Nordic countries.

Two of the planned Big Five plants are already under construction. The first plant in Götene, some 150 km northeast of Gothenburg, will start commercial production at the end of 2024.

The second one in Borlänge, approximately 200 km northwest of Stockholm, received a final investment decision at the beginning of 2024 and onsite work is being started.

Hörby selected for the third Big Five plant

The next plant will be located in Hörby, in southern Sweden about 50 km northeast of Malmö.

Planning is proceeding at pace, as most design solutions are already being tried and tested in the Götene and Borlänge projects.

That said, each site is unique regarding the conditions and regional characteristics,

Hörby is located in the Skåne region and is characterized by a high density of agriculture and livestock farms. This means that there is an abundance of manure and other agricultural residues that can be used to produce biogas, and correspondingly, biogas production can reduce the climate impact of agriculture in the region. We have a very good relationship with the Hörby municipality, which has a positive outlook on Gasum’s planned project – our cooperation in developing the land use plan is working very well, said Tor Husebø, VP of Projects and Biogas Production at Gasum.

Strategic location

According to the company, biogas made from waste streams is a fuel that produces on average 90 percent fewer life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions when compared with traditional fossil fuels, such as diesel.

When using animal manure from farms as raw material, the reduction can be more than 100 percent as emissions from traditional manure handling are avoided.

This is why increased biogas use is one of the most impactful ways to reduce emissions from transport and industry – it’s a solution that is readily available.

The planned location of Gasum’s biogas plant in Hörby is right next to the E22 highway making the location ideal regarding transport infrastructure.

The planned plant would be able to receive up to 500,000 tonnes of a wide range of raw materials annually.

The feedstock would consist of primarily residual products from the agricultural sector such as solid and liquid manure from livestock farms, grain, and silage.

In addition to biogas that will be upgraded to biomethane (aka RNG), the plant will produce up to 480,000 tonnes of high-quality recycled biofertilizers annually that will be returned to the surrounding farm fields for growing crops.

Progressive planning process

While Gasum has yet to make a final investment decision (FID), the planning process is firmly proceeding to secure all necessary permits and the land use plan with the municipality.

Like the other Big Five plants, the Hörby plant project has been granted funding from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Step (Klimatklivet) investment program.

If everything goes as planned, the plant will start producing 133 GWh of biomethane per year from the end of 2026. That means a substantial reduction in carbon dioxide emissions enabled by using biogas instead of fossil fuels, Tor Husebø said.

Gasum’s strategic goal is to bring seven terawatt hours (7 TWh) of RNG annually to the Nordic market by 2027.

This is four times more than today and would mean a combined annual carbon dioxide (CO₂) reduction of 1.8 million tonnes for Gasum’s customers.

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That adds up to a job multiplication factor of 12. For comparison’s sake, the job multiplication factor for the sector that includes solar photovoltaics (PV) is 6.50 and the multiplier for the sector that includes wind turbines is 3.73.

Providing new impetus for President Biden’s National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative launched in June 2023, the report illustrated state-by-state gains linked to the transformation of renewable biomass into new products.

And most importantly for policymakers, the report explains why, “A considerable competitive and policy advantage of these industrial bioeconomy jobs is their tie to U.S. soil, both literally and figuratively—these jobs are here and stay in the U.S.”

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The green loan is used to finance Gasum’s strategic investments into increasing biogas production both by expanding biogas production at existing plants as well as construction of new large-scale plants.

The green loans are administered under Gasum’s Green Finance Framework, where biogas-related assets have a top rating of Dark Green from independent ratings issuer Shades of Green.

The green loan will be exclusively used for assets related to biogas production and distribution.

Sustainability embedded into strategy

The margin of the sustainability-linked revolving loan facility is tied to Gasum’s own sustainability goals related to renewable gas volumes, sustainable biogas production, and safety.

These newly negotiated financing facilities demonstrate Gasum’s commitment to sustainability. The green energy transition is embedded into our business strategy, and this long-term financing is vital to our ability to make the necessary investments that enable us to deliver more and more renewable energy to our customers, said Kai Laitinen, Gasum’s Chief Financial Officer.

Gasum’s strategic goal is to bring seven terawatt hours (7 TWh) of renewable natural gas (RNG) yearly to the Nordic market by 2027.

This is four times more than today and would mean a combined annual carbon dioxide (CO₂) reduction of 1.8 million tonnes for Gasum’s customers.

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Republic Services is investing in sustainability innovation to provide decarbonization solutions for our customers, and our Lightning Renewables partnership with Archaea Energy is a prime example. We’re proud to celebrate the first of the approximately 40 RNG projects in the Lightning Renewables portfolio. Together, we’re helping create a more sustainable worldsaid Jon Vander Ark, President and CEO of Republic Services.

Standardized modular design

Traditionally, RNG plants have been custom-built, but AMD allows plants to be built on skids with interchangeable components.

Using a standardized modular design leads to faster builds than previous industry standards.

From the start, our focus has been opening plants safely and reliably, and demonstrating progress and growth. Continuing to build momentum with the Lightning Renewables JV, the Fort Wayne plant is just the beginning of our incredible partnership with Republic Services to capture landfill emissions and provide customers with lower-emission, lower-carbon fuel, said Starlee Sykes, CEO of Archaea Energy.

Largest RNG producer

The Fort Wayne AMD plant will convert landfill gas (LFG), a natural byproduct of the decomposition of waste, collected from Republic Services’ landfill into RNG, the use of which can lead to local air quality benefits and an increase and diversity of domestic energy production, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Once fully operational, the Fort Wayne plant is expected to process up to 6,400 scfm into RNG – enough gas to heat more than 25,000 homes annually, according to the EPA’s Landfill Gas Energy Benefits Calculator.

With the 2022 acquisition of Archaea, bp is now the largest RNG producer in the US, enhancing its ability to support customers’ decarbonization goals and progressing its aim to reduce the average lifecycle carbon intensity of the energy products it sells.

The Lightning Renewables JV portfolio supports Archaea’s intended growth to greater than 50 million mmbtus per year by 2030. It directly supports Republic Services’ long-term sustainability goal to reuse 50 percent more biogas by 2030 beneficially.

The JV’s portfolio of projects will bring Republic’s total landfill gas-to-energy portfolio to more than 100.

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