Grain cooperatives unite to extract soybean oil

With investments estimated between R$700 million and R$900 million, the Cotrijalfrom Não-Me-Toque, to Cotrisalfrom Sarandi, and the Cotripalfrom Panambi, intend to build together a plant for extracting soybean oil. The official announcement and details should take place by the end of October, as anticipated by the president of Cotrijal, Nei César Manica, during a visit to Casa do Jornal do Comércio at the 47th Expointer.

In addition to the oil, whose destination is still kept secret, soybean bran and hulls to supply animal feed factories.

“Agribusiness is always discussing adding value and transformation within the chain. The project will precisely industrialize a large part of our production, adding value and income to associates”, said Manica.

The idea is that the factory is operating at the end of 2025. To this end, the group is already considering the contribution of resources with financial institutions, as well as the definition of tax incentives with the State government. Studies of logistical, highway, railway and energy viabilityin addition to environmental issues, are underway to define and publicize the location of the project.

Other movements across the State show the growth the search for production of biofuels. In Passo Fundo, also in the north of Rio Grande do Sul, the Be8 continues at full steam with its project for production of human and animal food (vital gluten and bran), in addition to renewable fuel (ethanol). With the capacity to store 400 thousand tons of raw material, the plant will be able to operate 365 days a year.

The project is being built at the cost of R$ 1 billionwith R$729.7 million financed from the National Development Bank (BNDES). According to the company’s president, Erasmo Carlos Battistella, the complex that will produce 220 million liters per yearwith 750 tons of cereals per day, start operating in around two years, with the production of 2026 wheat harvest.

“Wheat and triticale will be the flagship products. The flex car industry can use sorghum, corn or rice, for example. But we are planning to encourage the development of winter crops. Although the factory is being prepared to use corn, the preferred raw material and whose idea is to boost production are wheat, triticale and rye”, explains the businessman.

In the complex there will be a vital gluten factory – protein widely used in human and animal nutrition and intended for human consumption. will be 35 thousand tons annually. From being an importer, Brazil will become an exporter, projects Battistella.

The structure will also manufacture ethanol and, in the fermentation process, the CO2 will be extracted, purified and elevated to food grade. The objective is to supply the beverage industries from Rio Grande do Sul, which usually import CO2 from São Paulo, and make the State self-sufficient.

Others 155 thousand tons of branor dried distillers grains with solubles – DDGS in the English acronym – will be obtained immediately after fermentation in the ethanol production process.

“It will be an industrial park that, with low-quality wheat and triticale, will produce human food, renewable energy and animal food. This shows that agribusiness produces food and renewable energy”, adds the president of Be8.

The project is already boosting the expansion of wheat cultivation. Seeds of at least two wheat varieties specific to ethanol are already being produced. And a partnership with Embrapa Trigo develops the production of triticale varieties for the same purpose.

“Winter production in Rio Grande do Sul was never designed for energy, but rather for food. Now comes a new perspective, for food and investments in the energy area”, concludes Battistella.

But later this year, a new operation should start operating. CB Bioenergia ethanol plantin Santiago, in the Central Region. The structure will start operating with the wheat as raw material and then you can use other elements that contain starch, such as triticale, sorghum and corn.

With investment around R$100 millionin its first stage, the complex has been under construction since 2022 and is expected to produce 13 million liters of hydrated ethanol per year, aiming to serve the agricultural aviation market. Already the second stage of the project by businessman Cássio Bonotto should receive funding from plus R$300 million to achieve a capacity to 50 million liters per year.

The structure may also generate energy and produce anhydrous alcohol (which is added to gasoline), in addition to hydrated, consuming 130 thousand tons of raw material annually. The project also foresees the bran production which can be used for animal feed. This second phase is scheduled to be completed in 2027.

Already the 3Triesheadquartered in Santa Bárbara do Sul, operates the production of biodiesel since 2014. Currently, there are around 800 cubic meters per day in Rio Grande do Sulfrom the soybean oil produced in the extraction process.

In another operation, in Mato Grosso, production is even slightly higher, says Luiz Pedro Dumoncel, director of Financial Services at 3Tentos.

“Biodiesel strengthens the demand for soy and is a product to seek to decarbonize the environment. It is an important chain for producing green energy, which will have a more efficient carbon footprint than fossil fuel.”

One new stage of the company is underway in Porto Alegre do Norte (MT)where a platform for ethanol production from corn is being built. The complex is expected to come into operation between the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026.

The project is part of the 3Tentos’ new growth cyclewhose total budget amounts to R$2 billion in three years. This package includes the ethanol factory, expansions in the oil and soybean meal and biodiesel extraction factories, industrial units for reselling inputs and purchasing grains, and a logistics terminal in Itaituba (PA).