Solazyme, Bunge form JV for commercial renewable oil plant in Brazil

SAN FRANCISCO, US: Solazyme Inc and Bunge Global Innovation LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bunge Limited have entered into a framework agreement to form a joint venture focused on production of triglyceride oils in Brazil. The JV anticipates building a 100,000 mt renewable oil production facility located at a Bunge owned sugar cane mill in Brazil. Engineering for the plant will begin immediately and will be funded by both parties. Upon successful completion of site-specific engineering designs and execution of final JV agreements, construction on the facility will commence, with a targeted start-up during the 2013 cane harvest.

The plant, which will leverage Solazyme’s breakthrough sugar-to-oil technology and Bunge’s sugarcane milling and natural oil processing capabilities, will produce Solazyme’s tailored triglyceride oils for chemical applications. The equity contributions for the project will be financed jointly by the parties and the agreement includes a value sharing mechanism that provides additional compensation to Solazyme for its technology contributions.

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