Grupo BBF (Brasil BioFuels), which operates in sustainable agribusiness from oil palm cultivation, biotechnology, biofuel production and renewable energy generation, turns 15 in April, helping to develop the Amazon region while protecting the standing forest.
The company, which has assets in Acre, Amazonas, Pará, Rondônia, and Roraima, is Latin America's palm oil producer, develops renewable inputs to replace petrochemicals, produces biofuels, and generates renewable energy for isolated areas of the Amazon.
Cultivation in degraded areas
Sustainable oil palm cultivation in Brazil follows some of the strictest legislation in the world. In 2010, the Federal Government approved the Oil Palm Agroecological Zoning (ZAE) by Decree 7.172. As a result, the cultivation of this plant is now only permitted in georeferenced areas of the Amazon region that had been deforested by December 2007. "Sustainable oil palm cultivation is an alternative for decarbonizing the Amazon rainforest," explains Milton Steagall, CEO of Grupo BBF.
Currently, Grupo BBF has more than 75,000 hectares under oil palm cultivation in the states of Pará and Roraima. The company produces more than 200,000 tons of palm oil a year. The company generates more than 6,000 direct jobs and 18,000 indirect jobs, as well as encouraging more than 400 family farmers in the state of Pará.
ESG criteria in business premises
Grupo BBF follows the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria among its business premises. In the environmental pillar, the company stands out for expanding sustainable oil palm cultivation in the states of Pará and Roraima, recovering forest areas that were degraded in the past and capturing more than 463,000 tons of carbon annually in the region. In addition, the company has more than 60,000 hectares of Permanent Preservation Area (APP) and Legal Reserve (RL).
In the social pillar, in addition to the incentive program for family farmers, we can highlight the investments in infrastructure for communities living around its operations. In 2022 alone, Grupo BBF invested in the construction of nine bridges, the maintenance of more than 650 km of side roads and a partnership with Vivo to expand 4G coverage in northeastern Pará.
In terms of governance, last year the company was rated investment grade by Fitch Ratings, with a positive outlook for the long term. In all, Grupo BBF has more than R$2.1 billion invested in sustainable assets.
Renewable Energy
In the energy sector, Grupo BBF has 38 thermoelectric plants with a total generating capacity of 238 MW, serving isolated locations in the northern region. There are 25 plants in operation with 86.8 MW of generation capacity and another 13 under implementation. All of them run on renewable fuels: biofuels (biodiesel and vegetable oil) and biomass from oil palm. The company generates renewable energy for local distributors, serving more than 140,000 customers, removing around 106 million liters of fossil diesel from the Amazon, as well as reducing emissions by around 250,000 tons of carbon equivalent in the Amazonian atmosphere.
"I believe in investing in innovation to preserve the environment, generate jobs and income in remote areas and offer products developed with respect for the environment. The preservation of biodiversity is a priority worldwide and Brazil, as it has the greatest biodiversity on the planet, is a key player in the global balance of ecosystems," says Steagall.
Biotechnology
In February this year, Grupo BBF launched a business unit focused on biotechnology - BBF BioTech - with the start of operations in Rondônia to produce renewable inputs from palm and palm kernel oil, to serve industries in the agricultural, cosmetics, food, cleaning and pharmaceutical segments. In all, the plant has the capacity to produce more than 3,000 tons per month of renewable inputs to replace petrochemical products.
The expectation is that still this year, a new BBF BioTech unit will start operating, this time in Manaus. Investments in the second plant, which will double production capacity, should reach R$ 90 million.
The new line, called "AmazonBio Care", aims to replace the use of petrochemical products with renewable raw materials. The investment in research and development has generated results - in 2022, the company filed 11 patents with the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI), related to the new solutions for the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, cleaning, food, agriculture, and biofuels areas. The company has established partnerships with the main research institutions in the country, such as the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), the University of São Paulo (USP) and the Technological Research Institute (IPT).
"Our goal is to promote innovation in the biotechnology sector by developing renewable inputs to replace petrochemicals, using vegetable oils grown by BBF in the Amazon region," says Steagall.
New Business
By 2025, Grupo BBF will start producing new biofuels: Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and Green Diesel, also known as Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO). The raw material for the biofuels will be palm oil produced by BBF in the interior of Roraima. Refining will take place at a plant under construction in the Manaus Free Trade Zone (AM).
More than R$ 2 billion is expected to be invested in the new plant. Initially, it will be possible to produce 500 million liters of HVO and SAF annually.
History
The company was founded in April 2008, in São João da Baliza/RR, by entrepreneurs who shared the purpose of changing the energy matrix of the Isolated Systems in the North of Brazil and, at the same time, creating jobs, generating income and reducing the cost of electricity for the region's population, based on a sustainable and clean matrix, replacing the use of fossil diesel oil with biodiesel made from palm oil.
