Sorghum Feed for Biomex Sapi's $135 Million Ethanol Plant to Benefit Mexican Farmers

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Mexico's bioenergetic company Biomex Sapi is developing a $135 million ethanol plant in the state of Tamaulipas. North American banks will finance 60% of the project. At least $23 million is being funded by private investors in Mexico and abroad.

The project, which is scheduled to begin construction by the last quarter of this year, will use sorghum as a feed. Local sorghum farmers will invest $12 million in the feed crop with the assistance of the Secretariate of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA), Mexico's agricultural ministry.

The plant, sited at Valle Hermosa, will produce a minimum of 50 million gallons of ethanol a year, said Benito Lopez Martinez, director of Biomex. The plant will benefit Mexican sorghum farmers and reduce the country's reliance on imports from the U.S. when the ethanol is used as a gasoline additive. Mexico currently imports up to 50% of its daily consumption of 820,000 barrels, Martinez said.

Local ethanol production also will assist Mexico in moving away from the use of methyl t-butyl ether (MTBE), a potential carcinogenic, used as a gasoline additive to boost octane ratings, he added.

Due to its high dependence on fossil fuels and recent efforts to become "greener," Mexico is looking to ethanol as a viable option to increase energy efficiency. In 2010, the government established a two-year bioenergy project to maximize the economic and environmental benefits coming from the use of biomass energy resources.

The new Tamaulipas plant will be the first in the country to produce ethanol from sorghum. Ethanol production from yucca, sorghum and sugar beets is not well developed in Mexico; however, it does not present a possible threat to agricultural and food security that might be the case with corn as a feed, which is currently a scarce commodity. Corn is the most used feed for ethanol on a global level.

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