The South San Francisco company is in search of partners in the South American country for its first commercial-scale biodiesel plant, LS9 Chief Executive Bill Hayward said Wednesday at the ThinkGreen conference in San Francisco.
LS9 is looking to Brazil because of the wide availability and cheap prices for so-called energy cane, a feedstock that at least initially the startup plans to use to produce its fuel, Mr. Hayward said. The country also has a robust market for diesel.
Mr. Hayward said he hopes to break ground on the plant by 2011 and complete it the following year. In the meantime, he said he is looking to temporarily use an existing plant in North America as a stepping stone to full-scale production. This demonstration plant should produce about 1.5 million to 2.5 million gallons per year.
“The main goal is to get it done quickly,” he said.
LS9, which is backed by Khosla Ventures, uses engineered microbes to produce fuels from raw materials like cane and cellulosic biomass. The startup is initially targeting the diesel market and some chemical markets for products like soap, detergents, and resins. Mr. Hayward said the company will be cost-competitive with petroleum at crude oil prices as low as $45 per barrel.
LS9 wouldn’t be the first U.S. biofuels startup to look south toward Brazil. Emeryville, California-based Amyris Biotechnologies announced that it is building a plant there to be ready by spring 2009. The company has formed a joint venture with Crysalsev, a major Brazilian ethanol marketer and plans to have commercial production of its biodiesel by 2010.