Cosan, the world’s largest sugar and sugarcane ethanol producer, has become the first mass producer of biomass pellets made with sugarcane waste, a renewable fuel for thermoelectric plants that experts say could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The world’s largest bioenergy conglomerate, Cosan makes the pellets out of two different sugarcane byproducts—sugarcane straw or, alternatively, crushed cane stalks, a fibrous waste known as bagasse. The company subsidiary that makes the pellets, Cosan Biomassa, began production last August at a plant in southeastern São Paulo state, the center of Brazilian sugarcane cultivation. The plant is expected to reach its 175,000 metric-tons-per-year capacity next year, and Cosan Biomassa plans to make its first 20,000-metric-ton shipment of pellets to a major but... [Log in to read more]