The Brazilian Innovation Agency, FINEP (Research and Projects Financing), and Brazil’s National Development Bank have entered into a new partnership to promote bioethanol development, providing up to $540 million in financing to the country’s biofuels sector to promote innovation in the field of bioethanol.

The funding will be invested in technology projects over the next three to four years, which would advance the use of sugarcane bagasse and straw, to produce second generation ethanol and new products such as polymers, special oils and biodiesel. This is an initial step toward the development of an industrial complex for ethanol in Brazil, following a similar model to that of Brazil’s petrochemical industry. The goal is to double Brazil’s ethanol production capacity in the country without increasing the area necessary to plant sugarcane.