S.Oleum is an agribusiness startup (AgTech) focused on the development of sustainable solutions that create jobs and revenue and help in the mitigation of climate change. The company was founded in 2019 following a meeting between Felipe Morbi, a businessman who has been studying and consolidating research on the macaúba since 2007, and Francisco de Blanco, an investor who was traveling the world in search of new raw materials for the production of renewable fuel.

Based upon the concept of a circular economy, that prioritizes raw materials that are more durable, recyclable and renewable, S.Oleum can also be classified as a CleanTech, the name given to companies whose products, services and processes negatively impact the environment. The S.Oleum System rests upon two foundations: agroforestry and bioindustry. The flagship of the first is the commercial planting of the macaúba, a species that is native to the American continent, demands little in terms of water usage, and can be adapted to damaged or largely infertile earth. 

The project involves 250,000 hectares divided between the agricultural part and the environmental protection and infrastructure areas. This means the recovery of more than 175,000 hectares of pastures in damaged or low-yield areas in the Cerrado biome, planting more than 61 million native trees in the agroforestry or Integrated Crop-Livestock-Forestry (ILPF) systems, by 2027. Within these production models, the macaúba provides numerous ecosystemic services, one of which is the sequestering of 28.73 tons of CO2 every year. 

The bio-industrial branch, meanwhile, is focused on the transformation of the raw materials of the macaúba into sustainable Advanced Vegetable Oils, oleochemicals, green biofuels, proteins for the plant-based foodstuffs industry and for animal feeds.

The macaúba fruit is made up of approximately 20% oil and 80% biomass. From it, two oils are extracted; one from the kernel, the other from the pulp. The first is an oil that is similar to that extracted from the coconut, and contains ‘TCMs’ (Medium-Chain Triglycerides), that assist with weight control, whilst the second is made up of fatty acids similar to those found in olive oil. Both can be used in various different sectors. 

In the food industry, they serve as ingredients in the manufacture of cakes, biscuits and cookies. For fillings, the ideal product is the macaúba’s kernel oil, that can be broken down and used in products that need to be solid under room temperature. It can also be used as a biodegradable lubricant for technical application in the mining industry, as an agricultural pesticide, and as a raw material for the production of biofuels, such as ‘HVO’, as green diesel fuel is referred to, and green kerosene, the sustainable fuel used in aviation.

The brans are byproducts of the oil extraction process. The bran drawn from the kernel is notable for its top-quality proteins, and can be used by the plant-based food industry in the creation of lactose and meat substitute products. Another option is to use it as animal feed.  The bran drawn from the pulp, meanwhile, is fibrous and rich in carotenoids, and (as well as serving the purposes mentioned above) can be used for the production of biofuels such as ethanol, due to its high sugar levels. 

The skin, the endocarp of the fruit (the layer that protects the seed), the leaves and the stalk waste all have high calorific value and can be used to create bioenergy. These remnants can also be used for the production of charcoal. Biochar is a type of charcoal used in agriculture as an “intelligent” fertilizer that cannot be leached away by rainfall but rather slowly releases nutrients into the soil. 

The activated charcoal is used as a filter by various different sectors, such as that involved in water treatment. The biomass can also be submitted to thermal cracking, a process by which it is heated to extremely high temperatures in an oxygen-free space, thereby preventing it from being burnt, but rather resulting in bio-products, such as green hydrocarbons, that have hundreds of applications in the petrochemical industry. 

Another new development has been a sanitizing bio-oil, a product capable of sterilizing spaces to ensure they are not susceptible to contagion by micro-organisms such as the coronavirus.  This project is the fruit of a partnership between Embrapii (Brazilian Industrial Research and Innovation Company), ISI (Senai Institute of Innovation in Biomass) and S.Oleum.

The S.Oleum System will be implementing five agroforestry-industrial clusters, each one of which will require investments in cargo terminals, highways, railways and waterways for the logistics of the operation. These investments will benefit not only S.Oleum, but the entire region. Around 150,000 direct jobs and 500,000 indirect jobs will be created at work stations by 2035. 

At a moment in time when the world is transitioning over to a low-carbon economy, S.Oleum is providing solutions based upon the concept of the circular economy. “We will be making use of everything: the oils, the brans and the biomasses, forming a hub of innovation and sustainable production,” says Luis Eduardo Ravaglia, Head of Research and Development at S.Oleum.