By Brazil Stock Guide – The Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES), Brazil’s state-owned development bank, approved R$ 384.3 million in financing for the country’s first industrial-scale project designed to permanently capture and store CO₂ from biofuel production, backing an ambitious carbon-negative strategy by FS Indústria de Biocombustíveis at its corn ethanol complex in Lucas do Rio Verde, a key agribusiness hub in the country’s Midwest.
The funding, granted through the BNDES Mais Inovação credit line, will support the construction of a dedicated unit capable of compressing, injecting and definitively storing carbon dioxide deep underground in saline sedimentary reservoirs of the Bacia dos Parecis, located directly beneath the industrial site. The system is based on BECCS technology, a more advanced version of conventional CCS that allows not only emission reduction but net carbon removal.
Once fully operational, the project is expected to eliminate 100% of the plant’s direct CO₂ emissions, equivalent to about 423,000 tonnes per year, positioning FS to market one of the world’s lowest-carbon — and potentially carbon-negative — biofuels. The strategy combines carbon capture with second-crop corn and renewable biomass as energy sources, reinforcing Brazil’s bid to anchor biofuels at the core of its decarbonization agenda.
“The approval of this financing reinforces BNDES’s role in advancing Brazil’s energy transition and in fostering a functional carbon market,” said Aloizio Mercadante, noting that annual removal of more than 420,000 tonnes of CO₂ directly supports Brazil’s emissions targets under the Paris Agreement.
FS chief executive Rafael Abud framed the project as a strategic turning point. “BECCS is a decisive step in our ambition to become a global reference in carbon-negative fuels. This technology creates new revenue opportunities, including carbon credits, and places Brazil at the forefront of the energy transition,” he said.
FS operates three large-scale industrial units in Mato Grosso — Lucas do Rio Verde, Sorriso and Primavera do Leste — with combined production capacity exceeding 2.6 billion liters of ethanol per year, in addition to corn oil, animal nutrition byproducts and bioelectricity. Sustainability is a central pillar of its long-term strategy, aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
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