Expansive agricultural landscape in the interior of São Paulo with sugarcane and citrus fields in the morning light

São Paulo · Brazil

The Project

Multi-substrate plant in Monte Alto — phased build-out, integrated tech stack, connected to Brazil's biomethane strategy.

What it is about

Monte Alto is a town in the state of São Paulo, embedded in an agro-industrial cluster with a high availability of residues from agriculture and processing industry. There we are developing a biomethane plant that processes a diversified mix of regionally available residues — vinasse, bagasse, filter cake, and organic residues from agriculture and agro-industry.

The build-out proceeds in two phases: in the first phase the plant starts with a medium processing capacity, and in a later second phase it is expanded to its full target scale.

Regionally anchored. Substrates come from the region, construction work goes to regional firms, logistics is local — and the end product (biomethane and biofertilizer) flows back into regional supply and value-creation cycles. What the plant generates stays within the catchment of the Monte Alto micro-region. The specific opportunities this opens up for substrate suppliers, construction service providers, logistics, off-takers, and the town itself are detailed on the For the Region page.

At a glance

Plant and Technology

Multi-substrate processing with an adapted temperature regime, with an integrated digital tech stack for substrate management and logistics control.

To the plant →

Phased build-out

Two stages — Phase 1 at medium capacity on complete general infrastructure, Phase 2 as a modular extension on a pre-installed base.

Learn more →

For the Region

What the project means on the ground for substrate suppliers, construction companies, logistics, off-takers, and the town of Monte Alto — five stakeholder groups, in concrete terms.

Local opportunities →

The plant in detail The core of the project — multi-substrate anaerobic digestion with an adapted temperature regime, upgrading to biomethane, and the integrated digital tech stack — is described in detail on the **[Plant & Technology](/en/anlage/)** page.

Build-out phasing logic

Phase 1 — avoiding a start-up loss The first stage begins with a medium processing capacity (on the order of 240 t/d substrate), embedded in a **complete general infrastructure** that is designed for the later maximum configuration. Civil works, utility corridors, the SCADA backbone, and safety and logistics corridors are fully in place in Phase 1.

Phase 2 — modular extension The second stage adds further fermenter lines to the plant as a **modular tie-in on pre-installed infrastructure**. This significantly reduces the interface between construction work and ongoing operations. Target capacity on the order of 640 t/d.

Further stages — project-dependent Further build-out stages will be evaluated depending on the usable site area and the engineering results.

Regulatory framework

The project is embedded in Brazil’s regulatory framework for biomethane, in particular the Lei dos Combustíveis do Futuro (Lei 14.993/2024) with its biomethane blending strategy and the PNBB program (Programa Nacional do Biometano).

Permitting with the responsible Brazilian authorities — CETESB (environment) and ANP (energy / biomethane specification) — will be pursued during project development. A later connection to RenovaBio with CBIO certificates is envisaged as an option — depending on market developments and the certification effort.