Brazil’s $3 Billion Bet on Macauba: A New Frontier for Sustainable Aviation Fuel

A little-known fruit is at the center of a massive industrial wager in Brazil. Macauba, a native plant whose fruit is exceptionally rich in oil, is set to become the primary raw material for a new renewable fuel supply chain, specifically targeting Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel.

Project Overview and Financial Backing

The initiative is led by Acelen Renováveis, a company backed by the investment fund Mubadala Capital. The project integrates agronomic research, plantation development, oil extraction, and industrial fuel production.

Location: The planned biorefinery will be located in São Francisco do Conde, in the state of Bahia.
Timeline: Construction is scheduled to begin following the financing announced in May 2026.
Funding: $1.5 billion has been secured to commence construction.
Operational Start: S&P Global confirms that operations are expected to begin in 2029.

Why Macauba? Yield and Land Use Advantages

The strategic interest in macauba stems primarily from its high yield and land-use efficiency:

Superior Oil Yield: According to Acelen Renováveis, macauba can produce 7 to 10 times more oil per hectare than soybeans.
Land Restoration: The plant can be cultivated on degraded pastures, avoiding direct competition with food crops.

The project envisions up to 144,000 hectares of plantations on degraded lands. Notably, 20% of this area is planned for development in partnership with family farmers and small-scale producers. The goal is to create a fully integrated value chain, from seedling production to the final fuel delivered to the market.

Scaling Up: From Research to Industrial Culture

The agricultural phase has already commenced. Acelen reports that over 800,000 macauba seedlings are scheduled to be planted across 1,500 hectares in 2026.

Simultaneously, Acelen Agripark in Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, is focused on:

Genetic selection
Germination techniques
Methods to transition macauba from a difficult-to-cultivate wild plant to a viable industrial crop

According to Bloomberg Línea, more than 200 researchers are working on the domestication and industrialization of this crop. The critical challenge is to make agricultural production predictable enough to sustain an industrial operation that will function at a vastly larger scale.

A Multi-Feedstock Approach at Launch

It is important to clarify that the SAF produced by the future biorefinery will not initially rely solely on macauba oil.

Initial Feedstocks: The plant will utilize multiple raw materials, including soybean oil and used cooking oils, alongside macauba oil.
Technology: The facility will employ HEFA (Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids) technology, which converts these oils and fats into renewable fuels.
Transition to Macauba: Acelen anticipates that large-scale use of macauba oil will gradually take over, with significant production from this feedstock expected to begin by 2030.

This approach represents less of a simple "fruit-to-fuel" story and more of an effort to build a complete new industrial chain, from plant genetics to the global aviation market.

Economic and Social Impact

The implications of this project extend beyond the energy sector. According to a study by the Getúlio Vargas Foundation cited by Acelen:

Employment: The integrated chain could generate up to 85,000 direct and indirect jobs over the next decade.
Economic Injection: The project is expected to inject up to $40 billion into the Brazilian economy.
Construction Peak: At the peak of the biorefinery construction, approximately 3,600 direct and indirect jobs are anticipated.

For Brazil, the objective is to transform an agricultural advantage into an industrial one: producing raw materials locally, developing the necessary cultivation technologies, converting them into fuel, and targeting international SAF markets.

Conclusion: A Strategic Asset for Renewable Fuels

Macauba is becoming the cornerstone of an industry seeking to solve two critical problems simultaneously:

Finding more raw materials to decarbonize aviation.
Valorizing degraded agricultural lands.

If the scaling process succeeds, this small berry from a native palm could become one of the new strategic assets in Brazil’s renewable fuel industry.