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During an Aug. 18 Renewable Energy Stocks Green Investor Podcast, Andy Badalato, chief executive officer of Florida-based Industrial Biotechnology Corp., shared information about his company’s projects.
Industrial Biotechnology has two operating subsidiaries, Renewable Chemicals Corp. which utilizes sugarcane feedstock as an alternative to petroleum-based chemicals and Renewable Fuels of America Inc. which imports and distributes Brazilian sugarcane ethanol to targeted U.S. costal areas.
According to Badalato, his company has identified a need towards creating sustainable packaging solutions. Industrial Biotechnology plans to leverage existing chemical company infrastructure along with their distribution and industry knowledge to produce bio-renewable polymers or plastics. Badalato said Biotechnology plans to take pre-existing facilities that currently convert petroleum-based ethylene into polymers and replace the petroleum-based ethylene with ethylene produced from ethanol. At this time, the company is in the process of identifying a site for the project and engineering feasibility studies.
Industrial Biotechnology’s other subsidiary, Renewable Fuels of America, is working to import sugarcane ethanol from Brazil. According to Badalato, the company has found a way around the $0.54 tariff to import Brazilian ethanol. During the podcast, he spoke of an exemption provided by the Caribbean Basin Initiative, which was passed during U.S. President Ronald Regan’s leadership. . The initiative was developed to promote trade benefits to Caribbean countries. Badalato said that if ethanol is shipped from Brazil in a hydrous state, with water added, and then dehydrated in a Caribbean Basin country, the fuel can then be imported into the United States free from the tariff. Badalato said his company is currently seeking a Caribbean Basin country that has dehydration capacity and expects to be generating revenue within three to six months.