Biosolvit - Biomass for a better environment

Or perhaps, a good dose of vision and a lot of persistence will transform our concerns into an innovative business

Did you know that 97% of palm trees are removed or hearts of palm are discarded? Guilhermo Queiroz, founder of Biosolvit, the company that won the Latam Edge Award 22 in the Biotech category, also did not know about 2013 when he realized that tons of biomass was discarded from a palm heart production company that he visited at one time.

Without non-conformism, not to mention that a material called tivesse is used only by the poor, was born the idea of taking advantage of the "waste" and transforming it into xaxins of vegetable fiber that will go on to be marketed in large retail stores for the home.

So this was not enough. In 2017, Guilhermo wanted to discover the most modern uses for the biomass he produces. It was thus that, in visits to the Volta Redonda University Center, he discovered a researcher who was developing a product using the same discarded biomass after harvesting palm hearts with the aim of absorbing oil waste very efficiently. The researcher became a partner in the company and that is where Biosolvit emerged.

"We began to participate in international pitches. The first pitch was in Paris where we presented our solution to StartOut Brazil."

At Total Petrolamericana, the product was requested to be tested by the Cedre Institute in France, and the product was considered the most efficient oil absorber in the world. "Also being faster and more efficient, it allows the reuse of oil, reducing remediation costs," says Guilhermo.

From Barra Mansa, a small city to the Southeast of the State of Rio de Janeiro, a company started to serve large oil industries, mining, networks of gasoline stations, energy companies, among others. "The biopolymer, oil absorber that became the chef's car of the Bioblue Ecofast line, like Biosolvit, in just 3 years, opted to acquire a product distribution company to expand its growth. "Now we are 27 times larger than in 2019. We are growing at a rate of 3 times a year. This year we must pay a bill of U$3M," he says.

And the thing doesn't stop there. The company has a partnership with another startup to develop the Biogreen Agro solution, a biofertilizer that revitalizes the nutrients by only recovering the productivity of the work.

The other line of business is organic mineral compost compost for the solubilization of rocks by releasing potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen plus biofertilizer and palm biomass. Together they form a biocompost that recovers the earth.

Another product that Biosolvit is developing was born from the discovery that in addition to absorbing oil, biomass manages to absorb hydrocarbons, which are carcinogenic elements, with 99.7% efficiency.

"Water treatment is a great challenge for Humanity for the coming years and for this reason we are working on the development of films for water treatment in industrial and residential filtration systems" comments Guilhermo.

Learned and march forward

"See the sale of xaxins, which compõem the BioGreen Home line that was the beginning of everything, represents very little of our business. This line has another dynamic. It depends on the final consumer. "Other is a different bug and a series of small errors that make this line wander more," says Guilhermo.

These products are currently marketed in 15 Brazilian states through large retail stores.

Bio Green Agro is also in full development of solutions for agriculture. As well as lines, BioBlue Response - absorption and containment line for oil and derivatives - and BioBlue Treatment - for water treatment - the latter is still in the testing phase, and wind aft.

In addition to product lines, Biosolvit has already passed the time of breeding BioCollab, whose function is to control the company's innovation projects. He is still in his first stage. The next stage will be to allow students of masters and professors to show their theses for this division and become invested as associates of the company.

"We want to change the history of basic research in Brazil. Big ideas are on the shelves of universities. There are also those who create a company with a single product. Or we want to be the great catalyst of innovation in Brazil. We are going to create basic science projects and manage these projects, guaranteeing the Go to Market of these ideas. We want you inventors, "breeders have co-participation and this knowledge of the growth of these businesses," says Guilhermo.

Advice for starting to undertake

Guilhermo is very cautious in our business when it comes to governance and control. "There is a model of governance that is structured fundamentally. We have here a model that is quite mature for our size and we want to strengthen it more and more" he comments, saying that the Councilors need to view criticism and contribute suggestions without any delay. Another important thing is to place energy, which is more important to grow organized. Pay attention to the CapTable. "We make two acquisitions in the market and the founding partners still have 75.2% of the capital. And, to do so, we need very well-structured governance rules."

Biosolvit for the world

The company's connection with external markets began with two partnerships: one in the United States and another in Europe. Guilhermo wants the products to gain credibility from local partners two countries with associated companies such as TechnoFink, in the United States for the Oil&Gas market. England is another market for which the company is betting.

In the near future (2 years) the employer informs that he wants to have a consolidated operation from an environmental perspective, with a water treatment operation gaining scale, an operation of gardening products expanding and BioGreen Agro moving forward.

For BioCollab, the expectation is 40 to 50 projects moving forward.

And that's just the beginning.