Concerns over long-term energy independence and security, and increased demand due to the economic growth in emerging markets, are shaping regulatory policies around the world and promote the search for alternatives to petroleum-based fuels. This boom is driving research and development and yields a rapidly emerging biofuel industry on a global scale.
It's not surprising to see SAP AG, the world's largest business software conpany, moving into developing specialty knowledge in this booming new economic sector. SAP has been working to extend its knowledge in process industry practices and management, accelerators for adoption and deployment, and platform flexibility to enable "next-generation energy" companies to adapt and grow amid ongoing industry transformation.
There's a whole new value chain to develop in this sector. Biofuels are alcohols and esters processed from biomass such as plants, new and waste vegetable oils, and animal waste. Biofuels are blended with petroleum-based fuels and fed into the downstream distribution process to the consumer. Like any other industry, owners and operators of the emerging industry value chain -- including growers, harvesters, processors and distributors -- have a need for solutions to support these processes that are rooted in the mill, chemicals, and oil and gas industries.
For these companies, large, entrenched vendors can provide an IT infrastructure that enables optimized business processes, scalability for growth and ease of integration for the expected industry consolidation that, with this amount of money in play, is surely on the horizon.
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