TOBASA BIOINDUSTRIAL

Our Company

TOBASA BIOINDUSTRIAL DE BABAÇU S/A is a Brazilian pioneer company in the development of technologies and processes for forestry extraction and for the full industrialization of the babassu coconut, which generates "circular economy” and “sustainable solutions" for various sectors of industry. The Company has the largest coconut activated carbon factory in Latin America and its industrial plant has a total area of 175,000 square meters.

Since its founding in 1968, TOBASA stands out for its innovation in the babassu coconut supply chain, which ranges from the collecting and breaking of the coconut, to the technological processing of its products. Today, it is the only industrial complex in the country that produces oil, protein feed, energetic biomasses, amylaceous flours, starch alcohol and activated carbon. In addition, it is the leading Coconut Activated Carbon producer and supplier in Brazil.

TOBASA Industrial Park

View of the Stained Glass:

Industrialization of the 4 Fractions of Babassu Coconut

TOBASA Industrial Park

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With 55 years of tradition, TOBASA is one of the most respected industrial groups in Tocantins and the north region of Brazil, with several awards and recognitions for its social, economic and environmental coverage, as well as its importance in the generation of direct and indirect jobs and also for its innovative technological achievements. In this context, TOBASA became a reference in Brazil as an unique and pioneering project, generating patent, master's and doctoral theses, as well as research projects in partnership with universities and research institutions originating scientific works published in Brazil and abroad.

Our Tobasa

The TOBASA Project contributes to the sustainable use of the traditional forest culture of the region, from collecting babassu coconut through its industrialization. The Company permanently develops technologies applied to the full use of the coconut, in a bioindustrial model of economic valorization of this rich biodiversity of the Amazon Forest.

Our Mission

Promote and manage the productive chain of babassu coconut and provide our clients with products of excellence – obtained in a sustainable way – from the native forests, generating income to the agroextractivist communities of Tocantins and maximizing the results on invested capital.

Our Vision

To be a world reference as a bioindustry in the Amazon that fully industrializes the babassu coconut through technological innovations, providing socio-environmental benefits and contributing to the well-being of society and biodiversity.

Our Values

- Ethics and Transparency

- Respect and Sustainability

- Trust and Optimism

- Entrepreneurship and Innovation

- Courage and Perseverance

- Idealism and Patriotism

Our History

TOBASA was founded in 1968 – and inaugurated in 1970 – by Edmond Baruque, with the initial purpose of processing almonds from babassu coconut, which represent only 6% of its weight, for the production of oil and protein feed; at that time, there was no technology available to enable the full coconut industrialization.

With his entrepreneurial style and organizational vision, this civil engineer – dissatisfied with the waste of 94% of the rest of the coconut – dedicated himself unceasingly to seek and develop innovative technologies that could economically make possible the full industrialization of the fruit. This legacy – of enthusiasm and idealism – was carried on by one of his four children, the then-young and newly graduated chemical engineer Edmond Baruque Filho, who – with determination and entrepreneurial vision – began to actively participate and continue the pioneering project initiated by his father. Thus, a second generation of the family joined the first in the administration and in the establishment of TOBASA's guidelines, aiming at its expansion and verticalization.

From then on, father and son began to dedicate themselves – with courage, perseverance and unshakeable conviction – to the development of technologies for the full use of all babassu's parts, which could make viable the industrialization of the remaining coconut wealth for the generation of new commercial products. During this long undertaking, the Baruque achieved full success, as they devised an inventive coconut cutting machine, a pioneering distillery of babassu alcohol and the innovative carboactivation furnaces. In addition, they introduced a new and beneficial social technology in the forest areas under the company's geoeconomic influence – the “babassu coconut collection”.

Throughout the trajectory of TOBASA – which is mixed with the history of the Baruque family – several challenges were faced, but, also, many achievements were celebrated and important recognitions were obtained; some milestones from this memory are recorded below...