Can Brazil replace 5% of the 2025 gasoline world demand with ethanol? |
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Authors: | Rogério Cezar de Cerqueira Leite Manoel Regis Lima Verde Leal Luís Augusto Barbosa Cortez W Michael Griffin Mirna Ivonne Gaya Scandiffio |
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Affiliation: | 1. Interdisciplinary Center for Energy Planning—NIPE, State University of Campinas—UNICAMP, P.O. Box 6192, CEP 13083-970, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil;2. Alternative Energies and Environment Center—CENEA. Av. Dom Luis 500, Sala 1610, Bairro Meirelles, CEP 60160-230, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil;3. School of Agricultural Engineering—FEAGRI, State University of Campinas—UNICAMP, P.O. Box 6011, CEP 13083-970 Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil;4. Green Design Institute, Tepper School of Business/Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA, USA |
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Abstract: | Increasing use of petroleum, coupled with concern for global warming, demands the development and institution of CO2 reducing, non-fossil fuel-based alternative energy-generating strategies. Ethanol is a potential alternative, particularly when produced in a sustainable way as is envisioned for sugarcane in Brazil. We consider the expansion of sugarcane-derived ethanol to displace 5% of projected gasoline use worldwide in 2025. With existing technology, 21 million hectares of land will be required to produce the necessary ethanol. This is less than 7% of current Brazilian agricultural land and equivalent to current soybean land use. New production lands come from pasture made available through improving pasture management in the cattle industry. With the continued introduction of new cane varieties (annual yield increases of about 1.6%) and new ethanol production technologies, namely the hydrolysis of bagasse to sugars for ethanol production and sugarcane trash collection providing renewable process energy production, this could reduce these modest land requirements by 29–38%. |
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Keywords: | Fuel ethanol Brazilian potential Research and development New technologies Sugarcane |
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