Now, Brazil hopes to tap into a new biofuel source: second-generation ethanol, produced from the tough cellulose in plant stalks. Cellulose is difficult to break down and ferment, but several facilities in the United States are on the verge of making commercial cellulosic ethanol — for example, by using specialist enzymes to break down the long-chain cellulose molecules — and Brazil doesn’t want to be left behind.
In December last year, the Brazilian Development Bank launched a 1-billion-real (US$481-million) credit line to stimulate research and development in cellulosic biofuels and other advanced sugar-cane technologies. The Center for Sugarcane Technology, an industry-sponsored organization based in São Paulo, has taken up a 357-million-real loan to build a cellulosic ethanol plant next year, which would use waste plant matter from conventional sugar-cane fermentation. “We can double fuel yield per hectare when the technology is mature”, says Oswaldo Godoy, a project manager at the organization.
The Brazilian Agricultural Research Company (EMBRAPA) is also throwing its weight behind bioenergy. Its president, Maurício Lopes, a geneticist who took office in October, has promised to build up research on biomass technology and double EMBRAPA’s funding for that area, which today stands at a modest 24 million real per year. “I want to believe that the current state of the ethanol sector is a temporary blip,” he says. Lopes says that Brazil will be “unbeatable” once cellulosic technology matures. “No other country has the logistics we have in place, or the number of different species we can derive ethanol from.”
But cellulosic ethanol won’t be a quick fix, says Horta. “Nothing shall compete with conventional sugar-cane ethanol until 2050.”
This article is reproduced with permission from the magazine Nature. The article was first published on November 27, 2012.
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11 Comments
Add CommentWhy not use other plants...like duck weeds or algae. No farm land needed.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNone of them are economic or scalible. Algae still needs land and energy. Most companies attempting algae have given up on the technique due to economics.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCalifornia CARB fuel was close to zero ethanol in our fuel in 1992..
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this1992 fuel price about $1.40 per gallon.
Ethanol push from fed EPA and friends pushed ethanol to 5.6% and we paid more for our fuel.
Fed EPA and Big oil refiners pushed the oxygenate to 10% and we paid more.
Now BP GMO fuel is pushing for over $1.00 in corporate welfare with 15% of the fuel market while cutting back Oil and refining
Will BP GMO fuel patents generate credit trade income from the Big oil industry with the Queen Mother help.
The Queen banker friends may want a share.
So. how big does California ethanol bill need to be to qualify for the EPA waiver?
Can Mary Nichols and Governor Brown support a BP GMO fuel ethanol waiver? Motorcycle, Classic car, Lawn tool engines, Boat, & the beef just might like a choice of fuel ethanol opinion, a waiver. Can Governor Brown use the 10th amendment to support California Waiver.
Technology exists but is not available.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSee http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Firestorm_Spark_Plug for information regarding a new type of sparkplug that reduces emissions and increase fuel efficiency by approximately 40%.
Also, coal and oil are not "fossil" fuels. Russians have demonstrated deep crust hydrocarbon formation by planet earth.
It ain't what your don't know that bothers me. Its what you know for sure that just ain't so.
While you're at it, see www.thunderbolts.info for cosmology from the perspective of plasma physics rather than abstract mathematics.
Brings to mind the saying that nothing so advances science as the death of old scientists.
Another miracle spark plug? Yawn.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTrue, fossil fuels aren't made from "fossils" Unless youy mean coal). That doesn't mean they're getting any cheaper to pump out, or that we should burn them up.
Watching people from developed countries talk about fuel prices is very amusing for a Brazilian. You guys find $1,92 a gallon expensive. That's the price of ONE LITER of gasoline here in Brazil. lol.
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Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat the problem is, is greed. And by the ethanol producers. Their real price is well under $2/gal.
If their yields are down again it's because of greed by not maintaining their fields. Facts are they want to raise prices and have then complain when no one wants to buy.
Ethanol done right as Brazil use to do and the US still does is an excellent fuel bringing jobs and energy independence at prices below oil/btu while being cleaner.
And let's not forget oil, coal socialized subsidizes like protecting international oil companies for free, paying for the healthcare problems caused by them, there dostrction of land, water and air we pay to fix in our taxes.
$1.92/liter is about average at these oil prices, $85/bbl and not high taxes. anyone getting it much under that is being subsidized.
Ignotz should be named ignorant as that is what his posts are or he is a scammer because they are not true. If oil is regenerated then why do oil wells run dry? The sparkplug is a pure scam. Which is it Ignotz?
Charlie the price of ethanol has gone up because of the price of oil. But it also has kept oil price from rising faster by displacing 20% of US imports. Now add the jobs, economic boost from both and ethanol is a clear winner.
If you want to blame anything on food shortages it's oil costs and feeding cattle 10 lbs of grain to get 1 lb of FAT, not protein.
i don't care other than economics and like real facts, not made up ones, because I drive my EV's at 25% of the cost of driving a similar oil fueled version. I'd like 100% ethanol though for my rarely used unlimited range generator for long trips. But it's not availably or E-85 in Fla.
Bless us with a report on your farming experience. Zero? I thought so.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI grew up on a farm but this has nothing to do with farming, it's politics and bad capitalism.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisJust what has changed in the yrs when ethjanol was affordable and now?
Certainly the land hasn't unless it neglected, no? The making of ethanol has got 20-35% more eff, No?
Has sugar cane got more expensive to grow? It's got less expensive to harvest, No?
In the US corn prices have risen because of speculation but so has the price of ethanol byproducts like corn oil, DDG's/dried mash, etc. Since it's actually a better cattle or even human feed after the ethanol is made, little food value is lost from corn ethanol.
As I said, it's a political and greed problem.
Do you farm? I'd have to guess not from your post as most US farmer are very happy with ethanol. What expertise do you have to Judge this Carlyle? What is your bias?
Brazil can promote Biofuel from Agave which is a care-free growth plant. Mexico is already doing this.DEveloping countries can raise this plant in wastelands.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India
E-mail: anumakonda.jagadeesh@gmail.com
Fermenting biomass is a slow process. Better to pyrolyse biomass. That way food is preserved and only the agricultural residues are converted to 3rd generation biofuels. And this also sequesters CO2...and earns more money.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSee www.eprida.com