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Mechanisation, innovation and land limitation drive efficiency in ethanol from sugar cane.
The sun is weighing down upon the high plateaus of Goiás where the long, dry season has set in, and the sugar cane harvest – which stretches from April to November – is in full swing. But there isn’t a traditional cane cutter or a burning field in sight. Instead, large machines loom over the fields, sucking up the tall thick grass and spitting out pure cane.
This conversion of the harvest from mostly manual techniques to 100% mechanical impacts on much more than the scenery, by improving safety conditions for those who work on the harvest. It is also one of many efficiency improvements at Tropical BioEnergia – a joint venture involving the Brazilian companies Santelisa Vale and Maeda Group, and the international energy company BP – which have helped to lift yields of cane from 500,000 tonnes a year to over 2.4 million. And with the prospect of further innovations to improve efficiency – such as the use of GPS to enable more precise planting, harvesting and application of fertilizers – this production is expected to reach five million tonnes in the future. For the local community, this increased capacity means the creation of jobs demanding a more varied skill set, from managing the machines and the truck fleet, to overseeing the operations.
As the world’s largest exporter of ethanol from sugar cane, and with the second largest domestic market, it’s important for Brazil to ensure that good harvests are viable and sustainable far into the future. The Brazilian Government recently announced ‘Agrizones’ – areas where sugar cane production is to be limited, with a ban on plantations close to the Amazon and around the coast. Recognising the importance of preserving Brazil’s forests, and the sugar cane industry’s dependence on both the seasons of rain and drought, BP’s biofuels business is focusing on producing biofuels on degraded pastures that can be maintained through rain-fed irrigation. This may seem limiting, but even within these tight conditions, Brazil could increase its sugar cane planted area four-fold from the number of acres planted today.
BP is also looking at the lifecycle of the ethanol production process to help to minimise waste. For example, ethanol refineries often generate power from bagasse, the residue left behind when the sugar cane is crushed, and sell any excess to the grid. It is measures like this which mean that ethanol produced from sugar cane can reduce greenhouse gas emissions (when compared with conventional petrol) more than other biofuels made today.
The challenge, according to Philip New, CEO BP Biofuels, is “to bring together humanities’ two most important value chains – agriculture and energy”. Ethanol has been a major source of energy in Brazil since the 1970s, when the key driver was to overcome dependence on imported oil. Now, sustainable transport is the primary motivation. “Biofuels are the only viable solution for secure, scaleable and competitive low carbon energy for transport in the short to medium term,” says Mario Lindenhayn, President of BP Biofuels in Brazil. “That is not to say that electric cars will not play a role in the future, but to get the material reduction of GHG emissions, we think that biofuels are the best option. And they are a reality today.”
Flexibility will be the key to keeping ahead of the game. Already, BP is looking beyond ethanol to more efficient biofuels, such as biobutanol, which has properties closer to petrol than ethanol and can also be produced from sugar cane, and cellulosic ethanol, which can be made by using the entire plant, including non-edible wastes.
Today, over 90% of the cars produced in Brazil are ‘flex fuel’ – able to run on any combination of ethanol and petrol – and they are expected to represent 75% of the total fleet by 2020. Honda has already introduced the first flex fuel motorbike, and there are hopes to convert agricultural equipment, now powered by diesel, to biofuels in the future. The combination of even more efficient flex fuel vehicles with advanced biofuels will help to drive a lower-carbon future for transport in Brazil and worldwide.