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Sugarcane can afford a cleaner energy profile in Latin America & Caribbean
Abstract
Latin American and Caribbean's (LAC) external dependency on fossil fuels and the pursuit for renewable energy leads to the need for a strategy to afford a cleaner and reliable domestic energy supply. Sugarcane presents high photosynthetic efficiency and it is a well-spread crop in LAC. Our study aims to explore the potential of different approaches of modern energy production from sugarcane, at a national level, and its implication to the environmental aspects. We found that Guatemala, Nicaragua and Cuba would be able to replace 10% of the gasoline and about 2–3% of the diesel consumption by only using the current molasses. With a slight expansion on sugarcane production, Bolivia can replace 20% of the gasoline and diesel, besides providing surplus ethanol for exportation or other purposes. With a minor investment, bagasse may enlarge the electricity access in many countries whereas in other may represent an alternative to replace fossil fuel sources. We also found relevant potential on reducing the GHG emissions specially in Bolivia, Paraguay and Nicaragua. However, the implementation of such strategies must be supported by appropriate policies to ensure competitive prices, overcome opportunity costs, and stimulate investments.
... Second, sugarcane expansion into the Cerrado region is part of the Brazilian National Policy on Climate Change aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from 36.1% to 38.9% by 2020 and beyond [9]. Using sugarcane for bioenergy production can help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meet energy security needs [10]. Third, this region, more specifically the states of Goi as (GO) and Mato Grosso do Sul (MS), have well-established grain and livestock supply chains, which rely on more traditional production systems that will have to compete for land and other resources with the expansion of the biofuel industry. ...
... To capture the substitutability between contracts and how changes in attributes affect the probability of choosing a contract, direct and cross elasticities were estimated 10 . Such cross effects have not been widely examined in the literature and are a useful contribution in comparing contracts [56,57]. ...
... In the land rental contract, WTP is found by dividing the coefficient of the In summary, in the land rental contract, willingness to pay is expressed in terms of percentage of the land value the farmer or landowner is willing to forgo per year for that attribute. In the supply and agricultural partnership contracts, willingness to pay is expressed in units of TRS the farmer or landowner is willing to give 10 This estimation does not implicitly assume proportional substitution patterns among the choices. up for more or less of an attribute. ...
Biofuel expansion may entail elaborate contractual relationships between processors and farmers. Past studies have been limited to explaining choices between single contracts or standard land fixed rental versus crop share contracts. Little is known about how changes in contract attributes affect the probability of farmers' switching between contracts, if given the choice. Contract choice in turn, has implications for biofuel market structure and farmer welfare. Sugarcane expansion into the Brazilian Cerrado provides an optimal setting to investigate farmers’ willingness to enter into contractual arrangements with biofuel processors. The study design involves a hypothetical stated choice experiment conducted with farmers and landowners in the Cerrado. Respondents choose between three contract types (land rental, agricultural partnership, and supply) or to opt-out. A novel two-opt opt model was applied to better model the opt out decision. Data is analyzed using a random parameter mixed logit model. Willingness to pay for contract attributes highlight farmer preference for shorter contracts with higher revenues. Direct and cross-attribute elasticities results provide unique insight into how market competition and farmer welfare can be affected by the substitution between contract options. They show a larger probability of substitution from more autonomous (e.g. supply) to less autonomous (e.g. land rental) contracts. Farmer contract preferences can motivate vertical integration in the emerging biofuel market, potentially resulting in consequences for farmer welfare and long-run sustainability of biofuel production. Our findings provide guidance for countries seeking to expand biofuel production in areas with enrooted agricultural production systems.
... Transport shortage resulting from this situation significantly impacted the economic development and the quality of life in Cuba. (Pereira et al., 2018) pointed out that the use of bioethanol, supported by the production of molasses (based on a sugarcane yield of 35 t/ha, lower than the current average of 44.3 t/ha (Sagastume et al., 2018a)), could replace 10% of the gasoline and 2 to 3% of the diesel used in transport. ...
... Pure bioethanol can also be used in specially designed vehicles. Moreover, the use of bioethanol-diesel (ED) blends has also been investigated: up to 5% of bioethanol can be added as an ignition improver in diesel engines (Pereira et al., 2018). In general, before the use of higher bioethanol concentrations in ED blends can become widespread, the problems of miscibility, causing separation of the mixture, and of increased NOx emissions need to be addressed (Belgiorno et al., 2018;Jamrozik, 2017). ...
... Worldwide, sugarcane that accounts for 80% of the global sugar production, is the largest crop by production quantity (Santos et al., 2015), which is mainly because of its higher agricultural yield as compared to other crops (see Table 2). Because of its higher yield, sugarcane is also considered a significant source of renewable energy (Pereira et al., 2018). In Cuba, sugarcane currently yields an average of 44.3 t/ha (Oficina Nacional de Estadística, 2017). ...
Cuba currently faces a limited availability of transportation to support the development needs of the country. Transport availability is mostly limited because of fuel shortage. Moreover, Cuba has an important production of sugarcane, with a significant potential to further increase its production. Using sugarcane-based bioethanol is a significant opportunity for sugarcane producer countries. There are different raw materials available in the sugar industry to produce bioethanol. Therefore, there are different scenarios to increase the production of sugarcane and energy cane, to increase bioethanol production. In this study, two scenarios of sugarcane and energy cane production were considered, from which there are eight possible scenarios of bioethanol production. These bioethanol production scenarios were matched with three transport scenarios, including a business-as-usual scenario, a scenario considering the use of bioethanol blends in standard gasoline and diesel engines, and the and introduction of vehicles running on high ethanol blends or pure bioethanol (i.e flexible fuel vehicles, and ethanol buses and trucks). In total, the production of sugarcane-based bioethanol might support from 4 to 58% of the yearly demand for transport energy in the transport scenarios. Additionally, the use of bioethanol as a transport fuel can potentially reduce transport-related greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 3–30%.
... Sugarcane, known for its high yields, is processed using modern technology, presents interesting potential for bioenergy production and has undergone several modifications throughout history (Pereira et al., 2018). Sugarcane is a species of the grass family and a semi-evergreen. ...
... The GHG emission factors adopted in this report come from life cycle analysis studies developed in the Latin American and Caribbean region -specifically, from the tropical and subtropical countries (such as Cuba, Colombia, Mexico and Brazil), which have similar edaphoclimatic characteristics. The life cycle analyses of (Cortez et al., 2018;García et al., 2011;Julio et al., 2022;Pereira et al., 2018) yielded average emission factors of, respectively, 0.5 tCO 2 eq/m 3 and 0.61 tCO 2 eq/m 3 for sugarcane ethanol and palm biodiesel. On the other hand, studies by (Carvalho et al., 2019;Lorenzo Llanes et al., 2019;Ocampo Batlle et al., 2020) analysed carbon emission due to electricity production from the combustion of biomass from sugarcane (bagasse and straw), palm (fibre, shell and EFB), biogas and MSW, and obtained average factors of, respectively, 0.23, 0.19, 5.41 and 1.50 kgCO 2 eq/kWh. ...
This report provides a preliminary assessment of the bioenergy potential of six small island developing states (SIDS) in the Caribbean: Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Guyana. These countries comprise about 94% of the region’s area and 93% of its population.
Three raw materials for the production of liquid biofuels (ethanol and biodiesel), and bioelectricity were considered:
• sugarcane, a well-known, high-yield crop developed across the region since the colonial period; • oil palm, prevalent in only Cuba and the Dominican Republic; and
• municipal solid waste in all six countries.
Across the six countries assessed, the land area that could be devoted to sustainable bioenergy crop production (considering legal restrictions and environmental guidelines) was estimated at 2.15 million hectares in 2019. Most of this was in three countries – Cuba (68.7%), the Dominican Republic (12.8%) and Haiti (12%) – and represents a fraction of each country’s land area (14.2% in Cuba, 5.7% in the Dominican Republic and 9.3% in Haiti). For the evaluation of bioenergy production potential in the countries considered in this study, just a share of this potential land was adopted.
The potential annual production of sugarcane and oil palm – as well as their conversion into biofuels (ethanol and biodiesel) and bioelectricity – was evaluated assuming average yields in four technological scenarios, in addition to land use. For ethanol, considering the current availability of molasses (distilleries attached to mills), total ethanol production in the islands studied was estimated at 303 million litres, of which Cuba contributes 67.4% and the Dominican Republic 19.4%. When considering an expansion of sugarcane-cultivated areas and a state-of-the-art conversion process in an improved scenario (autonomous distilleries, improved sugarcane production), total potential ethanol production increases to 13.9 billion litres, of which 64.9% is from Cuba and 16.5% from Haiti. Biodiesel from palm oil was estimated at between 843 and 1 386 million litres; however, it is important to note that such preliminary estimates have uncertainties linked to water limitations and soil quality, among other factors, which could result in considerable reductions in the potentials estimated in this report. These levels of biofuel production, with the exceptions of Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, largely exceed the domestic demand for fossil fuel in the countries considered.
Bioelectricity generation was evaluated considering cogeneration schemes, in the case of sugarcane and oil palm, and the use of municipal solid waste (MSW) as a source of biomass for biopower generation. Thermal plants burning sugarcane bagasse and straw, along with the use of palm oil’s solid residue and biogas from the anaerobic treatment of the liquid waste of palm oil extraction, can generate about 20.6 terawatt hours (TWh) and 2.4 TWh of power, much of it in Cuba and the Dominican Republic. The availability of MSW depends on population density as well as factors such as waste composition and collection processes. In this study, it was estimated that biogas from the anaerobic conversion of MSW in sanitary landfills and the direct burning of fuel from MSW could generate 791 and 1 860 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity a year, respectively.
Deploying modern, sustainable systems for the generation and utilisation of biofuel (and biopower) in selected SIDS could mitigate greenhouse gas emissions while offering significant socio-economic benefits, including:
a. A reduction in emissions ranging from 0.71 to 25.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2eq) per year, about 56% of which is due to sugarcane-based bioethanol.
b.The creation of between 5 000 and 306 000 jobs.
c. Competitive liquid biofuel costs ranging from USD 0.43 to USD 0.41 per litre for ethanol and USD 0.50 to USD 0.45 per litre for biodiesel.
To realise the total capacity estimated in the higher potential scenario proposed for developing biofuels production systems in SIDS countries over a 10-year period, an annual investment equivalent to about 3% of the Gross Capital Formation observed in those countries is needed.
... The platform chemical concept is similar to the fossil refineries that operate from a key set of common feedstocks (Section 2.1). This flexibility can ensure adaptation to market conditions, demands, and seasonality in feedstock availability, as consolidated with sugarcane biorefineries in Brazil that continuously adjust the shares of their alternative products (i.e., sugar, bioethanol, electricity, etc.) (Souza et al., 2018). ...
The chemical sector is the fourth largest industry in the European Union (EU) and the second largest chemical producer globally. However, its global share in chemicals sales has declined from 25% two decades ago to around 14% now. The sector, which accounts for 22% of the EU industry's energy demands, faces significant challenges in mitigating climate change, reducing pollution and toxicity, and improving circularity. Biomass, a promising renewable feedstock, currently represents only 3% of the sector's feedstocks. This review explores the opportunities and challenges for a bio‐based chemical sector in the EU, particularly plastics, to improve circularity and contribute to climate neutrality, reduction of pollution and toxicity. It provides an overview of current fossil‐based feedstocks, production processes, country‐specific trends, bio‐based production, and sustainability initiatives. Exploring new feedstocks such as lignin, organic residues, and algae can increase biomass availability toward a circular bioeconomy. Integrating chemicals and plastics production into commercial pulp and power factories, biofuel plants, and the sustainable hydrogen economy could boost the sector. Hydrogen is crucial for reducing biomass's oxygen content. These can ultimately contribute to reduce climate change impacts. Designing novel chemicals and plastics to accommodate biomass's higher oxygen content, reduce toxicity, and enhance biodegradability is essential. However, plastic waste mismanagement cannot be solved by merely replacing fossil feedstocks with biomass. Sustainability initiatives can strengthen and develop a circular bio‐based chemical sector, but better management of bio‐based plastic waste and transparent labeling of bio‐based products are needed. This calls for collaborative efforts among citizens, academia, policymakers, and industry.
This article is categorized under: Climate and Environment > Circular Economy
Climate and Environment > Net Zero Planning and Decarbonization
Emerging Technologies > Materials
... In this context, energy poverty is referred to as a situation in which individuals or households are unable to meet the desired needs at an affordable cost and , where energy poverty includes inadequate, affordable, and safe energy services, resulting in social injustice (Tiep et al., 2021). Hence, energy poverty is equally referred to as "fuel poverty", whereas (Souza et al., 2018) explain fuel poverty as low energy affordability and is defined as a broad term comprising problems connected with energy accessibility. Similarly, energy poverty is also associated with increasing energy prices, integrated with low earnings and the inefficiency of buildings and gadgets (H. and (L. . ...
This paper estimates the association of financial development with energy poverty in Latin America through the entropy method, the Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and an econometric analysis. Energy poverty scores of Latin American countries are less than unitary, making up for 17.54 percent, which implies that 17.45 percent of the residents did not attain the efficiency frontier of adequate energy consumption. Within all quantiles, the results elucidate that increases in energy poverty are attributed to low levels of financial development. The study provides policy recommendations for energy poverty alleviation through financial development.
... In recent years, in the face of the enormous pressure brought by the energy crisis, financial crisis and climate crisis to human society, the new energy with the characteristics of environmental protection and renewable energy has attracted worldwide attention. The new energy has developed unconventionally in the global scope, the investment of various countries in new energy has increased significantly, and the green industry and life modes have been continuously advocated [1]. ...
As a new multilevel converter structure, modular multilevel converter (MMC) has many outstanding advantages, such as high degree of modularization and easy cascade expansion, which greatly promotes the development and application of flexible DC transmission technology. In this paper, the modular multilevel inverter is the main research object, its topology and multilevel generation mechanism are analysed, and the capacitor voltage of sub modules is balanced based on the carrier phase shifted PWM strategy. The MMC simulation model is built on the MATLAB/Simulink software platform. According to the simulation results, the feasibility of the modulation and control strategy in reducing the harmonic component of output voltage and maintaining the stability of capacitor voltage is verified.
... The use of ethanol as reactant is also justified because it has its production consolidated in Brazil, where the sugar cane products represent 16% of the REGET, Santa Maria, v. 24, Ed. Especial, e12, p. 1-19, 2020 national energy supply, with a production of 750 million tons of sugar cane per year (SOUZA et al., 2018). ...
Biodiesel can be produced through the transesterification reaction of a short-chain alcohol with a triacylglycerol, that can be obtained from vegetable oils or animal fats, in the presence of a catalyst. The use of ethanol as reactant is justified since its production is consolidated in Brazil. Among the heterogeneous catalysts, CaO shows potential in the transesterification reactions because it has a low cost, can be reused and is not corrosive. The recycling of frying oil for the production of biodiesel represents an alternative for the disposal of a waste and does not compete with the food industry. The residual oil and CaO were subjected to a pre-treatment before the transesterification reactions. A Box-Behnken experimental design was applied with 3 factors: temperature, ethanol:oil molar ratio and reaction time. The reactions were carried out in a batch reactor, in which oil, ethanol and the catalyst were added. The samples were vacuum filtered and conducted to a rotary evaporator, in order to remove excess ethanol. The resulting mixture was centrifuged and, subsequently, a sample was collected from the supernatant phase. The yield was determined by a mass balance based in the concentrations of acylglycerols, that were determined through an HPLC-UV methodology. A second-order linear regression model was built and validated through statistic tests with a 5% significance level. The optimized operational parameters are 15:1 ethanol:oil molar ratio, 81.2 ºC e 6 h of reaction. From the obtained results it can be inferred that it is feasible to use residual frying oil as raw material, ethanol as reactant and CaO as catalyst for the production of biodiesel.
... The favorable conditions in LAC and SSA for promoting sugarcane bioenergy, such as appropriate climate and land availability, associated with the need for economic development and the existence of local expertise in this agroindustry, justify and reinforce this potential, which has been identified and assessed by several independent studies during recent decades (e.g., [142][143][144][145][146][147][148][149][150][151]). Modern sugarcane breeding programs and world-class mills can be found in these regions, presenting high yields and processing efficiencies. ...
Bioenergy is an important and feasible option for mitigating global warming and climate change. However, large-scale land-use change (LUC) to expand bioenergy crops, such as sugarcane, raises concerns about the potential negative environmental and socioeconomic side effects. Such effects are context-specific, and depending on the LUC scenario and management practices, several co-benefits can be attained. We reviewed the literature and discussed how LUC and best management practices affect key components of sustainability (e.g., soil health, soil carbon (C) sequestration, greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) emissions, nutrient cycling, water quality, among others) of sugarcane-derived bioenergy production in Brazil. Sugarcane expansion has occurred predominantly over pasture areas, although converting croplands could be also an environmentally feasible option. The land transition from low-productivity pastures to sugarcane cultivation seems to be a sustainable pathway to increase bioenergy production. This LUC scenario enhances soil health and soil C sequestration over time, although soil compaction, biodiversity loss, and erosion are still challenging. Besides, adopting best management practices, such as conservation tillage, sustainable crop residue management, rational fertilization, and recycling by-products, has been fundamental to ensuring sustainable bioenergy production. Public policies and well-designed legal frameworks and regulations, such as the Forest Code and the RenovaBio legislations in Brazil, are necessary to make bioenergy production compatible with rational land use and protection. Lastly, our analysis provided insights into sugarcane expansion over a small proportion (1%) of pasture areas in Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) and sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, which may result in a substantial impact on global bioenergy supply. We concluded that sugarcane-derived bioenergy is a sustainable option to tackle climate change while provisioning other key ecosystem services and promoting socioeconomic development.
... Saccharum spp. is a grass of Asian origin that is known for its sucrose storage capacity in the stalks [34,35], and is considered a robust crop with efficient biomass production and great potential for bioenergy production [36]. Brazil has the largest production in the world, estimated at 35.3 million tons of sugar and 29.3 billion liters of ethanol in the 2019/2020 harvest, followed by India, China, and other countries [37]. ...
Climate change not only worries government representatives and organizations, but also attracts the attention of the scientific community in different contexts. In agriculture specifically, the cultivation and productivity of crops such as sugarcane, maize, and sorghum are influenced by several environmental factors. The effects of high atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide ([CO2]) have been the subject of research investigating the growth and development of C4 plants. Therefore, this brief review presents some of the physiological and genetic changes in economically important C4 plants following exposure periods of increased [CO2] levels. In the short term, with high [CO2], C4 plants change photosynthetic metabolism and carbohydrate production. The photosynthetic apparatus is initially improved, and some responses, such as stomatal conductance and transpiration rate, are normally maintained throughout the exposure. Protein-encoding genes related to photosynthesis, such as the enzyme phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase, to sucrose accumulation and to biomass growth and are differentially regulated by [CO2] increase and can variably participate owing to the C4 species and/or other internal and external factors interfering in plant development. Despite the consensus among some studies, mainly on physiological changes, further studies are still necessary to identify the molecular mechanisms modulated under this condition. In addition, considering future scenarios, the combined effects of high environmental and [CO2] stresses need to be investigated so that the responses of maize, sugarcane, and sorghum are better understood.
... Different studies can be found in the literature that address subjects related to the development of cogeneration projects at the regional level for Latin America. For example, Jacobs et al. (Jacobs et al., 2013) present an analysis of the existing renewable energy incentives in Latin America with focus on feed-in tariffs, Santamaria et al. (Santamaria et al., 2014, 2016 compare the regulation related to distributed generation along most Latin American countries, Souza et al. (Souza et al., 2018) discuss the prospects of creating a cleaner energy scenario through the region by expanding the production of sugarcane, and Meneses-Jacome et al. (Meneses-J� acome et al., 2016) review the efforts associated with the production of biogas for energy recovery from wastewaters. Despite all these works discuss important aspects associated to the development of cogeneration projects for the region, there is no study that compares the feasibility of implementing cogeneration across the different Latin American countries, and in particular, that addresses the influence of the incentives in place to promote natural gas-based cogeneration projects. ...
An analysis to assess the influence of country-dependent variables and incentives on the feasibility of natural gas cogeneration projects in Latin America is presented in this work. The analysis is performed using a hypothetical industrial plant, where the cogeneration solution consists in the recovery of waste heat from the power generation for steam production. The feasibility is evaluated by calculating the Return of Investment (ROI) and the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of the project. Eight Latin American countries are studied considering their specific natural gas markets, regulation, and macroeconomic variables. Two scenarios, electricity production for self-consumption and electricity production with power surplus sale, are independently analyzed considering the effects of available incentives. In the countries where the project is feasible, the application of incentives leads to a significant reduction in the ROI and, consequently, to an increment in the IRR. The effect of the interest rate and environmental impact were also analyzed. In general terms, along the region, the regulation for cogeneration is incipient while incentives are very standard and similar respect to lowering of import, Value-Added Tax (VAT), and income taxes, which seems to be designed purely to promote capital investment. Following the results from this study, it is of paramount importance to create new policy instruments in the future to advance the regulatory framework for cogeneration in Latin America.
... In Eq. (5), t is year, which is ≥2018, NW b2018 (t) is net value of biodiesel in TL in year t based on average diesel price at the end of 2018, P d (2018), B yfcl (t) is explained in Eq. (4), EC d is energy content of diesel in MJ/L, which is assumed as 35.8 MJ/L (Seljak et al., 2012;Souza et al., 2018), EC b is energy content of biodiesel in MJ/L, which is assumed as 33.0 MJ/L (Harahap et al., 2019;Lin et al., 2013), P d (t) is average price of diesel in TL in year (t), and ε t is a ''random'' error term. The price of diesel in Turkey fluctuates very often and long-term price forecasting (between 2018 and 2030) is almost impossible. ...
Many believe that Turkey is a water rich country but in reality it is a water-stressed country. Yet, majority of fresh water resources in Turkey is being polluted via uncontrolled discharge of sunflower oil consumption wastes into drains. This major problem has long been overlooked by the authorities and public. As a result, this study is intended to show the colossal water pollution potential of this problem and also provide a solution via estimating the feasibility of biodiesel production from sunflower oil consumption wastes till 2030. In this study, semi-empirical models are generated based on fundamental chemical engineering material balance principles and using well respected OECD, FAO and national food waste generation forecasts. Three scenarios are adopted to show low (2.0%), business as usual (4.0%) and high demand growth (6.0%) in sunflower oil consumption per capita per annum. It is estimated that in 2030 Turkey’s sunflower oil consumption, associated waste generation and biodiesel production potentials can reach up to 2.610 million tonnes, 275,000 tonnes, and 0.310 million m³, respectively. More importantly it has been found that Turkey’s sunflower oil consumption wastes can pollute up to 7.4 billion m3 of fresh water in 2030, which is more than water utilisation by all municipalities in Turkey in 2016 (nearly 5.8 billion m³). As a result, this study clearly showed that there is a vast potential for water pollution prevention and economic return generation via biodiesel production from sunflower oil consumption wastes in Turkey.
... The use of ethanol is considered in blends with gasoline and, in African countries, also as cooking fuel. Details of methodology are available in [5,55]. Table 2 presents the sugarcane production in 2015 and potential production of sugarcane using a relatively small fraction of the national land in selected Latin American and Southern African countries. ...
Bioenergy is critical to combat climate change, an ominous threat to life on earth as we know it. The strong political appeal of measures to combat climate change provides a unique opportunity for realizing the potential of sustainable bioenergy in Latin America, Caribbean and Africa via production, consumption and free international trade. This paper focuses on the development prospects of sustainable biofuels markets in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa - LACAf, regions with large potential to become global suppliers of biofuels, where 500–900 million hectares of land are available for bioenergy production while simultaneously enhancing food security and biodiversity. Biofuels markets are evolving fast and at rates higher than conventional fossil fuels. Currently, bioethanol and biodiesel provide about 3% of the world’s transportation fuels. In the most promising scenario, most of Latin American countries could implement at least E10. In Africa, ethanol could displace at least 15% of gasoline consumption. Life cycle analysis (LCA) is the method of choice used for sustainability certification. A Biofuture Platform was created to serve as a political and policy forum.
... Para analisar qual matéria-prima é preferível, além da disponibilidade do produto deve ser levado em conta o balanço energético, pois como qualquer recurso energético, a produção do etanol consome energia 21 . Na América Latina e Caribe esse balanço é muito positivo já que a cana de açúcar tem uma alta eficiência de fotossíntese e é uma cultura de fácil disseminação nas condições climáticas da região 22 . Mas tem o potencial de ser ainda mais eficiente, sustentável e constante se usados métodos mais tecnológicos e forem aproveitados materiais que hoje são resíduos 23 . ...
Resumo O fomento à produção, comercialização, distribuição e uso do etanol tem o potencial de contribuir para que o Brasil alcance o objetivo a que se comprometeu internacionalmente. Este capítulo detalha as características desse biocombustível, dos relativos compromissos internacionais assumidos com a Agenda 2003 e as características de logística que marcam o mercado brasileiro. A conclusão é que são positivas as intervenções no domínio econômico, principalmente na área portuária, para com isso aumentar a capacidade de o país atingir os Objetivos de Desenvolvimento Sustentável. Abstract The promotion of the production, commercialization, distribution, transportation and use of sugarcane ethanol has the potential to contribute to Brazil's achievement of its international commitments. This chapter details the characteristics of this biofuel, the international commitments assumed with Agenda 2003 and the logistic of the Brazilian market. The conclusion is that the legal interventions in the economic domain, mainly relating to ports, are positive, in order to increase the capacity of the country to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Changing energy sources in electricity generation from fossil fuels to green sources is a necessity for achieving global development goals. Agricultural residues are an energy source with great potential worldwide, especially sugarcane and rice residues. At the present, technical–economic studies of electricity generation with biomass limit their field of action to generating systems and perform basic analyses of their impact on electricity power systems (EPS). The present work proposes to implement a procedure that expands these limits with the use of methods such as Contractual Path, Quadratic Cost Functions and Newton’s Fast Uncoupled in calculations of electrical losses, increases in initial investment costs, transmission costs and generation costs. The technical–economic indicators of the current EPS under study without and with the biomass power plants proposed by previous studies are compared, knowing that the introduction of these generators increases the installed capacity from 82.6 MW to 122.1 MW. A reduction of 0.72% in active power losses, 13.2% in transmission costs, 6 USD cents/kWh in generation costs and an increase of 34.41 USD/kW in initial investment costs to adequate the EPS under study (Connecting a power transformer and increasing the capacity of an overhead line) to the increase in generation are reported. Benefits of including biomass in the energy transition from a fossil fuel dependent generation matrix (95%) to a mixed one (51%) are demonstrated. These results demonstrate the ability of the procedure to effectively assess the impact of biomass power plant connection on EPSs.
Introducción:
La escasez de combustibles fósiles implica la búsqueda de nuevas fuentes de energía para sustituir al petróleo. El bagazo generado a partir de la caña de azúcar contiene residuos lignocelulósicos del cual se puede obtener bioetanol carburante mediante hidrolisis enzimática.
Objetivo:
El objetivo de este trabajo es diseñar el proceso de obtención de bioetanol carburante mediante hidrolisis enzimática del bagazo de caña de azúcar en el software SuperPro Designer.
Materiales y Métodos:
Se utilizó un procedimiento secuencial el cual abarca todos los aspectos que se deben considerar para el diseño óptimo de una planta industrial. Se empleó el programa SuperPro Designer V. 10.0 para el diseño y simulación del proceso. Se definió el modo de operación continuo (Operación anual de 7 920 horas, 24 horas en 330 días).
Resultados y Discusión:
Las cantidades de bagazo de caña con los indicadores económicos más rentables son de 72 t, 90 t, 108 t, 126 t y 144 t de bagazo de caña y una tasa de retorno interna entre de 9.14% para 72 t hasta 31.33% en 144 t de bagazo. Las cantidades inferiores a 54 t de bagazo de caña reportan un valor actual neto negativo. Por lo tanto, estas cantidades no son procesos rentables.
Conclusiones:
Los indicadores económicos con mayor rentabilidad se encuentran en el rango 64 t hasta 144 t de bagazo de caña.
Introducción:
La escasez de combustibles fósiles implica la búsqueda de nuevas fuentes de energía para sustituir al petróleo. El bagazo generado a partir de la caña de azúcar contiene residuos lignocelulósicos del cual se puede obtener bioetanol carburante mediante hidrolisis enzimática.
Objetivo:
El objetivo de este trabajo es diseñar el proceso de obtención de bioetanol carburante mediante hidrolisis enzimática del bagazo de caña de azúcar en el software SuperPro Designer.
Materiales y Métodos:
Se utilizó un procedimiento secuencial el cual abarca todos los aspectos que se deben considerar para el diseño óptimo de una planta industrial. Se empleó el programa SuperPro Designer V. 10.0 para el diseño y simulación del proceso. Se definió el modo de operación continuo (Operación anual de 7 920 horas, 24 horas en 330 días).
Resultados y Discusión:
Las cantidades de bagazo de caña con los indicadores económicos más rentables son de 72 t, 90 t, 108 t, 126 t y 144 t de bagazo de caña y una tasa de retorno interna entre de 9.14% para 72 t hasta 31.33% en 144 t de bagazo. Las cantidades inferiores a 54 t de bagazo de caña reportan un valor actual neto negativo. Por lo tanto, estas cantidades no son procesos rentables.
Conclusiones:
Los indicadores económicos con mayor rentabilidad se encuentran en el rango 64 t hasta 144 t de bagazo de caña.
In the present scenario, the energy crisis and its demand have become the global problems that restrict the sustainable development. To overcome this problem, one needs to develop an advanced technological system which not only improves the system performance but also reduces the environmental effects. Several technologies have been established among which cogeneration appeared to be the most lucrative option. India, one of the leading producers of sugarcane, has enough cogeneration capacity in sugar mills. From the previous research articles, energy analysis explores several components which account for the significant loss of energy in a cogeneration power plant but the analysis based on the second law depicts that maximum exergy destruction occurred in a boiler. Hence, to enhance the overall performance of the plant, we need to improve boiler performance. In the present study, the energy and exergy analyses of a sugarcane bagasse boiler are carried out, and it has been seen that the energy efficiency of the boiler is high enough (81.78%). However, the second law efficiency is 25.08%, the irreversibility rate associated with the combustion chamber is 50.06 MW is a significant value which shows that 45.56% of the input fuel exergy is destroyed in the combustion chamber only. The irreversibilities associated with the heat exchangers are also significant which has been investigated as 17.23% of the input exergy of the fuel. This shows that the combustion chamber and heat exchangers both have enough scope of improvement.
No âmbito das discussões sobre a questão energética, aprofundada pelo cenário internacional de incertezas relacionadas aos combustíveis fósseis, como sua possível escassez, surgem pesquisas e estudos técnicos, econômicos e de impactos ambientais voltados para o desenvolvimento de alternativas na produção de energia. A biomassa surge como uma opção viável, a qual pode ser convertida em eletricidade, biocombustível, carvão vegetal e produtos químicos. Neste sentido, o uso da biomassa de cana-de-açúcar na matriz energética brasileira, considerando sua ampla disponibilidade, auxilia na substituição dos combustíveis fósseis. A produção de biogás, através do processo de digestão anaeróbia, pode ser uma alternativa para o uso da cana-de-açúcar. O presente estudo busca, portanto, quantificar a produção de biogás a partir da cana-de-açúcar. Para a realização do experimento foram utilizados digestores produzidos com frascos contendo um volume total de 1,2 dm³. Como principal resultado, considerando-se a média da triplicata estudada, pôde-se alcançar uma produção de, aproximadamente, 1,83 dm3 de biogás com desvio padrão de 0,24 em um período de 168 horas, resultando em uma produção média de, aproximadamente, 0,01 dm3 de biogás por hora.
The increase in the cultivation of sugarcane for energy purposes has raised awareness regarding the possibilities of mitigating the associated environmental impacts. This study applies the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology to quantify and compare the environmental impacts associated with the use of commercial chemical fertilization and industrial biosolids in the production of sugarcane. LCA was developed with the SimaPro® software, utilizing the Ecoinvent and Agri-footprint databases. The environmental impact assessment methods employed were the IPCC 2013 GWP 100y and Eco-indicator 99. An experiment was devised at an experimental farm located in Northeast Brazil, considering 1 ha cultivated with sugarcane. For commercial chemical fertilization, local management practices were followed. The biosolid was applied in the exact dosage recommended by Brazilian regulation, “biosolid 1x”. This amount was then multiplied by two, four, and eight, totalling four scenarios. The environmental loads generated in the cultivation of sugarcane decreased with the application of “biosolid 1x”. All biosolid dosages tested reached higher production values than commercial chemical fertilization. The application of biosolid as a fertilizer contributed to addressing the issue of its correct disposal and is a promising alternative for the development of more sustainable and productive energy systems.
The sugar industry is the second largest agro-industry in the world, with more than 80% of sugar produced from sugarcane and 97% of it planted in the developing countries. The production of biofuels from sugarcane usually defaults to bioethanol. However, several alternative biofuels may be produced from sugarcane, which may offer improved market access, especially for syn-fuels, n-butanol, and jet fuels. Research and development studies along with commercial strategies are underway to expand the production of biofuel from sugarcane. In this chapter, South Africa, Guatemala, the Philippines, Argentina, Vietnam, Cuba, and Sri Lanka (with summed of ~9% of global sugarcane production) are focused. Recent trends on sugarcane production and biofuel conversion and cogeneration of electricity perspectives in these countries are studied. In addition, barriers and challenges for the development of biofuel strategies are discussed in detail. The aim of this chapter is to provide an insight on the current status and future projection of biofuel from sugarcane in the abovementioned countries.
This paper analyzes the long-term and short-term effects of oil prices on ethanol, gasoline, and sugar price forecasts. With the help of a vector error correction with exogenous variable (VECX) model, and using the forecast of oil prices as an exogenous variable, we obtained simultaneous forecasts for ethanol, gasoline, and sugar prices. Due to the lack of a robust methodology for forecasting oil prices, we forecasted three scenarios that took the historical behavior of oil prices into account, and a fourth scenario that took into account the prediction of a prominent agency that specializes in forecasting commodity prices. The forecast period was from January 2019 to December 2022. The results indicate that: (i) there are long-term effects of the oil price forecast on the forecasts of the other three prices; (ii) in the short term, the ethanol and gasoline price forecasts were more sensitive to changes in future oil prices than the sugar price forecast; and (iii) the future volatility of the price of sugar is less than the future volatility of the other two prices. These results can assist agents in the sugarcane and energy sectors when making strategic decisions.
Brazil is the second largest producer of ethanol in the world and it has the most competitive raw material: the sugarcane. Even though this industry has undergone great productivity gains, it still offers promising innovation opportunities. Some of these opportunities include second-generation ethanol, biogas and biochemicals. Seeking to address the main difficulties faced by the Brazilian sugar-energy sector in terms of innovation, the objective of this work is to analyze the innovation opportunities in the Brazilian sugar-energy sector, as well as their main drivers and inhibitors, from the Innovation System Agents (ISA) perspective according to the Sectoral System of Innovation (SSI) approach. Therefore, 17 experts were interviewed, and an analytical framework was developed to analyze the innovation opportunities. It was verified that the difficulties to innovate occur due to inhibitors present along all dimensions of the sectoral system. To solve this, the creation of an ecosystem with players from other sectoral systems was suggested.
The South African sugar sector is making important contributions to the national economy in terms of income, employment, land reform and rural development. With fluctuating world market prices for sugar and sharp price increases for electricity the sector is facing several challenges. There is a recognised need to switch to more low carbon and renewable energy carriers and sugarcane residues are becoming of increasing interest. This paper presents exploratory research on community energy demand of integrating bioenergy from sugarcane residues into the sugar value chain. These have been identified during farm visits and stakeholder meetings in Nkomazi, District of Mpumalanga, South Africa. From these, four potential bioenergy integration pathways were highlighted and evaluated. While the pathway with centralised bioenergy generation can provide benefits to the national energy supply, local community-scale bioenergy integration can directly target the development and empowerment of communities and improve their energy security. Assessing the pathways identify that it is necessary to consider carefully: (1) what are the desired outcomes of integrating bioenergy, (2) what are the trade-offs between different sustainability aspects, and (3) who will receive the benefits. This shows the importance of considering context specific and wider socio-economic aspect to identify possible benefits and challenges.
The consolidation of second generation ethanol will provide a greater amount of ethanol without increasing sugarcane acreage, but two technologies have emerged that use sugarcane bagasse as a feedstock: the generation of bioelectricity and second generation ethanol. As a result, a new discussion has arisen for the future configuration of the sugarcane industry: should bagasse be used to generate bioelectricity or produce second generation ethanol? Due to the high volatility of prices, for both electricity and anhydrous ethanol, the decision is complex, and higher volatility of price is associated with greater risk in this decision. This article presents a bi-objective optimization model to decide efficiently the percentage of the available sugarcane bagasse that should be allocated to each of these options in order to maximize the average return and, at the same time, minimize the risk inherent in price level volatilities. The results for four possible scenarios are presented; it is concluded that the scenario that presents a bioelectricity production cost of US 0.30/liter has a higher return and lower risk to the investor. In this scenario, the allocation of bagasse for second generation ethanol production is 84%.
Cellulosic ethanol derived from sugarcane straw may have a significant role to play in the projected increase of Brazilian biofuel production for next years. However, some practical challenges, such as, defining how much and how to recover straw from the field still need to be overcome. Integrated sugarcane harvesting (i.e. stalks plus straw) with straw separation at the processing site has shown greater cost-effectiveness. However, there is no published procedure to quantify the yield of sugarcane straw, to set up the harvester to collect only a specific portion of this straw or to verify the quantity of straw left in the field. We conducted four field trials in the southeast of Brazil to develop systematic field guidelines that describe how to estimate the yield of sugarcane straw, the harvester setup to vary the amount of straw left in the field and how to evaluate the overall performance of the operation. The results showed that these guidelines were efficient (r² ≥ 0.97, p < 0.01) and, therefore, can be incorporated into a standard protocol to help the sugarcane industry improve the efficiency of the sugarcane straw harvesting process for bioelectricity cogeneration and cellulosic ethanol production.
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