{"id":163800,"date":"2013-10-06T17:32:10","date_gmt":"2013-10-06T20:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/?p=163800"},"modified":"2015-02-06T18:45:58","modified_gmt":"2015-02-06T20:45:58","slug":"from-bagasse-to-innovation-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/from-bagasse-to-innovation-2\/","title":{"rendered":"From bagasse to innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"060_CTI<\/a>Published in June 2013<\/em><\/p>\n

In early February, ETH Bioenergia, which was\u00a0founded in 2007 by the Odebrecht Organization,\u00a0changed its name to Odebrecht Agroindustrial.\u00a0The company also announced that\u00a0it would make investments to extract 30%\u00a0more volume from the sugarcane processed in\u00a02012\/2013 and to produce two billion liters of\u00a0ethanol\u2014equal to 8.6% of Brazil\u2019s current annual\u00a0production of 23 billion liters. The R$ 1 billion\u00a0investment will help to expand the growing area\u00a0and support research into sugarcane varieties and\u00a0new ethanol-production processes. To achieve\u00a0these goals, the Odebrecht Agroindustrial innovation\u00a0unit, which was created in 2010, must partner\u00a0with universities and research centers, such\u00a0as the Campinas Institute of Agronomy (IAC).\u00a0\u201cWe are building our innovation strategy at\u00a0a time when Brazil is experiencing a sugarcane\u00a0crisis,\u201d says Carlos Calmanovici, Director of Innovation\u00a0and Technology for Odebrecht Agroindustrial.\u00a0Odebrecht is one of several large companies,\u00a0including Syngenta, Monsanto and Granbio,\u00a0that have recently increased their investments\u00a0toward research using plant-breeding techniques\u00a0to obtain new sugarcane varieties or developing\u00a0alternative ethanol-production methods using the\u00a0leftover bagasse from sugarcane plants.<\/p>\n

A combination of several factors explains the\u00a0not-so-sweet deceleration of the sugar-energy\u00a0industry since 2008, including the international\u00a0credit crisis, weather events in three consecutive\u00a0years from 2009 to 2011, and the lack of\u00a0adjustments in the price of gasoline. However,\u00a0a gap separates the sugarcane-production crisis\u00a0from the status of research in the industry. The\u00a0difference, says Calmanovici, is that research is\u00a0based on a long-term perspective. One example\u00a0of this strategic vision is the cooperation agreement\u00a0that the company signed with FAPESP\u00a0in 2011, which has resulted in 11 joint projects\u00a0with universities in S\u00e3o Paulo State, such as the\u00a0University of S\u00e3o Paulo (USP), the University of\u00a0Campinas (Unicamp) and the Federal University\u00a0of S\u00e3o Carlos (UFSCar). These projects received\u00a0R$ 20 million in funding, half disbursed\u00a0by FAPESP and half provided by Odebrecht\u00a0Agroindustrial. Many of these projects were\u00a0initiated last year and involve developmental\u00a0research on insect-resistant transgenic sugarcane\u00a0and on identifying and selecting plants\u00a0whose genotypes (genetic makeup) are suitable\u00a0for the agroecological conditions of the\u00a0Pontal do Paranapanema region, where sugarcane\u00a0productivity remains low.<\/p>\n

\"Sugarcane

eduardo cesar<\/span>Sugarcane seedlings\u00a0are prepared\u00a0in CTC\u2019s laboratory\u00a0in Piracicabaeduardo cesar<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

The Brazilian sugar-ethanol industry\u2019s loss of\u00a0momentum five years ago has led many analysts\u00a0to forecast a \u201clost decade\u201d for sugar and ethanol\u00a0production. Investments reached US$6.4 billion\u00a0in 2008 but declined to US$250 million in 2012,\u00a0according to Eduardo Le\u00e3o, the executive director\u00a0of the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association\u00a0(UNICA). The current renewal of investment in\u00a0the sector is predicted to take another five years,\u00a0the time required for a complete revival of sugarcane\u2014a very different situation from the great\u00a0leap forward between 2005 and 2010, after flexfuel\u00a0vehicles were introduced in Brazil in 2003.\u00a0At that time, the United States and the European\u00a0Union began to establish guidelines for the use\u00a0of biofuels, with consumption targets for future\u00a0years. These initiatives encouraged multinational\u00a0corporations to enter the sector.<\/p>\n

Since 2012, the future outlook has improved.\u00a0Ethanol production has recovered slightly,\u00a0and the federal government has reacted to\u00a0the crisis with a series of incentives, raising the\u00a0percentage of ethanol in blended gasoline from\u00a020% to 25% and reducing taxes (PIS and COFINS).\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s still not a profitable time for the industry, but\u00a0gains in productivity combined with investments\u00a0in technology and the resulting reduction in average\u00a0production costs have eased the financial problems\u00a0of some companies,\u201d says Miriam Bacchi, a\u00a0researcher at the Center for Advanced Studies in\u00a0Economics of the Luiz de Queiroz School of Agriculture\u00a0(Esalq\/USP). For example, some companies,\u00a0such as the Centro de Tecnologia Canavieira\u00a0(CTC) and Granbio, estimate that they can achieve\u00a0gains of approximately 50% using the new secondgeneration\u00a0ethanol-production process, which is\u00a0expected to enter the domestic market in 2014.<\/p>\n

One possible milestone in the role of large\u00a0companies in sugarcane research is Monsanto\u2019s\u00a0November 2008 purchase of two Brazilian companies,\u00a0Allelyx and CanaVialis, for US$290 million.\u00a0These two companies began in 2002\u20132003\u00a0as start-ups backed by a venture-capital fund\u00a0of Votorantim Novos Neg\u00f3cios. Their founding\u00a0followed the genome sequencing of Xylella fastidiosa,\u00a0the bacterium that causes citrus variegated\u00a0chlorosis disease in oranges, in a program\u00a0financed by FAPESP. According to Paul Arruda,\u00a0a professor at the Unicamp Institute of Biology\u00a0and a founder of Allelyx, the Monsanto purchase\u00a0spurred the development of this area of sugarcane\u00a0research and boosted sugarcane biotechnology in\u00a0Brazil. \u201cThere was a positive impact, including\u00a0at other companies, such as CTC, which went on\u00a0to modify its management process,\u201d he says. In\u00a02011, CTC ceased to be a Civil Society Organization\u00a0in the Public Interest (Oscip) and became a\u00a0Sociedade An\u00f4nima (SA). \u201cToday we have to earn\u00a0money from the technologies we develop here,\u201d\u00a0says Robson Cintra de Freitas, vice president of\u00a0business and new technologies for CTC, which\u00a0was formed in 1969 by Copersucar in the city of\u00a0Piracicaba, S\u00e3o Paulo State.<\/p>\n

\"060_CTI<\/a><\/p>\n

Monsanto launched three conventionally\u00a0bred sugarcane varieties in 2012 and\u00a0aims to launch one more this year. The\u00a0company will not reveal its total investments in sugarcane research, but Gustavo Monge, the Monsanto\u00a0biotechnology manager in Brazil, says that\u00a0of the US$1.4 billion invested by the company in\u00a0research worldwide, \u201ca significant portion goes\u00a0to Brazil.\u201d According to Monge, the sugar-energy\u00a0industry is projecting a large increase in demand\u00a0for sugar and ethanol.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the research field, I cannot imagine biotechnology\u00a0firms being affected either positively\u00a0or negatively by the crisis because decisions are long-term, and they look for a market situation\u00a0in which ethanol competitiveness increases as\u00a0a result of innovation,\u201d says Andr\u00e9 Nassar, an\u00a0economist with the Agroicone consulting firm.\u00a0According to Jos\u00e9 Maria da Silveira, a professor\u00a0at the Unicamp Institute of Economics, \u201cthe increase\u00a0in applied research is stimulated by public\u00a0institutions partnering with the private sector.\u201d\u00a0As an example, he cites the FAPESP Program for\u00a0Research on Bioenergy (BIOEN), which began in 2008 and now has 12 partner companies, including\u00a0Odebrecht, Dedini, Oxiteno and Braskem.\u00a0\u201cThere has been an evolution in the number of\u00a0partnerships between the program and companies\u00a0seeking increases both in conventional\u00a0breeding and in the transgenic route,\u201d says Glaucia\u00a0Souza Mendes, a professor at the USP Institute\u00a0of Chemistry and a BIOEN coordinator.<\/p>\n

\"Sugarcane

eduardo cesar<\/span>Sugarcane at the production facilityeduardo cesar<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Another institutional measure that favors research\u00a0is the requirement that the harvest be\u00a0fully mechanized in S\u00e3o Paulo State\u2014the heart\u00a0of sugarcane production in Brazil, accounting for\u00a052% of national production, according to Companhia\u00a0Nacional de Abastecimento (Conab), a\u00a0state-owned company linked to the Ministry of\u00a0Agriculture. Mechanization ultimately requires\u00a0innovative technologies in equipment and in\u00a0new sugarcane varieties that are better suited\u00a0to the process. Some of the varieties produced\u00a0by Monsanto, for example, are readily adaptable\u00a0to mechanical harvesting. In 2007, according to\u00a0the state government, S\u00e3o Paulo State eliminated\u00a0the burning of 5.53 million hectares and thus prevented\u00a0more than 20.6 million tons of pollutants\u00a0from being released into the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

In its new phase, CTC has contributed an important\u00a0technological innovation in the field. The\u00a0company has been able to reduce the time-tomarket\u00a0for new sugarcane varieties developed in\u00a0its breeding program by at least six years. Until\u00a0a few years ago, the time required to transfer a\u00a0new variety from the laboratory to the marketplace,\u00a0which involves a series of tests and cross-breedings, was 12 to 14 years; today, only 8 years\u00a0are needed, says Mark Casagrande, CTC\u2019s manager\u00a0of product development.<\/p>\n

Since 2007, CTC has focused its attention on\u00a0second-generation ethanol. Between July\u00a0and August of 2013, it will begin to construct\u00a0a demonstration plant at Usina S\u00e3o Manoel with the capacity to produce three million\u00a0liters of ethanol before moving on to the industrial\u00a0stage. In 2008, CTC patented the process\u00a0that it had developed to obtain cellulosic ethanol\u00a0from sugarcane because its process represented\u00a0a strategic difference from the methods used by\u00a0other companies in the research race for secondgeneration\u00a0ethanol in Brazil. The process of enzymatic\u00a0hydrolysis of the cellulose present in the\u00a0bagasse and straw will be fully integrated into\u00a0the existing structure of the production plant.\u00a0In addition to reducing costs, this integration\u00a0provides an alternative solution to the problem\u00a0of excess fermentation and distillation capacity,\u00a0two sectors of the plant that usually have approximately\u00a030% downtime, by giving the plant\u00a0greater flexibility to alternate between sugar and\u00a0ethanol production. \u201cIf second-generation ethanol\u00a0is added in a plant, it is possible to use this\u00a0potential to obtain a cheaper fuel,\u201d says Freitas.\u00a0Earlier this year, the BNDES-Finep Joint Plan to\u00a0Support Industrial Technological Innovation in\u00a0the Sugar-Energy and Sugar-Chemical Sectors\u00a0(Paiss) signed its first contract with a company\u00a0(CTC), which received a credit of R$227 million\u00a0from the Brazilian Innovation Agency (Finep) out\u00a0of a total of R$2 billion that will be allocated to\u00a0projects by mid-year.<\/p>\n

\"Syngenta\u2019s

syngenta<\/span>Syngenta\u2019s Research\u00a0Center in It\u00e1polis,\u00a0S\u00e3o Paulo, where the\u00a0company multiplies\u00a0genetic material.syngenta<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Granbio, a Brazilian company founded in\u00a02011, also sees new horizons for secondgeneration\u00a0ethanol. This year, its synthetic-biotechnology research center, located in the\u00a0Techno Park complex in the city of Campinas,\u00a0opened for the development of Brazilian yeasts\u00a0used in industrial fermentation. In May, the company\u00a0opened a second-generation experimental\u00a0station in Alagoas State with an investment of\u00a0R$10 million. The company\u2019s goal is to begin\u00a0cellulosic-ethanol manufacturing by February\u00a02014 at an investment of R$350 million, with an\u00a0estimated production of approximately 82 million\u00a0liters of second-generation ethanol, representing\u00a0a 20% increase in biofuels production in Alagoas.<\/p>\n

The new Granbio sugarcane variety, known\u00a0as Cana Vertix, is being developed by crossing\u00a0ancestral sugarcane types with commercial hybrids.\u00a0\u201cWe will have a more robust sugarcane,\u00a0more resistant to pests and diseases, greater\u00a0longevity, a higher fiber content and greater productivity\u00a0than conventional plants,\u201d says Alan \u00a0Hiltner, executive vice\u00a0president of the company.\u00a0Gon\u00e7alo Pereira,\u00a0a Unicamp researcher\u00a0and the company\u2019s\u00a0vice president of\u00a0technology, says that\u00a0the new sugarcane variety\u00a0will be used only\u00a0for Granbio\u2019s own\u00a0consumption. \u201cThe\u00a0efficient photosynthesis\u00a0of Cana Vertix\u00a0will be reflected in the\u00a0cost of the raw material.\u00a0In the industry,\u00a0the leader of the pack\u00a0is the company with\u00a0cheap and efficient\u00a0sugarcane,\u201d he says.\u00a0By the end of 2013,\u00a0200,000 seedlings will be planted using seeds\u00a0from Brazilian and worldwide germplasm (seeds\u00a0and cells) banks. Currently, IAC and the Interuniversity\u00a0Network for the Development of the\u00a0Sugar-Energy Industry (Ridesa) are performing\u00a0the cross-breeding. In 2014, this work will also\u00a0be performed at the Alagoas experimental station.\u00a0Hiltner notes that one reason to invest in\u00a0second-generation ethanol from bagasse and\u00a0cane straw is the fact that the U.S. market rewards\u00a0the use of cellulosic ethanol, particularly\u00a0in California, where there is an additional reward\u00a0per metric ton of captured carbon.<\/p>\n

The various initiatives for second-generation\u00a0ethanol have impacted the supply chain,\u00a0which includes the suppliers of the enzymes\u00a0used to break down the lignin and\u00a0hemicellulose of sugarcane cells to\u00a0yield pulp and then glucose, thus\u00a0enabling ethanol production via\u00a0sugar fermentation. In 2007, for\u00a0example, the Danish multinational\u00a0corporation Novozymes, which\u00a0was founded in 1923, entered into\u00a0its first commercial partnership to\u00a0develop enzymes for ethanol production\u00a0(with CTC).<\/p>\n

Novozymes began supplying\u00a0enzymes to Petrobras,\u00a0which also has a research\u00a0program in second-generation ethanol,\u00a0in 2010 and entered into an\u00a0agreement with Granbio in 2012.\u00a0According to Pedro Fernandes, the\u00a0president of Novozymes for Latin America,\u00a0the sugar-energy industry crisis has affected\u00a0the company because customers have reduced\u00a0their demands for production and investments.\u00a0However, research has continued apace. \u201cCrises\u00a0always come and go, but research does not.\u00a0If we stopped research today, a recovery from\u00a0the setback would last longer than the crisis,\u201d\u00a0he said. Novozymes invests US$300 million in\u00a0R & D across its research facilities worldwide,\u00a0including enzyme research for ethanol production\u00a0in Brazil. The Latin American division of\u00a0the company represents 10% of Novozymes\u2019\u00a0global revenue, which was $2 billion in 2012.\u00a0Today, Novozymes employs 11 professionals\u00a0working directly in research in Brazil, two with\u00a0PhDs and the others with advanced degrees.\u00a0The company has also formed partnership with\u00a0the Federal University of Paran\u00e1 (UFPR) to\u00a0perform enzyme testing.<\/p>\n

\"Sugarcane

michel rios<\/span>Sugarcane\u00a0greenhouse\u00a0at Granbio\u2019s new\u00a0experimental\u00a0station in Alagoas.michel rios<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Another company that has become more involved\u00a0in sugarcane research is the Swiss multinational\u00a0corporation Syngenta. In 2006, this\u00a0company\u2019s share of the sugarcane market was\u00a0marginal, consisting only of sales of chemical\u00a0pesticides. Beginning in 2008, the company\u00a0shifted toward the adoption of new technological\u00a0strategies to increase sugarcane planting.\u00a0For example, a bio-factory facility to perform\u00a0plant-breeding procedures began construction\u00a0in 2012. \u201cThe demand for sugarcane in Brazil\u00a0by 2020 will be approximately 1.1 billion metric\u00a0tons. The key to success for ethanol production\u00a0is to increase productivity, which also requires\u00a0research,\u201d says Adriano Vilas Boas, Syngenta\u2019s\u00a0global director of sugarcane. UNICA estimates\u00a0that ethanol production from the 2013\/2014 crop\u00a0will be 20% higher than in the previous year.<\/p>\n

Today, Syngenta has\u00a0established three pillars\u00a0to support sugarcane research.\u00a0The first is to\u00a0multiply genetic material,\u00a0which is done in the\u00a0city of It\u00e1polis, S\u00e3o Paulo\u00a0State. At It\u00e1polis, diseasefree\u00a0plants are generated\u00a0by multiplying genetic\u00a0material, thereby ensuring\u00a0healthy plant materials\u00a0because sugarcane has\u00a0a high risk of contracting\u00a0disease during breeding.\u00a0\u201cSo we are multiplying\u00a0clones of the same matrix\u00a0in a controlled manner,\u201d\u00a0says Vilas Boas. To obtain\u00a0thousands of samples, the\u00a0sugarcane is managed in\u00a0the greenhouse environment, and the samples are\u00a0multiplied, preserving their DNA, so that they can\u00a0be directly planted in field nurseries. Biotechnology\u00a0research aiming to increase the ability to develop\u00a0genetically modified sugarcane varieties is\u00a0now being performed at the company\u2019s research\u00a0stations in Brazil. Syngenta is investing more than\u00a0$1.4 billion in research and development worldwide\u00a0but has not disclosed its budget for sugarcane\u00a0in Brazil. Today, it employs more than 100\u00a0agronomists working on sugarcane and developing\u00a0technology in the field, including a team dedicated\u00a0exclusively to transgenic research. Its partnerships\u00a0with universities include the Universidade\u00a0Estadual Paulista (Unesp) and Esalq\/USP, which\u00a0help to validate the technologies, and IAC, which\u00a0participates in a joint project to improve sugarcane\u00a0breeding and processing methodologies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Companies invest in technology to increase ethanol production","protected":false},"author":421,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[169],"tags":[207,243],"coauthors":[740],"class_list":["post-163800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-bioenergy","tag-innovation"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/421"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163800\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163800"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=163800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}