{"id":25840,"date":"2008-04-01T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-04-01T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revistapesquisaclone.fapesp.br\/2008\/04\/01\/new-frontier\/"},"modified":"2016-02-05T17:15:26","modified_gmt":"2016-02-05T19:15:26","slug":"new-frontier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/new-frontier\/","title":{"rendered":"New frontier"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"UNICA<\/span>The prospect of a fall in the supply of oil, whose price has recently gone over the historic level of US$ 100 a barrel, plus the global effort to cut the use of fossil fuels, have unleashed a global quest for new technology capable of enabling the efficient production of energy from renewable sources with lower environmental impact. Brazil has entered this race with a comparative advantage, since it has had technology for producing ethanol from sugarcane since the 1970s, when it introduced the Pro\u00e1lcool program. Today, with annual production in excess of 17 billion liters, the country is the world\u2019s second biggest producer, after the United States, which manufactures some 20 billion liters of bio-fuel from corn.<\/p>\n

In both Brazil and the United States, which jointly account for 70% of the world\u2019s production, ethanol consumption is limited to the domestic markets. Part of the Brazilian production fuels a fleet of more than three million flex-fuel vehicles (bi-fuel) while another part is added to gasoline. Last year, foreign sales did not exceed US$ 1.4 billion, less than 1% of the country\u2019s total exports. \u201cThe international market still doesn\u2019t exist,\u201d recognized Marcos Jank, president of the Sugarcane Industry Union (Unica) recently. This entity, along with Brazil\u2019s Export Promotions\u2019 Agency (Apex), is promising to start an international campaign this year to publicize the advantages of ethanol as a substitute for gasoline.<\/p>\n

The great Brazilian challenge is to increase ethanol production, gain scale and convince the international market that increased supply does not harm the production of grain or the environment. In a country with a potential agricultural area of 152.5 million hectares, i.e., 18% of its territory, of which only slightly more than half is being used, there is the alternative of expanding sugarcane plantations, which still cover only 6 million hectares. \u201cIt\u2019s possible to expand plantations without displacing food production,\u201d says Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz, FAPESP\u2019s scientific director. Still, a lot of science will be required to achieve better results, both in the agricultural and in the industrial areas.<\/p>\n

Over 30 years, investments in research by the Agronomic Institute of Campinas (IAC), by the Sugarcane Plantation Technology Center (CTC), which grew out of the Coopersucar Research Center, and by the Brazilian Agriculture and Livestock Farming Research Company (Embrapa), among others, have allowed Brazilian productivity to leap from 3,000 liters of ethanol per hectare to 6,000 liters. \u201cThis advance has reduced ethanol costs relative to those of gasoline,\u201d recalls Brito Cruz. In 2000, these costs were similar but\u00a0 ethanol already has the competitive edge relative to fuel produced from oil.<\/p>\n

Agricultural research is advancing, with the help of genomics among other factors, and is likely to further increase the amount of energy obtained by fermenting sugarcane saccharose. There are also good prospects for increasing productivity \u00a0from the advances being made in mechanization technology in harvesting, \u00a0precision agriculture, and distillation processes, etc. The problem is that saccharose accounts for just one third of sugarcane\u2019s potential energy. \u201cThe great challenge will also be to use sugarcane pulp, where two-thirds of the energy is concentrated,\u201d says the scientific director of FAPESP, adding the proviso, however, that straw and bagasse are not all wasted: when burned in boilers they generate part of the energy that the refineries themselves consume.<\/p>\n

\"\"UNICA<\/span>New technology
\n<\/strong>Acquiring the technology to use pulp is at the heart of the global race to produce energy from renewable sources. In the case of Brazil, taking advantage of pulp will be the means to consolidate our \u00a0position as global leaders : a broad study by researchers from the Interdisciplinary Center for Strategic Planning (Nipe) at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), at the request of the Management and Strategic Studies Center (CGEE), concluded that by 2025 the country will be able to produce 200 billion liters of ethanol, enough to substitute some 5% to 10% of all the gasoline consumed worldwide, provided \u00a0sugarcane plantations \u00a0multiply sevenfold. However, to do so over the next ten years it will have to develop ethanol production technology by thermo-chemical means and the enzymatic hydrolysis of bagasse and straw. \u201cWithout hydrolysis it would be necessary to expand the area much more to achieve the same production level,\u201d emphasizes Mirna Yvonne Gaya Sacandiffio, a Nipe researcher who \u00a0is a member of the research coordination team.<\/p>\n

The areas for sugarcane plantation expansion have been mapped out already. Nipe researchers have scrutinized 80 million hectares of Brazilian territory and concluded that in a little more than half (42 million hectares to be precise, spread across 17 areas in the north of Tocantins, south of Maranh\u00e3o, Mato Grosso, Goi\u00e1s and the Minas Triangle), cane would grow at productivity rates similar to the national average. \u201cWe ignored protected areas, Indian reserves, the Amazon basin and the Pantanal region. We prioritized areas where there is no concentration of sugarcane, like S\u00e3o Paulo and the Zona da Mata area, as well as regions where the slope is greater than 12%, which would render mechanized cutting impossible. At no time did we think about substituting crops,\u201d emphasizes Mirna.<\/p>\n

To guarantee a sustainable increase in ethanol production the Nipe researchers devised technology-intensive \u201cmodel refineries,\u201d organized in clusters to take maximum advantage of the alcohol pipelines that Petrobras is beginning to plan, or installed in areas that enable using railroad and waterway transport for \u00a0distribution of production. \u201cIt makes no sense to transport renewable fuel in trucks,\u201d she notes.<\/p>\n

This scenario makes it clear that if Brazil wants to have at least 5% of the world market in renewable energy, it must invest heavily in basic and applied research. Silvio Crestana, president of Embrapa, calculates that this figure would have to be close to R$ 1 billion over the next five years. The Action Plan of the Ministry of Science and Technology for the 2007-2010 period, has earmarked R$ 196.90 million for the Ethanol Science, Technology and Investment Program in the period.<\/p>\n

S\u00e3o Paulo may play an important part in this research effort: the state is responsible for both 63% of Brazil\u2019s ethanol production and for 55% of the country\u2019s scientific output. The three state-run universities (University of S\u00e3o Paulo – USP, State University of Campinas \u2013 Unicamp, and Paulista State University – Unesp) plus 19 research institutes account for 40% of the Brazil\u2019s main researchers and were largely responsible for the advances that have ensured the competitiveness of the country\u2019s ethanol production chain.<\/p>\n

FAPESP\u2019s scientific director stresses that this is not about expanding the state\u2019s ethanol production, since the land available for sugarcane is already occupied, \u201cbut recognizing that this is an excellent opportunity for the industry to produce equipment and technology to be used in refineries throughout Brazil.\u201d He also adds that ethanol will only gain market share (and the status of a commodity \u2013 as is the case with oil) if producers from other countries come on board. \u201cOnly then will the fuel be feasible, even if other countries have difficulty producing it at such competitive costs,\u201d says Brito Cruz. This prospect, according to Brito, also opens up a new market for Brazilian technology, from equipment manufacturing to \u00a0fuel production.<\/p>\n

Energy vs. food
\n<\/strong>The prospects for expanding Brazil\u2019s ethanol production were presented at the workshop on bio-energy organized jointly by FAPESP, the British Embassy, and the Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council of the United Kingdom (BBSRC), at the close of the Brazilian-British Year of Science and Innovation.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrazil is the only country that can produce ethanol on a scale that can meet global demand,\u201d recognized John Beddington, Chief Scientific Adviser to the British government. He cautioned, however, that the country must also invest in increasing food production and added: \u201cThis will only be possible if there is scientific research.\u201d<\/p>\n

His main argument is that the world\u2019s population is likely to grow by 50% over the next 30 years and pressure not only energy production but also food production, especially grain. \u201cGlobal demand for food is going to rise, especially in countries that are starting to invest in reducing their poverty indices,\u201d he warned, including Brazil on this list.<\/p>\n

He reminded his audience that 1.1 billion people currently live on less than 50 pence a day. \u201cIf they had money their diet would change,\u201d he stressed. He presented the results of studies showing that with an income equal to \u00a3 1 a day, it is only possible to have access to \u201cbasic\u201d agricultural products. But if the income increases by 50% (to \u00a3 1.50p a day) the consumption of dairy products and meat grows, as does demand for grain used in animal feed. \u201cWith more than \u00a3 5 it is possible to begin consuming commodities and then prices rise,\u201d Beddington warned.<\/p>\n

Demand for food will be even stronger if the planet\u2019s temperature increases by 2\u00baC. \u201cCrops will be affected by drought, mainly in Africa and some Latin American countries,\u201d said the Chief Adviser. This scenario poses a challenge for Brazil, he observed. \u201cScience will be needed to respond to the demand for food and for more energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steve Visscher, interim Chief Executive of the BBSRC, who also attended the meeting, highlighted that the British government wants to incrase its investments in research into sustainable agriculture, which according to him, have been falling over the last few years due to a reduction in demand. \u201cBio-energy is also a new theme,\u201d he added. Both themes will be on the list of priorities for\u00a0 British investment. \u201cWe recognize Brazil\u2019s expertise and we\u2019ll be able to collaborate in the future. There will be financing opportunities if we can identify common areas of interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Research center<\/strong>
\nThe Ministry of Science and Technology (MST) has announced that it plans to set up a Bio-ethanol Research Center in Campinas, in the same area where the National Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS) is located. The initiative is forecast in the Science and Technology development program. \u201cThe center will carry out basic and applied research in the fields where we have a lack of knowledge,\u201d says Rog\u00e9rio Cerqueira Leite, project coordinator. The inauguration is scheduled for the end of this year.<\/p>\n

The idea, according to Cerqueira Leite, is to create a basic research platform with capacity for housing between 150 and 200 researchers, who will operate along the same lines as the LNLS. \u201cAll over the country there are many people working, for example, with enzymatic hydrolysis. We\u2019ll be at the heart of a research network with access to our laboratories,\u201d says the center\u2019s coordinator. According to Cerqueira Leite, Brazil has advanced a lot in the area of agricultural improvements. \u201cBut we\u2019ve done very little to understand what happens in plants when it converts solar energy into chemical energy,\u201d was the example he gave.<\/p>\n

The center will also have a \u201cset of laboratories for applied research\u201d on a 25,000 m2<\/sup> piece of land already appropriated by the Municipal Administration, next to the LNLS. \u201cThis is where the heavier machinery, like a large enzymatic hydrolysis reactor, will be located\u201d he said. There, for example, we will set up and test the project for a new harvester that has already been designed by a team of researchers linked to Unicamp and that is being developed by a private company. \u201cWe want to introduce advanced technology at all production phases. In agriculture, for example, it will be necessary to change the way in which we plant and harvest, by using a lot of IT and automatization for improved production.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re beginning to hire people,\u201d added Cerqueira Leite. The center\u2019s budget is yet to be defined. \u201cWe won\u2019t have a very big structure. \u201cAbout R$ 20 million to R$ 30 million a year would be satisfactory.\u201d<\/p>\n

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