Brazil...some amazing sugarcane statistics

Brazil is the proverbial gorilla in the room when it comes to sugarcane production. According to UNICA, during the 2009/2010 campaign that concluded on March 31, Brazilian mills had processed 542 million metric tons (or tonnes) of cane. Of the total cane processed, 42.6% was used for sugar and 57.4% for ethanol. Total sugar production was 28.6 million tonnes, while ethanol production was 23.7 billion liters. To put some of this into perspective, Brazil hauled more cane to their mills than the U.S. hauled corn (331 million tonnes), soybeans (73 million tonnes) and wheat (56 million tonnes), put together, based on crop statistics from FAOSTAT. And these are our top three agronomic crops. Granted, the collective value of the unprocessed corn, soybeans, and wheat vastly exceeds that of raw cane, but still, the sheer weight and volume of cane being transported for processing in Brazil is truly impressive. The total cane production in the U.S. last year, combining FL, HI, LA, and TX, was 27.8 million tonnes, or approximately 1/20th the size of the Brazilian crop. The U.S. is ranked 9th, after Brazil, India, China, Thailand, Mexico, Pakistan, Australia, and Colombia. In terms of ethanol produced from sugarcane, Brazil is really the only significant player out there right now.

Brazil has decided to wage an education campaign, in part, to bring into question the basis for the stiff tariffs the U.S. has imposed on ethanol exported from Brazil. If the U.S. is honestly trying to go green, and if the U.S. corn industry can't even begin to meet the potential ethanol demand, what is the point of the stiff tariffs? Brazil doesn't understand why the corn industry is pushing their congressional representatives to be so protective, when it isn't really necessary, and runs counter to our broader objective, as a country, to go green.

Monsanto acquires major Brazilian sugarcane breeding program

Monsanto has expanded its interests in Brazilian agriculture with the acquisition of CanaVialis and Alellyx. Acquisition of CanaVialis will make Monsanto the proud owner of the largest private sugarcane breeding program in the world. With this deal, Monsanto will also acquire Alellyx, a genomics company founded by Brazilian scientists that has already partnered with CanaVialis toward the development of Bt/Roundup Ready sugarcane varieties; and and development of varieties that are sweeter, more energy efficient, more drought tolerant and so on through genetic modification. I suspect they plan to find and further modify organisms capable of fixing nitrogen in sugarcane, since it is already known that such organisms exist. Brazil is far and away the largest sugarcane-based ethanol producer, though there are other countries who are following their lead, most notably India and Colombia.

Oil setting records, sugar in the tank

Anyone who has filled up lately, knows that gas prices are going through the roof, and energy-related stocks seem to have replaced dot.com stocks as the "hottest" investment around. My suggestion, fill up tomorrow, and take your gas cans with you, because it is only going to get worse by this time next week. In the last two weeks, nationwide gas prices have shot up 20 cents. Even in my Nissan pickup that only holds about 12 gallons. Tomorrow, I'll be paying $2.40 more than I was only two weeks ago to fill up. It's time to get out the bicycle, put some air in the tires, and get a little exercize to boot. Oil set another all time record today, closing at nearly $135 per barrel. While all of this is happening, world sugar prices are sliding ever downward. Go figure. Other agricultural commodities, such as corn, soybeans, and wheat are riding the biofuels wave. Why not sugar? In Brazil, it is estimated that 58% of the sugarcane crop will be directed toward ethanol production this year, up from 50% just two years ago.

What caught my attention today was a story in the International Herald Tribune about an ethanol "still" that can be purchased for under $10,000, that looks like good ol' fill-er-up gas tank, and runs on sugar. This led me to the E-Fuel 100 MicroFueler website. Once you have the still, all you need to do is add a sugar solution and yeast. The still is "smart" enough to be able to do all the rest on its own.

At certain times of the year, our research station is collecting a large number of cane juice samples, and either giving away or throwing away a fairly large amount of excess cane juice, following sampling. Perhaps it's time for us to start thinking about taking advantage of this type of technology. Great PR and a way to save money in the long run.

One last thing. If you thought the cartoon at the top of this post was a little on the silly side, check this story out.

Brazil sugarcane in the news

Anyone who tracks sugarcane production and is interested in biofuels produced from sugarcane is well aware that Brazil is the leader of the pack. It was reported at Bloomberg that Brazil is projected to turn a record 58% of this year's cane crop into ethanol, representing 24.3 billion liters (6.4 billion gallons) this year compared to 20.3 billion liters last year. While the best market for Brazilian-produced ethanol is Brazil, Antonio Padua, technical director at Unica, pointed out that rising ethanol prices in the U.S., the world's biggest consumer of the fuel, will encourage Brazilian mills to export more this year. According to Padua, the current price of about $2.70 per gallon is above the $2.50 that makes exports to the U.S. profitable for Brazilian mills.

Also, recently in the news was a report of a joint venture between Amyris (Emeryville, CA), a leading innovator of next-generation renewable fuels, and Crystalsev, one of Brazil's largest ethanol distributors and marketers, to commercialize advanced renewable fuels made from sugarcane including a diesel, jet fuel and gasoline. Quoting variously from the article, "The first product, a renewable diesel that works in today's engines, is targeted for commercialization in 2010. Santelisa Vale, the second largest ethanol and sugar producer in Brazil and majority owner of Crystalsev, has contracted to provide two million tons of sugarcane crushing capacity and plans to adopt the new technology beginning at its flagship mill - Santelisa. Unlike current biofuels, these renewable fuels are designed to meet or exceed the quality of existing petroleum fuels and be fully compatible with existing fuels infrastructure and engines." This will be interesting to follow.

The biofuels debate

An increasing number of articles have recently been critical of biofuels. Two that reached wide audiences are in National Geographic and Time. Both were highly critical of corn-based ethanol in the U. S., but viewed sugarcane-based ethanol in Brazil in a much more positive light. Corn is criticized because, as a major food and feed crop, diversion of the grain toward the production of ethanol has the effect of driving up food prices. Also, the energy balance (output to input ratio) is not that attractive (Nat’l Geog.: 1.3 to 1.0). By contrast, the energy balance for sugarcane, at least in Brazil, was cited as 8 to 1. This begs the question as to why sugarcane is not used for ethanol production in the U.S. If the energy balance for sugarcane were only half as good as in Brazil (4 to 1) this is still much better than for corn. If the energetics really do favor sugarcane, why can ethanol be profitably made from corn, but not from sugarcane? I put together some numbers, based on what I found on the Internet, to compare the sugarcane situation in Brazil and the U.S.