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.
1 comment:
The biofuel thing is really interesting, and I think it's great you know so much about it. To think we could be doing it so much more efficiently and in a way that doesn't affect our food supply so much is frustrating. Brazil was/is so smart to use their sugarcane so wisely.
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