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Bioethanol from Sugar : The Brazilian Experience

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Renewable Energy Systems

Definition and Importance of the Subject

The Brazilian ethanol program (Proalcohol ) is the oldest of such programs and started in 1975, producing ethanol from sugarcane. A similar program using corn was initiated around the year 2000.

The 2009 world’s ethanol production was 76 billion liters – of which 41 billion is in the United States (USA) and 26 billion comes from Brazil – equivalent to 34.8 million tons of oil equivalent or 1.5% of total world oil consumption. The rest of it comes from different countries, mainly Europe and China. Ethanol production is increasing in several regions of the world: Of the 24 producing countries, there are 14 countries in Europe and 5 countries in Asia and Pacific area.

Since transportation is almost entirely dependent on petroleum products, liquid biofuels represent an option to address this challenge in the transportation sector, where there is no other renewable energy commercially available. It should be emphasized that 14% of the world...

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Abbreviations

Biofuel:

Biofuel is one type of bioenergy. In general, this term is used for liquid biofuels. The most known liquid biofuels are biodiesel and bioethanol.

Biofuel program:

In general, encompasses incentives to biofuels production and/or consumption through policies and regulatory frameworks.

Biomass:

Biomass is anything that has lived from vegetal or animal origin. The energy obtained from biomass (such as wood, straw, crops, etc.) to produce a fuel is known as bioenergy.

Energy balance:

Energy balance is the assessment of the energy content in a certain biofuel compared with the fossil fuel energy used to convert it.

Replication:

Repetition of an experiment utilizing key features. Following the Brazilian experience with ethanol, other countries have possibility to convert sugar plants into ethanol distilleries.

Sustainability:

Sustainability of biofuels production is related to environment protection, social welfare, and economic development.

Sustainable development:

Sustainable development is the utilization of the resources aiming to achieve better living conditions without disturbing the future generations’ needs [1].

Tariff and non-tariff barriers:

Tariff barriers are duties imposed on tradable goods and services to be imported. Non-tariff barriers are a way to delimitate the trade by imposing conditions, quotas, and restrictions. Tariff and non-tariff barriers are barriers imposed mainly by developed countries against the import of products which may jeopardize local economy (or local farmers); they also occur in biofuels trade [2].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CENBIO – The Brazilian Reference Center o Biomass, University of São Paulo, Av Prof Luciano Gualberto 1289 – Cidade Universitaria, São Paulo, Brazil

    Suani Teixeira Coelho, Regiane Gorren, Patricia Guardabassi, Renata Grisoli & José Goldemberg

Authors
  1. Suani Teixeira Coelho
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  2. Regiane Gorren
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  3. Patricia Guardabassi
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  4. Renata Grisoli
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  5. José Goldemberg
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Suani Teixeira Coelho .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. German Biomass Research Centre, Leipzig, Germany

    Martin Kaltschmitt

  2. Institute of Environmental Technology and Energy Economics, Hamburg University of Technology, Hamburg, Germany

    Martin Kaltschmitt

  3. Earth Engineering Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Nickolas J. Themelis

  4. Ormat Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, USA

    Lucien Y. Bronicki

  5. Royal Institute of Technology, Electric Power Systems, Stockholm, Sweden

    Lennart Söder

  6. Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, School of Ocean And Earth Science And Technology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA

    Luis A. Vega

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Coelho, S.T., Gorren, R., Guardabassi, P., Grisoli, R., Goldemberg, J. (2013). Bioethanol from Sugar : The Brazilian Experience. In: Kaltschmitt, M., Themelis, N.J., Bronicki, L.Y., Söder, L., Vega, L.A. (eds) Renewable Energy Systems. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5820-3_312

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