Sugar cane
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Bioenergy > Feedstocks > Ethanol feedstocks > Sugar cane
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Sugarcane is a tall perennial grass with a thick stalk that stores energy in the form of sucrose. Although native to Asia, commercial cultivars of sugarcane are grown throughout the tropics for sugar, ethanol, molasses, rum, and other products. After the stalks are crushed and the sugary sap is removed, the remaining fibrous plant cellulose (called bagasse) can be burned to produce electricity, or may be used for paper, cardboard and other products.
Note: Another key sucrose-producing plant used as a feedstock for ethanol is sugar beet.
Sugarcane can be used for ethanol production.
Contents |
History
- The United States and Brazil are the two largest ethanol producers in the world, accounting for nearly 90 percent of global production. Brazil is the leading exporter of ethanol, using sugarcane for feedstock. In 2007, 8.4 million acres of farmland in Brazil were devoted exclusively to sugarcane production for ethanol. [1]
- In 2007-2008 Brazil produced 5,916 million gallons of ethanol and in 2008-2009 production is estimated to reach 7,054 million gallons. By 2012 annual ethanol production in Brazil is expected to reach 10 million gallons. [2]
- Sugarcane-based bioethanol has a better energy input to output ratio than other current biofuels (1:8). [3]
- Bioethanol from sugar cane is estimated to have a greenhouse gas emission reduction potential of 75% to 90%, compared with fossil fuels. [4]
- Sugarcane-based ethanol is almost entirely renewable, since sugarcane fibers or "bagasse" can provide 100% of the energy required in the industrial phase of ethanol production. [5]
Sustainability
- The Better Sugarcane Initiative (BSI) - BSI "is a collaboration of progressive sugarcane retailers, investors, traders, producers and NGOs who are committed to developing internationally-applicable measures and baselines that define sustainable sugar cane. BSI is an international initiative with the Steering Committee based around the world."[1]
- Concerns have been raised about negative environmental and social impacts of sugar cane based biofuels in a coastal wetland in Kenya. [6]
- Small farmers to join Brazil sustainable cane move, 1 September 2008, by Reuters: "Dozens of small and medium-scale farmers in Brazil's Sao Paulo state will grow sugar cane certified as meeting strict social and environmental standards, the region's cane producers association said late on Thursday."
- Sugarcane suppliers joining the program "must refuse the use of child or slave labor, limit their use of agrochemicals, and gather their cane with mechanical harvesters as opposed to cutting it manually. Manual cutting involves burning the plant's foliage, which pollutes the air."[7]
Environmental sustainability
- Swedish bioenergy company SEKAB received the 2009 Sustainable Bioethanol Award at the World Biofuels Markets Conference and Exhibition in Brussels for its development of Verified Sustainable Ethanol with Brazilian ethanol producers.
Biodiversity
- Sugarcane farming in Brazil is not found to contribute directly to deforestation in the Amazon rain forest. There is concern, however, that as demand for bioethanol increases, expanding cane plantations may displace other food crops such as soybeans, rice, and corn as well as pasture land, shifting these activities north to the forest edge and threatening future habitat loss. [8]
Pollution
- In Brazil, although federal laws have been passed to ban the practice, it is commonplace for sugarcane fields to be burned prior to harvest to "facilitate harvesting, fertilize fields with ash and remove venomous animals and reptiles".[9] This burning of cane and field residues results in air pollution in certain sugarcane producing regions of Brazil that is reported to cause respiratory problems in local populations. [10]
Academic papers
- Joint Water Quantity/Quality Management Analysis in a Biofuel Production Area (PDF) by Márcia Maria Guedes Alcoforado de Moraes, Ximing Cai, Claudia Ringler, Bruno Edson Albuquerque, Sérgio P. Vieira da Rocha and Carlos Alberto Amorim for the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), May 2009.
- Brazilian Ethanol: A Gift or Threat to the Environment and Regional Development? (PDF) by Sriniketh Nagavarapu at the Department of Economics, Stanford University, January 2008. This reports looks at regional issues in Brazil relating to sugarcane and ethanol production such as economics, regional inequality, threats to forests and US import barriers.
- The Economic Feasibility of Ethanol Production From Sugar in the United States (PDF) - USDA, principal authors are Dr. Hossein Shapouri, and Dr. Michael Salassi, July 2006.
- Sustainability of Brazilian Bioethanol (PDF) by Edward Smeets, Martin Junginger, André Faaij (Utrecht University); Arnaldo Walter, Paulo Dolzan (State University of Campinas); commissioned by SenterNovem, The Netherlands Agency for Sustainable Development and Innovation, August 2006.
- The Sustainability of Brazilian Sugarcane Bioethanol: A Literature Review - Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, by Andrew Barber, Glenys Pellow, and Mariana de Aragao Pereira, May 2008.
- Sugarcane Based Bioethanol: Energy for Sustainable Development - BNDES and CGEE, www.sugarcanebioethanol.org, 1st Edition, November 2008.
News (See also News and country pages)
- Amazon rainforest will bear cost of biofuel policies in Brazil, 8 February 2010 by Mongabay: "Business-as-usual agricultural expansion to meet biofuel production targets for 2020 will take a heavy toll on Brazil's Amazon rainforest in coming years, undermining the potential emissions savings of transitioning from fossil fuels to biofuels, warns a new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The research suggests that intensification of cattle ranching, combined with efforts to promote high-yielding oil crops like oil palm could lessen forecast greenhouse gas emissions from indirect land use in the region."
- The researchers find "that while relatively little forest land will be directly converted for biofuel production, large swathes of rainforest and cerrado will be indirectly impacted through displacement of cattle ranching, presently the dominant form of land use in the Brazilian Amazon."
- "'To fill the biofuel production targets for 2020, sugarcane would require an additional 57,200 [square kilometers] and soybean an additional 108,100 sq km. Roughly 88% of this expansion (145,700 sq km) would take place in areas previously used as rangeland,' the authors write."
- The authors "'argue that to avoid the undesired indirect land-use change by biofuels presented here, strategies for cooperation between the cattle ranching and biofuel-growing sectors should be implemented".[11]
- See the PNAS paper, Lapola et al. Indirect land-use changes can overcome carbon savings from biofuels in Brazil.
- Brazil proposes banning sugarcane in Amazon, 18 September 2009 by the COP 15 Copenhagen Website: "Brazil's president is proposing a plan to prohibit sugarcane-ethanol plantations in the Amazon and other ecologically sensitive areas."
- Korean firms set to invest $475M on biofuel plants, 29 May 2009 by BusinessWorld: Manila, Philippines--local firms sign "an agreement with South Korean companies to put up two biofuel plants costing a combined $475 million."
- Two agreements signed for bioethanol and biodiesel production.
- "...bioethanol producer Enviro Plasma, Ltd. and Central Luzon Bioenergy Corp. will put up a 500,000-liter per day bioethanol plant worth $300 million in Clark, Pampanga with sugarcane feedstock from 46,000 hectares of plantation..."
- "South Korean biodiesel producer Eco Solutions Co., Ltd. and partner Eco Global Bio-Oils, Inc. will invest $175 million to put up a biodiesel plant capable of producing 100,000 liters of biodiesel per day...Eco Solutions had committed to invest at least 100,000 hectares to plant jatropha".
- Brazil Can Protect Amazon as Crop Output Expands, Unger Says, 15 April 2009 by Bloomberg News: "Brazil can protect its Amazon rainforest and boost agricultural output by planting crops in areas now used for low-intensity ranching, Minister of Strategic Affairs Roberto Mangabeira Unger said."
- "Brazil, the world’s second-biggest soybean grower, yesterday renewed a ban on sales of the oilseed planted illegally in the Amazon rainforest."
- "Brazil is also the world’s biggest beef exporter and the biggest coffee and sugar-cane grower."[13]
- Brazil wants help lifting US ethanol tariffs, 17 March 2009 by the International Herald Tribune: "Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday implored American businessmen to help convince the United States to lift the 53-cent-per-gallon import tariff it places on his country's ethanol fuel."
- Silva, "who met with President Barack Obama on Saturday, has made little progress persuading the U.S. to reduce the tariffs, which are in place to protect American farmers who make ethanol from corn. Brazil makes ethanol from sugar, in a process that is much more efficient and costs less."
- "Silva also defended biofuels as a way to fight poverty, pointing out that while drilling for oil requires expensive investment, planting sugar cane is cheap and easy for small producers in tropical countries from Brazil to Africa."[14]
- Small farmers to join Brazil sustainable cane move, 1 September 2008, by Reuters: "Dozens of small and medium-scale farmers in Brazil's Sao Paulo state will grow sugar cane certified as meeting strict social and environmental standards, the region's cane producers association said late on Thursday."
- Sugarcane suppliers joining the program "must refuse the use of child or slave labor, limit their use of agrochemicals, and gather their cane with mechanical harvesters as opposed to cutting it manually. Manual cutting involves burning the plant's foliage, which pollutes the air."[15]
- Mozambique approves large biofuel project to counter rising fuel prices, 17 July 2008 by the International Herald Tribune: "The Mozambican government says it approved a large biofuel project to counter the effects of rising fuel prices."
- "The government said Thursday that it plans to plant sugar cane on 18,000 hectares (44,500 acres) to produce ethanol in central Mozambique."[16]
- Biofuel policies in OECD countries costly and ineffective, says report, 16 July 2008 press release by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD): "The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is a primary reason for current biofuel policies but the savings are limited. Ethanol from sugar cane - the main feedstock used in Brazil – reduces greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80 percent compared to fossil fuels. But emission reductions are much smaller from biofuels based on feedstocks used in Europe and North America."[17]
- The race for nonfood biofuel, 4 June 2008 by the Christian Science Monitor: With "gas now at $4 a gallon and critics hammering corn ethanol for helping to pump up global food prices, it is clear that the holy grail of biofuels – cellulosic ethanol – needs to make its entrance soon."
- "A big step forward came last week with the opening of the nation’s first demonstration-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in Jennings, La. The facility, built by Cambridge, Mass.-based Verenium Corp., will use high-tech enzymes to make 1.4 million gallons per year of ethanol from the cellulose in sugar cane bagasse, a waste product."
- Biofuel blight threatens spectacular Kenyan wetland, 18 February 2008, by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) (UK): "A flourishing wetland on Kenya’s northern coast is under serious threat from plans to grow vast amounts of sugarcane, partly for biofuel production....Developers want to transform nearly 50,000 acres (20,000 hectares) of the spectacular Tana River Delta into sugarcane plantations with other parts of the Delta earmarked for rice." The delta is habitat for 345 species of birds, as well as crocodiles, hippos and lions.
- Mozambique signs ethanol mega-deal: $510 million, 30,000 hectares of sugarcane - According to Biopact, Mozambique's Agricultural Minister has confirmed the deal with Central African Mining & Exploration Company Plc to build a plantation and ethanol plant.
- Brazil assessing 10x increase in ethanol production; 10% of Global Gasoline in 18 years, 1 April 2007 from Tierramerica.net. A government group led by the Interdisciplinary Group for Energy Planning of Campinas University concluded that Brazil could produce 205 billion liters of ethanol by 2025, which is about 10% of projected gasoline demand. This could be done "without sacrificing forests, protected areas or food cultivation". One of the key assumptions of the group is the development of cellulosic ethanol technologies that can use bagasse, the main by-product of sugar ethanol production.
- President da Silva's Statement on Biofuels and Ethanol: Fuel for Thought 24 July 2006 from biofuels marketplace (originally from the Wall Street Journal)
Countries
Organizations
- Ethical sugar - (English), French), (Spanish), (Portuguese)
Events
- 9-10 March 2009, Araçatuba, SP, Brazil: II International Symposium DATAGRO/UDOP. Organized by the UDOP (Bioenergy Producers Union) and DATAGRO. (Themes: ethanol, sugarcane, technology)
- 1-3 June 2009, São Paulo, Brazil: Ethanol Summit 2009 and Brazilian Ethanol Trade Show. Organized by the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) in cooperation with The Economist Group. (Themes: Brazil, ethanol, sugarcane).
- 17-18 August 2009, Bangkok, Thailand: 15th Asia International Sugar Conference (AISC) 2009 (Themes: sugarcane, ethanol, sustainability, Better Sugarcane Initiative)
- 7 October 2009, Mexico City, Mexico: Biofuels Markets Mexico & Central America (Themes: algae, biodiesel, biofuels, Central America, ethanol, Mexico, policy, sugarcane)
References
| Tropical feedstocks for bioenergy | edit | |
| Bamboo (Charcoal) | Cassava (Biodiesel and Bioethanol) | Coconut palm (Biodiesel) | Jatropha (Biodiesel) | Nypa palm (Bioethanol) | Oil palm (Biodiesel) | Sugar cane (Bioethanol) | ||
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