Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply - Embrapa

authorized mixing 3% alcohol to gasoline, which opens a huge market to ethanol
exports from Brazil. An even higher percentage of alcohol could be added to the
gasoline, as demonstrated by the gasoline used in Brazil, whose alcohol contents
varies from 20% to 25%.
Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (GGE)
Figure 16 shows in schematic form the natural greenhouse effect, which
can be worsened by unbridled greenhouse gas emissions.
Figure 16. Schematic representation of the greenhouse effect.
Source: Drawn by D.L.Gazzoni and D. Estevão.
The use of biomass to sequester carbon is a given. The IPCC estimates
that from 60 to 87-billion tons of carbon could be stocked in forests from 1990
to 2050, or 12% to 15% of fossil fuel emissions during the same period. Some
requirements must be met for the biomass to mitigate effectively the impact
of fossil fuels on the environment, namely:
• Sustainable production of the raw materials and use of the energy
resources resulting in neutral production of CO . 2
• Carbon sequestration and fixation for long periods of time, even after
the useful life of the plant (e.g., production of wood furniture).
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