Biofuels in Perspective

4
Bio-Ethanol Development(s)
in Brazil
Arnaldo Walter
Department of Energy and NIPE, State University of Campinas (Unicamp), Brazil
4.1 Overview
Brazil has consumed ethanol as automotive fuel, in large-scale, for more than 30 years. The
country is currently the second largest world producer of ethanol (was surpassed by USA
in 2006) and is the only country where biofuels are strictly competitive with oil derivatives.
Brazil currently produces more than 18 billion liters (Gl) of ethanol from sugarcane and
exports more than 3.5 Gl; production shall reach 28–30 Gl and at least 6 Gl shall be
exported by 2013. A deep reduction of production costs was achieved due to technology
development (both in the agriculture and in the industry) and up scaling of production
units. Ethanol production in Brazil is currently much more sustainable than in the past,
but there are still room for improvements: the best results are related with reduction on
GHG emissions and developments are necessary regarding biodiversity preservation and
social aspects. Anyhow, many Brazilian producers are currently in condition to sell to
markets where sustainability of biofuels production is an important issue. In order to keep
on competitive, a big challenge for Brazil is regarding continuous technology development,
with focus on diversification of the production process (e.g. development of hydrolysis of
sugarcane bagasse) and of the products (e.g. enlarging electricity production and producing
chemicals and other materials). Brazilian experience on large-scale production of ethanol
is really a good case study and the country can contribute a lot in order to make ethanol a
real commodity.
Biofuels. Edited by Wim Soetaert, Erick J. Vandamme.
© 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. ISBN: 978-0-470-02674-8