Brazil forecasts record sugarcane and ethanol production
Brazil's Companhia Nacional do Abastecimento is forecasting record levels for the 2007-2008 sugarcane production fuelled (pun intended) by the expansion of ethanol. According to this official organisation, this year's production of sugarcane will reach 547.2 million tons, 15.2 percent more than last year's 474.8 million.
The uses for this huge amounts of sugarcane are divided this way: 40.5 percent for sugar manufacturing (30 million tons of sugar) and a whopping 46 percent to produce 21.3 billion liters of ethanol, 22 percent more than last year's production. The rest of the sugarcane is used for producing specific sugars, panela and liquor (cachaça for caipirinhas, among others).
Because of the increased demand for ethanol, Brazil producers have increased by 12.3 percent the acres dedicated to sugarcane. Plans are to double this production in five-years time.
The ethanol industry is booming for Brazil, and the country has signed agreements with many countries to expand its use. For instance, Brazil exported 3.9 billion liters of ethanol in 2006, compared to 2.6 billion in 2005 - That's 70 percent of the international trading market for this fuel. Of the 2006 exports, 1.7 billion liters reached the US, 346 million went to the Nederlands, 225 to Japan and 204 to Sweden.
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[Source: Agroinformacion.com]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
mlhm5 11:59AM (9/03/2007)
Ethanol is another scam, just like hydrogen.
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dean 7:07PM (9/03/2007)
mlhm5 is correct...to a degree. If you just want to go to an alternative fuel-source than Arab oil, ethanol is an answer. But is it good for the environment?
Not really. Engines optimized for e85 or E100 get the same mileage of their equivelent gas-burners, but with more power. But the E85 flex-fuel engines aren't optimized, and get 20-30% WORSE fuel economy, which also dumps more CO2 into the air.
Not mentioned in the article is how much rain-forest in Brazil is cut down for the sugar-cane fields. Using the slash-and-burn clearing technique for clearing forest. Its doing more harm than good.
What is really needed, we don't want. Reduced consumption. We want our Explorers, Sequioas, Yukons and Pathfinders. We want to go 75-85 on the freeway, and its just plain common-sense that less fuel is used at 55-60 mph. Who wants slow diesels when you can have a fast gas engine (oh wait, that is a myth ;-) ).
Hydrogen may not be as big a scam, seeing how we will get it is still up in the air. Time will tell. I think if we can use Hydrogen vehicles and electrical, that would be an ideal approach. (or compressed air)
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