Tomas Petti Martins, Director, and Renata Camargo Duca, Programme Manager, of Zeus Global Development in Brazil discuss the relative merits of sugar cane and corn as sources of bio-ethanol.

Brazil began investing in biofuels in the 1970s in reaction to the two oil shocks, leading to a threefold increase in the price of the barrel, and placing great strain on an economy that imported over 80% of the oil it consumed. From the 1970s until now significant measures have been taken to diversify Brazil’s energy profile. The production and consumption of ethanol has played a keyrole in Brazil’s efforts to reduce dependence on foreign oil. Over thirty years a number of advancements have been made in the biofuels industry, including the development of engines which utilize anhydrous ethanol as fuel.

In 1975, the Brazilian government introduced a set of policies which encouraged the development of the Programa Nacional do Álcool, also known as Proálcool. The idea behind Proálcool was to increase the production of ethanol, or fuel alcohol, which could be mixed with gasoline for use in automobiles. The heavily subsidized Proálcool helped Brazil to increase its ethanol production from 158m gallons to 900m gallons between 1976 and 1979.

The main idea of the plan led Brazil to become the first country in the world to convert to renewable fuel. The plan helped Brazil save millions of dollars in crude imports by adding anhydrous ethanol to its gasoline pool. It was also the first time in the nineteenth century that sugar outranked coffee as the nation’s most profitable commodity export.

Since flex fuel vehicles came onto the market in 2003, sales have increased substantially. The preference of Brazilians for cars that are able to run on biofuel is beyond negation. 2,354,524 flex fuel cars were sold in 2008, representing roughly about 87% of car sales.

In recent years the growing concern over emission of pollutants from coal and gas has led many international entities to strike up collaborations with Brazil, to help them to modernize their energy base.

Zeus Global Development (ZGD) is a strategic advisory firm specializing in international development, located in Sao Paulo, Brazil. We contribute to national policy discussions by disseminating accurate information on new biofuel technologies, a subject often marred by inaccuracy. Many high level discussions occur without proper clarification of the evolving methods in which biofuel energy can be produced.

Zeus Global Development would like to illustrate the importance of thorough technological understanding by comparing the biofuel production methods of two of the world’s largest producers, the United States and Brazil.

In Brazil, ethanol is produced from sugar cane, and due to the development of many technologies over the past 30 years the production of biofuel has become a renewable, environmentally friendly source. Sugarcane ethanol use in lieu of gasoline has saved 600 million tons of GHG emissions in Brazil over the past thirty years.

By contrast, the United States derive their ethanol from corn, through a grossly inefficient process: it requires more energy to grow and convert the corn into ethanol than is produced as the end product. As the energy used to carry out the conversion of corn to ethanol comes from fossil fuels, the production process not only fails to alleviate environmental concerns, it in fact causes greater damage. The ethanol produced is priced higher than gasoline, discouraging potential customers, and the mass growth of corn for ethanol has driven up food prices. .

On the other hand, the process of producing ethanol from sugar cane has a far smaller environmental impact, indeed it is so efficient that it can be exported at USD $ 1.56 dollars per gallon (taking into account that the transportation of ethanol is easier than gasoline). The advantages are not, however, taken advantage of, due to the political barriers preventing Brazilian ethanol from entering the U.S. market, and the volatility of oil prices in recent years.

With discussions concerning energy and the issue of global warming in mind, we at ZGD have created the Climate Vulnerability Initiative, which seeks to promote the production of ethanol from sugar cane and the transfer of knowledge to countries most affected by climate change. This initiative has been thorougly researched by many Brazilian universities in their respective bioenergy departments, and there is national support for the education of local communities to help them develop new renewable energy sources.

Tomas Petti Martins
Director – Energy & Environment
tomas.martins@zeusconsult.com

Renata Camargo Duca
Program Manager – Climate, Vulnerability & Adaptation
Renata.camargo@zeusconsult.com