Abstract
The study reports the CO2 emissions from diesel combustion in the following stages of the Brazilian ethanol supply chain: (a) agricultural operations (management), (b) sugarcane transportation to the mill, and (c) biofuel transportation to the destination. To assess the sensitivity of the results to different origins, five regions representative of ethanol production were selected, and the final destination was the port of Santos. The transportation stage from the mill to the port included the possible effects of using multimodal alternatives, such as road–rail and road–pipeline. The results indicate that diesel consumption varies greatly by region of origin, and agricultural management, such as tilling, planting, and harvesting operations, accounts for about 70% of total diesel emissions to the ethanol supply chain. Rail and pipeline transportation are ultimately important for mitigating emissions from fuel consumption in logistics corridors for exporting ethanol. It is a valuable contribution to supporting private actions and public policies related to the mitigation of emissions in the logistic stages of bioethanol, especially related to the optimization of the agricultural management process and improvement of the multimodal transport infrastructure, respectively. It is also a lesson to countries intending to produce ethanol from sugarcane.
Highlights
The transport sector is one of the main consumers of energy in the world
Our main contribution is that CO2 emissions in the agricultural management stage from diesel consumption, measured in terms of kg CO2 per ton of ethanol, are more relevant than the ones that come from the transportation stages
The better management of diesel consumption during the production process could contribute to greener production patterns and the environmental competitiveness level of the bioethanol producer
Summary
The transport sector is one of the main consumers of energy in the world. Renewables penetrated only 3.3 percent of the transportation global market in 2016 [1]. The diffusive nature of transport use in modern society and its high dependence on fossil fuels has direct consequences for the use of resources and the environmental impact of the sector [2,3]. The reduction of the energy use and emissions associated with the provision of transport services is, according to [2], one of the most challenging areas of energy policy. Renewable energy utilization is an alternative to address this issue, including the possibility of achieving a greener and more sustainable transport energy supply [2]. In Brazil, ethanol from sugarcane is an important biofuel used by passenger cars, accounting for about 50% of fuel consumption by light vehicles
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