Billion Liters Of Ethanol Research Articles

Availability of Employing Biomass Resources From Forest Residues for Bioenergy Production in Ethiopia

The urgency of addressing environmental challenges has become more apparent than ever in recent years. Using existing renewable resources and reducing environmental impacts is critical for boosting economic growth and sustainable development. Ethiopia has limited access to modern bioenergy because of insufficient biomass data and policy gaps. This study estimated the theoretical potential of forest residue biomass resources for modern bioenergy production in Ethiopia. A combination of forest statistics data, publicly available data, literature models, and standard procedures was utilized. Ethiopia generates approximately 16.4 million dry tons of recoverable forest residue biomass each year. This indicates that the theoretical energy potential of forest residue available in Ethiopia is about 1.8–4.93 billion liters of ethanol each year, equivalent to 172%–469% of the country’s gasoline consumption. Alternatively, the same amount of residue could generate 1.23–3.29 billion liters of biodiesel (biomass to Fischer–Tropsch) each year, accounting for 40%–107% of the country’s biodiesel consumption. The theoretical estimations also show that the recoverable forest residues have the potential to produce about 12.7–34 TWh of electricity. This could significantly improve remote rural household electrification while decreasing the country’s reliance on fuel wood biomass for traditional biofuels by 26%. The findings indicate that generating modern bioenergy from forest biomass residue has the potential to contribute to Ethiopia’s energy mix, boost rural power access, and open new avenues for socioeconomic development. Finally, it can be concluded that the study findings reported in this study are useful to energy professionals, researchers, and policymakers interested in biomass fuel.

Bioenergy-livestock integration in Brazil: Unraveling potentials for energy production and climate change mitigation

Future projections indicate an expansion for both food and energy demands, which can increase pressure on land use, while there is an urgent global need for climate change mitigation. Bioenergy is foreseen as key option to meet future energy demands and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, however its sustainability depends on locations and regional characteristics. Simultaneously, agricultural production models that co-produce food, feed, and energy offer sustainability synergies and co-benefits, but site-specific sustainability assessments of their large-scale implementation are missing. This study presents a bottom-up approach to assess spatially explicit sustainability aspects of bioenergy-livestock integrated systems (BLI) in Brazil and shed light on their contribution to future energy demands, to climate change mitigation targets, and their impacts on selected ecosystem services, including bioenergy production, climate change mitigation, reduction of food competition, biodiversity conservation, and avoided deforestation. The proposed integration considers livestock intensification and use of biofuels by-products as animal feed supplement, taking advantage of synergies between these two value chains. The expansion of the BLI system in the Center-South region of Brazil produce up to 89 billion liters of ethanol, enough to meet future domestic ethanol demands from multiple shared socioeconomic pathways and generating surpluses for export. This production takes place on 16 million hectares of pastureland within the Sugarcane Agroecological Zoning, excluding the Amazon and Pantanal biomes, and biodiversity hotspots. BLI expansion mitigate up to 250 million tonnes of CO2eq and generate 15 billion dollars of profits. The best locations to maximize the selected ecosystem services are west of São Paulo, east of Mato Grosso do Sul, and the south-central region of the states of Goiás. This study may encourage the formulation of enhanced public policies for the integration of bioenergy and livestock value chains and guide a sustainable large-scale deployment of BLI systems.

Sweet Fuel: A Political and Environmental History of Brazilian Ethanol

Sweet Fuel: A Political and Environmental History of Brazilian Ethanol

Green Technologies and Their Role in Mitigating Climate Change: A Comparative Study Across Developing Nations

Climate change poses major challenges around the world, with developing countries particularly vulnerable due to lack of resources and services. Green technologies—such as renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, and green materials—offer promising solutions to mitigate climate change impacts but the adoption of these technologies in developing countries are still uneven, driven by political, economic, and technological factors. This study seeks to examine the role of green technologies in climate change mitigation in four developing countries—India, Brazil, South Africa, and Kenya—through comparative analysis. The problem statement focuses on the inequitable adoption of green technologies in developing countries, where financial constraints, lack of technical expertise, and inconsistent government policies prevent widespread implementation And as a result comes to be considered which shows that green technologies have contributed significantly in reducing carbon emissions in these countries. For example, India’s solar power system installed 62 GW of solar capacity, reducing emissions by 150 million metric tons per year. Brazil’s biofuel industry, which produces 35 billion liters of ethanol a year, has reduced its reliance on fossil fuels for transportation. The Kenya geothermal sector generated 863 MW of electricity, reducing the country’s dependence on fossil fuels by 45%. However, the study also highlights barriers such as inadequate funding, inadequate infrastructure and social opposition, which limit the potential of all these technologies.

Impact of Green Cane Harvesting on Pest Management in Sugarcane

Green cane harvesting is a new agricultural practice that provides many benefits to sugar cane production in Brazil by allowing cane straw to remain on the soil surface. However, this system has complicated the management of weeds, pests and diseases. This review will highlight the impact of green cane harvesting on the management of weeds, insect pests, and pathogens in sugar cane production, and cover novel techniques and practices used to manage pests in this production system. Brazil has a unique agroecosystem that includes tropical and subtropical climates and distinct technical challenges relative to other agricultural regions around the world. Sugarcane stands out as an economically important crop in Brazilian agriculture, both in terms of its planting area and the complexity of the production system (e.g., constant changes in planting, cultural practices, and harvest managements). Brazilian sugarcane production in the 2018/2019 season was 620.44 million tons produced over more than 8.5 million hectares distributed mainly in the states of São Paulo, Goiás, and Minas Gerais. Currently, 38% of this production is intended to produce sugar and 62% to ethanol, generating 29.04 million tons of sugar and 33.14 billion liters of ethanol, making Brazil the largest sugar and ethanol producing country in the world. The sugarcane agroindustry continues to expand in Brazil, showing a great capacity to aggregate value to byproducts of ethanol and sugar, such as vinasse (fertilizer), filter cake (fertilizer and soil conditioner), bagasse (raw-material for industries; animal feed; and electrical energy generation), and plant straws (electrical energy generation). The adoption of mechanized harvests without burning has allowed accumulation of sugarcane straw residues over the cropping area (green cane harvesting). Approximately 84% of the sugarcane production area in Brazil follows green cane harvesting practices. This harvesting system has made the management of weeds, pests and diseases even more complex in sugarcane fields than before. Green cane harvesting has made pest and weed management (mainly) more complex. The presence of residues on the soil directly affects the action of pre-emergent herbicides that are most commonly used in sugarcane and increases the incidence of some important pests such as S. levis and M. fimbriolata. Integration of management programs for weeds, pests, and diseases generates economic benefits and control efficacy (broad spectrum action), maximizing their individual efficacy level, reducing the dependence on only one of them and the risk of selection of resistant pest populations. Monitoring, planning, and evaluation of the history of the sugarcane fields are essentials and assist in decision making regarding the method and time of control to be used. The efficiency of this system assists in the maintenance of high yields, health, and longevity for sugarcane fields.

A New Methodology to Calculate the Ethanol Fermentation Efficiency at Bench and Industrial Scales

Ethanol is the biofuel with the greatest global consumption. Brazil is the largest sugar cane ethanol producer in the world. In the 2017–2018 harvest, 27.9 billion liters of ethanol were produced. Accurate determination of the fermentation efficiency value of an industrial unit is therefore essential for evaluation of the performance of an ethanol production process. The present work proposes a new methodology to calculate the fermentation efficiency discounting the volume occupied by yeast cells. Data from fed-batch fermentations performed at bench and industrial scales were used to estimate the ethanol fermentation efficiency, using classical industrial methodologies as well as the new method. The results showed that the former overestimated the ethanol fermentation efficiency values, while the new method provided greater accuracy. The use of this new technique could justify investments in the fermentation unit, with the aim of improving the process.

Responsiveness and value chain in sugar-ethanol production

Brazil is the world’s major sugarcane producer. In 2018/19, the country will have produced about 47.34 million tons of sugar and 58.8 billion liters of ethanol. Sugar and ethanol are produced in the same production process and the definition of both quantities is pre-established to sugarcane agro-industry. The purpose of this paper is to identify how managers define the production mix of sugar-ethanol in an agro-industry and how this decision adds value to its operations. The results showed that the searched mill adds value to its production through responsiveness and flexibility while orienting the production to sugar and/or ethanol according to the most profitable market during the moment of the decision making.

Economy wide impacts of ethanol and biodiesel policy in Canada: An input–output analysis

ABSTRACTThe Government of Canada has committed that Canada’s total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions be reduced by 17% from 2005 levels by 2020. The new Renewable Fuels Regulations required 2% renewable content in diesel fuel and heating distillate oil and 5% for gasoline. This represents approximately 2.1 billion liters of ethanol and 600 million liters of biodiesel requirement per year, which would reduce GHG emissions by more than four million tones. Canada is expected to consume more fuel ethanol compared to its production capacity. The above mandates as well as the gap in consumption and production of biofuel will have enormous impact on the Canadian economy. In this backdrop, an input–output model of the Canadian economy is developed to estimate the macroeconomic impact of the ethanol and biodiesel production in Canada. The impacts on sectoral prices have also been calculated. Simulation exercises have been attempted to reach the mandates using modified Leontief model. Results show that agriculture sector is affected because of feedstock use in the biofuel sector. Mining and manufacturing industries also show a considerable impact. In addition, the impact on commodity prices cannot be ignored. Finally, to meet the target of Copenhagen commitment, the nation needs to revise the blending capacity of ethanol and biodiesel.

Ethanol production from alkali-pretreated oil palm empty fruit bunch by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation with mucor indicus

ABSTRACTOil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) is a potential raw material for production of lignocellulosic bioethanol. The OPEFB was pretreated with 8% sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution at 100°C for 10 to 90 min. Enzymatic digestion was carried out using cellulase and β-glucosidase at 45°C for 24 h. It was then inoculated with Mucor indicus spores suspension and fermented under anaerobic conditions at 37°C for 96 h. Sodium hydroxide pretreatment effectively removed 51–57% of lignin in the OPEFB and also its hemicellulose (40–84%). The highest glucan digestibility (0.75 g/g theoretical glucose) was achieved in 40-min NaOH pretreatment. Fermentation by M. indicus resulted in 68.4% of the theoretical ethanol yield, while glycerol (16.2–83.2 mg/g), succinic acid (0–0.4 mg/g), and acetic acid (0–0.9 mg/g) were its by-products. According to these results, 11.75 million tons of dry OPEFB in Indonesia can be converted into 1.5 billion liters of ethanol per year.

Competitividade do etanol em áreas tradicional e de expansão na região Centro-Sul

A cadeia do agronegócio da cana-de-açúcar é uma das que mais tem contribuído para o crescimento econômico do Brasil, na safra de 2010-2011 foi plantado 8,1 milhões de hectares produzindo 28 bilhões de litros de etanol e para a safra de 2011-2012 a previsão é de 33 bilhões de litros de etanol, elevando o Brasil como o maior produtor mundial de etanol. Este trabalho tem como objetivo verificar a competitividade do etanol brasileiro através da Matriz de Análise Política- MAP considerando uma área de cultivo tradicional e outra área de expansão da cana-de-açúcar. O instrumental utilizado para essa análise foi a Matriz de Análise de Política - MAP desenvolvida por Monke e Pearson (1989), os resultados mostram que as lucratividades privada e social foram positivos, indicando competitividade e eficiência econômica, respectivamente, para as duas cadeias. A cadeia do etanol em área tradicional foi a mais competitiva e com maior eficiência econômica por apresentar maior valor em ambas lucratividades. As transferências associadas à produção para as cadeias apresentaram valores positivos. O maior valor positivo na cadeia da área de tradicional reflete os altos preços ou receitas privadas nessa cadeia, indicando que há transferência positiva da sociedade para o setor produtor.

Sweet Sorghum Research and Development in India: Status and Prospects

Renewable energy is a critical source of energy that contributes to energy security, reducing dependence on fossil fuels and emission of greenhouse gases. India would require more than 6.3 billion liters of ethanol to meet its ambitious target of 20 % EBP by 2017. Sweet sorghum is a promising dryland adapted biofuel feedstock that addresses food-versus-fuel issue favourably. Owing to its genetic variability in terms of stalk sugar traits such as total soluble sugars, green stalk yield, juice quantity and grain yield various research institutes in India and abroad have developed superior varieties and hybrids. Two commercial sweet sorghum based distilleries were established in India but could not operate for long for several reasons. The decentralized crushing units were established to overcome the issues encountered by centralized units. The large scale cultivation of sweet sorghum can happen if improved cultivars with higher sugar yield with multiple biotic and abiotic stress tolerance are available besides more importantly the policy support from Government of India in terms of both producer and processor incentives materialize.

Modern bioenergy from agricultural and forestry residues in Cameroon: Potential, challenges and the way forward

Environmentally benign modern bioenergy is widely acknowledged as a potential substitute for fossil fuels to offset the human dependence on fossil fuels for energy. We have profiled Cameroon, a country where modern bioenergy remains largely untapped due to a lack of availability of biomass data and gaps in existing policies. This study assessed the biomass resource potential in Cameroon from sustainably extracted agricultural and forest residues. We estimated that environmentally benign residues amount to 1.11 million bone dry tons per year. This has the potential to yield 0.12–0.32 billion liters of ethanol annually to displace 18–48% of the national consumption of gasoline. Alternatively, the residues could provide 0.08–0.22 billion liters of biomass to Fischer Tropsch diesel annually to offset 17–45% of diesel fuel use. For the generation of bioelectricity, the residues could supply 0.76–2.02TWh, which is the equivalent of 15–38% of Cameroon's current electricity consumption. This could help spread electricity throughout the country, especially in farming communities where the residues are plentiful. The residues could, however, offset only 3% of the national consumption of traditional biomass (woodfuel and charcoal). Policy recommendations that promote the wider uptake of modern bioenergy applications from residues are provided.

Analyzing the effect of biofuel expansion on land use in major producing countries: evidence of increased multiple cropping

AbstractEstimates on impacts of biofuel production often use models with limited ability to incorporate changes in land use, notably cropping intensity. This review studies biofuel expansion between 2000 and 2010 in Brazil, the USA, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Mozambique, South Africa plus 27 EU member states. In 2010, these countries produced 86 billion litres of ethanol and 15 billion litres of biodiesel. Land use increased by 25 Mha, of which 11 Mha is associated with co‐products, i.e. by‐products of biofuel production processes used as animal feed. In the decade up to 2010, agricultural land decreased by 9 Mha overall. It expanded by 22 Mha in Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Mozambique, some 31 Mha was lost in the USA, the EU, and South Africa due to urbanization, expansion of infrastructure, conversion into nature, and land abandonment. Increases in cropping intensity accounted for 42 Mha of additional harvested area. Together with increased co‐product availability for animal feed, this was sufficient to increase the net harvested area (NHA, crop area harvested for food, feed, and fiber markets) in the study countries by 19 Mha. Thus, despite substantial expansion of biofuel production, more land has become available for non‐fuel applications. Biofuel crop areas and NHA increased in most countries including the USA and Brazil. It is concluded that biofuel expansion in 2000–2010 is not associated with a decline in the NHA available for food crop production. The increases in multiple cropping have often been overlooked and should be considered more fully in calculations of (indirect) land‐use change (iLUC). © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

The role of biological nitrogen fixation by non-legumes in the sustainable production of food and biofuels

The 12th International Symposium on biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) with Non-Legumes took place in Buzios, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from October 3 to 8, 2010. It was the latest in a series of meetings that, fittingly, first began in Brazil, in 1977 in the city of Piracicaba. This Special Issue of Plant and Soil comprises 21 papers from the Buzios Symposium, as well as a commentary and three obituaries. Given the volatility (and general upward trend) in oil prices and global attempts to alleviate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the agricultural use of Ncontaining mineral fertilizers produced by the energyintensive Haber-Bosch process, it was inevitable that the main focus of the 2010 Symposium would be very much on the substitution of fertilizers in favour of the increased use of BNF in non-legume cropping systems. In the intervening years since the last time the symposium was held in Brazil (August 1987 in Rio de Janeiro), knowledge about non-legume BNF has increased enormously, encompassing everything from more accurate N-based quantification studies in the field through to the molecular identification of their associated diazotrophs (both culturable and unculturable) and the localization of these bacteria via high resolution microscopy. The completely sequenced genomes of many diazotrophic bacteria are also now available, and more are deposited in databases every year. Indeed, such technologies, which only a few years ago were considered remarkable, are now becoming standard tools in this field. In the case of sugarcane and other biofuel crops, the location of the 2010 meeting in Brazil was especially pertinent, as the highly advanced Brazilian bioethanol programme, which produces over 27 billion litres of ethanol per year, is based upon the cultivation of sugarcane, and Brazilian cane has long been known to be able to derive much of its N-requirements via BNF. The consequent low fertilizer use by Brazilian cane producers not only makes for enormous economic savings, but also mitigates against GHG emissions from the production of N-containing fertilizers, as well as their transport and application and nitrous oxide emissions. However, in spite of the strong likelihood that cane can benefit significantly from BNF, little is known about how much N it can really fix, and as field-based BNF quantification studies may take several years to complete, we are thus fortunate to include two such studies in this Special Issue (both utilizing the N natural abundance technique): one on sugarcane by Urquiaga et al., and one on the C-4 “energy crop” Plant Soil (2012) 356:1–3 DOI 10.1007/s11104-012-1317-1

Measuring ecological impact of water consumption by bioethanol using life cycle impact assessment

Purpose Though the development of biofuel has attracted numerous studies for quantifying potential water demand applying life cycle thinking, the impacts of biofuel water consumption still remain unknown. In this study, we aimed to quantify ecological impact associated with corn-based bioethanol water consumption in Minnesota in responding to different refinery expansion scenarios by applying a life cycle impact assessment method. Methods This ecological damage assessment method for quantifying water consumption impacts was proposed by Pfister et al. in 2009 (Environ Sci Technol 43: 4098–4104, 2009) using an impact characterization factor integrating terrestrial net primary production and precipitation. In this study, we derived the spatially explicit eco-damage characterization factors for 81 watersheds in Minnesota and compiled location-specific water consumption data for all current and planned bioethanol production facilities and feedstock production. The ecological damage caused by bioethanol production (ΔEQEtOH in m 2 ⋅yr) was then calculated on both watershed and refinery-plant levels. Additional refinery expansion scenarios were established for testing the effectiveness in changing ΔEQEtOH. Results and discussion The results show that ecological impact ΔEQEtOH varied by more than a factor of 3 between watersheds. Minnesota consumed 40 billion liters of water to produce 2.3 billion liters of ethanol as of 2007 (17 L water per liter of ethanol). The geographical distribution of ΔEQEtOH was shown to be uneven with a cluster of highimpact regions around the center of the state. The planned refinery expansion is expected to increase the state’s corn ethanol production capacity by 75% and ΔEQEtOH by 65%. However, strategically locating the planned expansion in the low-impact areas is expected to minimize the increases in ΔEQEtOH down to 19% from 65%. Conclusions The scenario analysis shows that strategically sourcing corn from low-impact regions can result in significantly less water use impact compared to a baseline scenario. The results indicate that employing the water consumption impact assessment can provide additional insights in policy making. The environmental impacts related to the change of plant infrastructure and agricultural practices associated with the development of the renewable energy industry should be considered as well for identifying the most sustainable alternatives.

Scientific challenges of bioethanol production in Brazil

Bioethanol (fuel alcohol) has been produced by industrial alcoholic fermentation processes in Brazil since the beginning of the twentieth century. Currently, 432 mills and distilleries crush about 625 million tons of sugarcane per crop, producing about 27 billion liters of ethanol and 38.7 million tons of sugar. The production of bioethanol from sugarcane represents a major large-scale technology capable of producing biofuel efficiently and economically, providing viable substitutes to gasoline. The combination of immobilization of CO₂ by sugarcane crops by photosynthesis into biomass together with alcoholic fermentation of this biomass has allowed production of a clean and high-quality liquid fuel that contains 93% of the original energy found in sugar. Over the last 30 years, several innovations have been introduced to Brazilian alcohol distilleries resulting in the improvement of plant efficiency and economic competitiveness. Currently, the main scientific challenges are to develop new technologies for bioethanol production from first and second generation feedstocks that exhibit positive energy balances and appropriately meet environmental sustainability criteria. This review focuses on these aspects and provides special emphasis on the selection of new yeast strains, genetic breeding, and recombinant DNA technology, as applied to bioethanol production processes.

The seeds of green energy: Expanding the contribution of plant oils as biofuels

Plant oils represent one of the most energyrich sources of renewable fuels available in Nature. Most of these oils occur in the form of triacylglycerols (TAGs) that can be transformed into biodiesel by conversion of their acyl chains into fatty acid methyl esters. In 2009, 14 billion litres of biodiesel were produced worldwide from plant oils (largely in the EU). This compares with 70 billion litres of ethanol (largely from Brazil and the USA). Both of these fuels now depend on land and crops (e.g. oil seeds, palm trees, maize and sugar cane) that are also used for foods. To meet growing demand and avoid competition with food, major expansion of biofuel production and development of new sources of biofuel are required. In this article, we outline how plants synthesize oils and describe some ways in which supplies of oils from plants could be increased to provide a larger contribution to renewable energy supplies.

Supply of Cellulosic Biofuel Feedstocks and Regional Production Pattern

Interest in cellulosic biofuels has grown due to recent concerns about the impact of expanding production of corn ethanol on food prices and the greater potential of cellulosic biofuels to mitigate climate change. The Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 limits the production of corn ethanol to 56 billion liters after 2015 and mandates the production of at least 80 of the 136 billion liters of ethanol from non–corn starch–based cellulosic feedstocks by 2022. The Biomass Research and Development Act of 2000 had established an even more ambitious goal of using biomass to replace the equivalent of 30% of current petroleum consumption by 2030 and estimated that this would require 1 billion dry (short) tons of biomass annually (U.S. Department of Energy [USDOE 2003]). Biomass can be obtained from several different sources, including forest resources, crop residues,woody biomass,and perennial grasses. A USDA/USDOE report (Perlack et al. 2005) examined the technical feasibility of sustaining this supply of biomass and the land resources that would be required under alternative scenarios with yield-enhancing and other technological changes in conventional crops and perennial bioenergy crops. The study estimated that 0.54 to 1 billion dry tons of agricultural crop-based biomass could be obtained annually from cropland, idle cropland, and cropland pasture with moderate to high productivity gains in crop productivity, residue collection, and tillage practices.

Role of Photodegradation in the Fate of Fluorescent Whitening Agents (FWAs) in Lacustrine Environments

There is an intense ongoing debate regarding the potential scale of biofuel production without creating adverse effects on food supply. We explore the possibility of three land-efficient technologies for producing food (actually animal feed), including leaf protein concentrates, pretreated forages, and double crops to increase the total amount of plant biomass available for biofuels. Using less than 30% of total U.S. cropland, pasture, and range, 400 billion liters of ethanol can be produced annually without decreasing domestic food production or agricultural exports. This approach also reduces U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 670 Tg CO₂-equivalent per year, or over 10% of total U.S. annual emissions, while increasing soil fertility and promoting biodiversity. Thus we can replace a large fraction of U.S. petroleum consumption without indirect land use change.

Biofuels Done Right: Land Efficient Animal Feeds Enable Large Environmental and Energy Benefits

There is an intense ongoing debate regarding the potential scale of biofuel production without creating adverse effects on food supply. We explore the possibility of three land-efficient technologies for producing food (actually animal feed), including leaf protein concentrates, pretreated forages, and double crops to increase the total amount of plant biomass available for biofuels. Using less than 30% of total U.S. cropland, pasture, and range, 400 billion liters of ethanol can be produced annually without decreasing domestic food production or agricultural exports. This approach also reduces U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 670 Tg CO2-equivalent per year, or over 10% of total U.S. annual emissions, while increasing soil fertility and promoting biodiversity. Thus we can replace a large fraction of U.S. petroleum consumption without indirect land use change.