Brazilian Sugar Research Articles

Harvest planning in the Brazilian sugar cane industry via mixed integer programming

This work addresses harvest planning problems that arise in the production of sugar and alcohol from sugar cane in Brazil. The planning is performed for two planning horizons, tactical and operational planning, such that the total sugar content in the harvested cane is maximized. The tactical planning comprises the entire harvest season that averages seven months. The operational planning considers a horizon from seven to thirty days. Both problems are solved by mixed integer programming. The tactical planning is well handled. The model for the operational planning extends the one for the tactical planning and is presented in detail. Valid inequalities are introduced and three techniques are proposed to speed up finding quality solutions. These include pre-processing by grouping and filtering the distance matrix between fields, hot starting with construction heuristic solutions, and dividing and sequentially solving the resulting MIP program. Experiments are run over a set of real world and artificial instances. A case study illustrates the benefits of the proposed planning.

Main food sources of sugar in Brazil: the National Dietary Survey, 2008–2009

In order to evaluate major food sources of added, free and total sugars in Brazil according to sex, age and income, day‐1 food records from 34,003 participants (≥10yrs) in the 2008–2009 Brazilian National Dietary Survey were analyzed. Foods were classified into 40 groups according to nutrient profile. The mean percentage of energy intake from total, added and free sugar intake was 19.6%, 13.5% and 18.5%, respectively. Women had higher intake of sugar than men; sugar consumption decreased with age and increased with income quartile. Juices, coffee and soft drinks were the major sources of total, added and free sugar in the Brazilian diet. These three food groups together contributed to 58%, 65% and 73 % of the percent of calories from total, added and free sugar, respectively. For all age‐sex groups those reporting consumption of soft drinks and cookies had higher mean energy intake, indicating these food groups as markers of excessive intake of sugar and energy in the Brazilian population. Our results emphasize the importance of public health efforts to limit sugar sweetened beverage and cookie consumption, particularly among adolescents, as an effort to curb obesity.

Multi-choice mixed integer goal programming optimization for real problems in a sugar and ethanol milling company

Goal Programming (GP) is an important analytical approach devised to solve many realworld problems. The first GP model is known as Weighted Goal Programming (WGP). However, Multi-Choice Aspirations Level (MCAL) problems cannot be solved by current GP techniques. In this paper, we propose a Multi-Choice Mixed Integer Goal Programming model (MCMI-GP) for the aggregate production planning of a Brazilian sugar and ethanol milling company. The MC-MIGP model was based on traditional selection and process methods for the design of lots, representing the production system of sugar, alcohol, molasses and derivatives. The research covers decisions on the agricultural and cutting stages, sugarcane loading and transportation by suppliers and, especially, energy cogeneration decisions; that is, the choice of production process, including storage stages and distribution. The MCMIGP allows decision-makers to set multiple aspiration levels for their problems in which “the more/higher, the better” and “the less/lower, the better” in the aspiration levels are addressed. An application of the proposed model for real problems in a Brazilian sugar and ethanol mill was conducted; producing interesting results that are herein reported and commented upon. Also, it was made a comparison between MCMI GP and WGP models using these real cases.

The exportation of Brazilian raw sugar: an analysis of economic impacts from railway mode

The growing demand for products originated from Brazilian sugarcane has created the need to adapt the supply chain by focusing on clients' growing demands for quality, low prices and goods produced sustainably. The sugar market is one of the most important in Brazil and has one of the best organised supply chains in the agricultural sector. Because of the market's high competitiveness, logistics has become a key component. The aim of this paper is to compare roadway and railway modes in the transportation of sugar from the sugar mills to the harbour in Santos. The comparison is mainly based on distance ranges. The results show that the transportation costs for rail were lower than those for roads in all distance ranges analysed.

Parallel Paths to Enforcement: Private Compliance, Public Regulation, and Labor Standards in the Brazilian Sugar Sector

In recent years, global corporations and national governments have been enacting a growing number of codes of conduct and labor laws to combat dangerous or degrading work conditions in global supply chains. On the receiving end of this activity, local producers must contend with multiple regulations and verification systems, but it is not clear how these systems interact and the results they produce. This paper examines the public and private enforcement of labor standards in the sugarcane, sugar and ethanol sector in Brazil. It finds that private and public agents refuse to communicate with each other, but they act in ways that reinforce each other’s actions. On one side, labor inspectors and prosecutors use their broad legal powers to outlaw some forms of outsourcing. On the other side, private auditors use their extensive access to targeted businesses and the trust they command as insiders to help them engage in a process of workplace transformation that makes it easier for firms to comply. Although these public and private agents refused to cooperate with one another, their parallel enforcement actions blocked the low road and steered targeted firms to a higher road that made compliance with labor standards not only viable, but sometimes even desirable.

Parallel Paths to Enforcement: Private Compliance, Public Regulation, and Labor Standards in the Brazilian Sugar Sector

Parallel Paths to Enforcement: Private Compliance, Public Regulation, and Labor Standards in the Brazilian Sugar Sector

Biofuels That Cause Land-Use Change May Have Much Larger Non-GHG Air Quality Emissions Than Fossil Fuels

Although biofuels present an opportunity for renewable energy production, significant land-use change resulting from biofuels may contribute to negative environmental, economic, and social impacts. Here we examined non-GHG air pollution impacts from both indirect and direct land-use change caused by the anticipated expansion of Brazilian biofuels production. We synthesized information on fuel loading, combustion completeness, and emission factors, and developed a spatially explicit approach with uncertainty and sensitivity analyses to estimate air pollution emissions. The land-use change emissions, ranging from 6.7 to 26.4 Tg PM(2.5), were dominated by deforestation burning practices associated with indirect land-use change. We also found Brazilian sugar cane ethanol and soybean biodiesel including direct and indirect land-use change effects have much larger life-cycle emissions than conventional fossil fuels for six regulated air pollutants. The emissions magnitude and uncertainty decrease with longer life-cycle integration periods. Results are conditional to the single LUC scenario employed here. After LUC uncertainty, the largest source of uncertainty in LUC emissions stems from the combustion completeness during deforestation. While current biofuels cropland burning policies in Brazil seek to reduce life-cycle emissions, these policies do not address the large emissions caused by indirect land-use change.

Computational simulation applied to the investigation of industrial plants for bioethanol distillation

This work aimed to investigate a typical bioethanol distillation process considering an alcoholic wine with 19 components and to validate the simulation results against experimental data collected from a Brazilian sugar mill. The process was investigated in terms of bioethanol alcoholic graduation, ethanol recovery, energy consumption and ethanol loss. Two optimizing approaches were tested: the central composite design (CCD) and the sequential quadratic programming (SQP). Both approaches allowed the optimization of the equipment configuration used nowadays and provided similar optimal conditions. The results showed that the simulation approach was capable of correctly reproducing a real plant of bioethanol distillation and that the optimal conditions guaranteed the bioethanol production according to legislation, with low consumption of steam and high recovery of ethanol. On the other hand, substantial fluctuations in wine composition may require adjustments of operational conditions or the use of specific control loops to prevent an off-specification product.

A Relação entre a Geração de Valor Econômico e o Valor de Mercado das Empresas Sucroalcooleiras Brasileiras <br>http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/2175-8069.2012v9n17p103

This paper is about creating value for Brazilian sugar and alcohol companies, as measured by EVA and MVA. We analyze the existence and the level of correlation between the EVA generated by sugar and alcohol companies (São Martinho, Cosan, Cosan Limited and Guarani), and their MVAs reached the market. The results showed the existence of correlation, statistically significant level of 5%, only to Cosan Limited. There is no significant correlation for three of the four companies examined. We conclude that EVA is not a consistent measure to signal the future behavior of the MVA of the companies.

Brave Music of a Distant Drum (review)

Reviewed by: Brave Music of a Distant Drum Hope Morrison Herbstein, Manu . Brave Music of a Distant Drum. Red Deer, 2012. 179p. Paper ed. ISBN 978-0-88995-470-0 $12.95 R Gr. 10 up. Ama is an aging African slave living and working on an eighteenth-century Brazilian sugar plantation; her son left the plantation years ago to be raised as a Christian and now takes down the life story of the mother he barely remembers. Ama's tale is a tragic one: she was kidnapped from her African village, repeatedly raped, imprisoned, and eventually sold into slavery and shipped across the Atlantic, with any respite from horror and abuse along the way proving only temporary. The narrative shifts seamlessly and with perfect timing between Ama's story and interjections by her son, Zacharias, and Josef, another slave. Ama's story is brutally fascinating in its own right, and for the most part the framing story serves to add depth and context. Much of Zacharias' narrative is dedicated to criticizing his mother's pagan ways, insisting that her story has nothing to do with him, and consistently protecting and defending his mistress; his sudden shift to broader understanding is abrupt, but the different understandings add tension. Ultimately, this is a complex and carefully developed examination of the transatlantic slave trade as seen through the lens of one woman's experience, and young people who may not have considered slavery's impact on the New World outside of North America will have their eyes opened. A detailed character list precedes the story, and a glossary is appended. Copyright © 2012 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Agricultural commodities pricing model applied to the Brazilian sugar market

This article suggests a pricing model for commodities used to produce biofuel. The model is based on the concept that the deterministic component of the Wiener process is not constant and depends on time and exogenous variables. The model, which incorporates theory of storage, the convenience yield and the seasonality of harvests, was applied in the Brazilian sugar market. After predictions were made with the Kalman filter, the model produced results that were statistically more accurate than those returned by the two‐factor model available in the literature.

Analysis of products from pyrolysis of Brazilian sugar cane straw

The main objective of this work is to investigate the chemical composition of the volatile compounds produced during the pyrolysis of sugar cane straw (SCS). The pyrolysis was conducted in a vertical furnace using a quartz reactor at a temperature of 700°C (7g of SCS, heating rate of 60°C/min, flux of 1mLmin−1 of N2 and 5min of hold time at the final temperature). Pyrolysis products (solid residue and bio-oil) were analyzed. The original biomass and the residual solid phase were characterized by Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The biomass showed a TGA profile similar to cellulose and, according to FTIR analysis, it was rich in oxygenated compounds. The FTIR analysis of solid residue indicated that it was composed mainly by silica. Comprehensive two dimensional gas chromatography with time of flight mass spectrometry detector (GC×GC/TOFMS) was applied in the identification and semi-quantification of main compounds in bio-oil, allowing the identification of 123 compounds, mainly oxygenated (acids, ethers, aldehydes, ketones and phenols) with a predominance of furfural and hexenoic acid. The GC×GC/TOFMS allowed a group type classification of the compounds and a spatial organization that facilitated the identification of the main compounds in the 2D diagram.

Disponibilidade de "açúcares de adição" no Brasil: distribuição, fontes alimentares e tendência temporal

To describe the regional and socio-economic distribution of consumption of added sugar in Brazil in 2002/03, particularly products, sources of sugar and trends in the past 15 years. The study used data from Household Budget Surveys since the 1980s about the type and quantity of food and beverages bought by Brazilian families. Different indicators were analyzed: % of sugar calories over the total diet energy and caloric % of table sugar fractions and sugar added to processed food/ sugar calories of diet. In 2002/03, of the total energy available for consumption, 16.7% came from added sugar in all regional and socio-economic strata. The table sugar/ sugar added to processed food ratio was inversely proportional to increase in income. Although this proportion fell in the past 15 years, sugar added to processed food doubled, especially in terms of consumption of soft drinks and cookies. Brazilians consume more sugar than the recommended levels determined by the WHO and the sources of consumption of sugar have changed significantly.

Aqueous Processing of Cellulosic Biomass for Biological Production of Sustainable Transportation Fuels

Cellulosic biomass including agricultural and forestry residues, substantial fractions of municipal solid waste, and grasses and woody plants grown for energy provide the only low cost and abundant resource that could be used for sustainable production of liquid transportation fuels on a large scale. The challenge is to develop low cost processing technologies to convert this inexpensive resource into viable transportation fuels. Biological conversion systems can apply the power of modern biotechnology to dramatically reduce the costs of converting cellulosic biomass to fuels, and ethanol represents a particularly desirable product in the near term because of its excellent fuel properties, widespread use, and compatibility with biological conversion systems. Ethanol use can also build from commercial experience gained with ethanol made from starch crops in the United States and cane sugar in Brazil. The most expensive steps in biological processing are associated with breaking down the cellulose and hemicellulose fractions of biomass to release sugars, with pretreatment particularly critical to achieving low costs and high yields Our research focuses on improving the understanding of aqueous pretreatment and its interactions with enzymatic hydrolysis with the goal of reducing costs. This presentation will summarize comparative data on pretreatment technologies, developing and applying a high throughput miniaturized approach to pretreatment and hydrolysis, and continuous fermentations to reduce enzyme use. Once successfully introduced into the marketplace, fuels from cellulosic biomass can have powerful and unique strategic, environmental, and economic benefits.

Organizational Structure and the Internationalization of Companies: A Case Study in Brazil’s Sugar and Alcohol Sector

In today's scenario of accelerated globalization, an outstanding case is that of Brazil's sugar and alcohol sector which, quite deregulated, has received considerable foreign investment motivated by the large global demand for ethanol as a source of fuel and by the competitive quality of the domestic product. It is important to underline that even when this sector shows good prospects, these enterprises should have a consistent strategy to enter the world markets with a solid internationalization plan. By using the Case Study Methodology at Brenco, the Brazilian Renewable Energy Company, this paper sought to outline the organization chart of this entity, regarded as an international project, with the aim of identifying the existence of an advanced innovative business model within this sector, characterized by large groups of local enterprises, directed toward the domestic market. Among the main results obtained it is notable that the organization chart is in line with the goal of being a global enterprise and with the target of becoming, by 2015, one of the sector's five largest enterprises.

ESTRUTURA ORGANIZACIONAL E INTERNACIONALIZAÇÃO DE EMPRESAS: UM ESTUDO DE CASO NO SETOR SUCROENERGÉTICO DO BRASIL

In today's scenario of accelerated globalization, an outstanding case is that of Brazil's sugar and alcohol sector which, quite deregulated, has received considerable foreign investment motivated by the large global demand for ethanol as a source of fuel and by the competitive quality of the domestic product. It is important to underline that even when this sector shows good prospects, these enterprises should have a consistent strategy to enter the world markets with a solid internationalization plan. By using the Case Study Methodology at Brenco, the Brazilian Renewable Energy Company, this paper sought to outline the organization chart of this entity, regarded as an international project, with the aim of identifying the existence of an advanced innovative business model within this sector, characterized by large groups of local enterprises, directed toward the domestic market. Among the main results obtained it is notable that the organization chart is in line with the goal of being a global enterprise and with the target of becoming, by 2015, one of the sector's five largest enterprises.

Musculoskeletal pain in Brazilian sugar cane cutters

ObjectivesThe worker involved in the sugar cane cut is exposed to both physical and mental health risks, due to several body movements that demand intense physical effort, along with inappropriate...

The Brazilian sugar and alcohol sector: Evolution, productive chain and innovations

The sugar and alcohol sector is one of the fastest growing and developing areas of the Brazilian economy, although some specialists worry unduly that sugarcane cultivation will replace food-crop plantations. This article analyses how Brazil and the State of São Paulo became major players in that sector, and expounds a theory on the relevance of innovations for increasing competitiveness, productivity and the number of byproducts. The study analyses global value chains to gauge their importance and gain a better understanding of the sugar and alcohol sector. It shows that the value chain is under national control, unlike most other chains in which Brazil participates. Lastly, the article highlights the most recent innovations in the sector, which reflect a drive to improve competitiveness.

BIOPOLYMERS Dow and Mitsui forge ahead on joint polyolefins project in Brazil

Mitsui & Co. is forming a joint venture with Dow Chemical to build a biopolymers complex in Brazil that will be integrated all the way back to sugarcane cultivation. Dow has been eyeing such a complex since 2007, when it revealed plans for a 350,000-metric-ton-per-year linear low-density polyethylene plant based on sugarcane. Brazilian sugar processor Crystalsev signed on as a partner but later dropped out. Under the new agreement, Mitsui will make an initial investment of $200 million. The Japanese firm is buying a 50% stake in Santa Vitoria Acucar e Alcool, a Dow subsidiary that is growing 17,000 hectares of sugarcane in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. Later this year, the pair will start building a 240 million-L ethanol plant that will start up in the second quarter of 2013. Eventually, the companies plan to build a plant that will dehydrate the ethanol into ethylene and a polyolefins plant of undetermined size ...

Formation of Dextran Deposits in Brazilian Sugar Cane Spirits

The formation of dextran deposits in sugared Brazilian cachaça was studied as a function of the time considering the effects of temperature, molecular weight (M(w)), visible light, pH, and the presence of Ca, Mg, Cu, and Fe ions in the concentrations at which they are usually present in this beverage. At 25 °C and pH 4.4, the experimental half-lives (t(1/2)) for precipitation are 73 and 124 days for dextrans with M(w) 5.9 × 10(6) and 2.1 × 10(6) Da, respectively. For dextrans with M(w) 5.0 × 10(5) and 4.0 × 10(4) Da, the experimental t(1/2) values are >180 days. For a dextran with M(w) 2.1 × 10(6) Da a change in pH from 4.4 to 5.5 at 25 °C resulted in a t(1/2) decrease from 124 to 25 days. At pH 4.4 the visible light and the presence of metal ions in average concentrations usually found in cachaças do not exhibit noticeable influence on the rate of dextran precipitation.