A Bioethanol-Fuelled Bioeconomy

by Mario Bonaccorso (Renewable Matter) ... 700 million tonnes of sugarcane treated in one year; 30.23 billion litres of bioethanol produced in 2015-2016. Used not just as biofuel but also in industries, it (Brazil) is the global leader in the production of biopolymers and biochemicals.

Abundance of non-food biomass, soil and vast availability of natural resources, a biodiversity almost unmatched anywhere else in the world and a biotechnological and chemical industry focused on innovation, with the biofuel sector as the nation’s spearhead. These are the main characteristics of Brazil’s bioeconomy, making the South American country one of the world’s leading actors in such metasector. Despite the lack of an integrated strategy on the bioeconomy, since the early 70s, when it was necessary to react to the oil shock, Brazil has introduced a set of policies promoting the advent of bioethanol and, more recently, the conservation and sustainable use of its biodiversity for economic purposes.

Brazil boasts over 400 sugarcane factories able to process about 700 million tonnes a year. In 2011, with the institution of the PAISS programme by the Brazilian Development Bank, the country came to prominence for the production of cellulosic ethanol, with two commercial plants and a pilot plant with a production capacity of almost 140 million litres per year, second only to the United States. ... Today, Brazil is already capable of replacing almost 42% of its petrol consumption with sugarcane-derived ethanol, ....

Since 2003, the combination of ethanol and petrol-fuelled vehicles reduced the emissions of carbon dioxide by over 350 million tonnes. This – the experts say – is as positive for the environment as planting and maintaining 2.5 billion trees for 20 years.

But the market is expanding and at the moment there are two commercial plants producing cellulosic ethanol in Brazil: one belongs to GranBio group and the other to Raizen. Their production capacities is 82 and 40 million litres respectively.

In late December the signature by Brazil’s president, Michel Temer gave the bioethanol sector new impetus. The law defines the national policy of biofuels (RenovaBio), promoting the production of ethanol and biodiesel and setting annual objectives of reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Analysts and specialists estimate that, by stabilizing a strongly indebted sector that has shut down several production units over the last years, RenovaBio could attract new investments in the industrial sector, while encouraging a fusion and acquisition movement.

The strategic importance of bioethanol is testified by the BioFuture Platform initiative. In 2016, during Marrakech COP22, Brazil launched together with other countries including Italy, Finland, United States, China and Argentina such platform with the aim of speeding up the development and trading of low-carbon fuels, the techniques for their production and upgrading of the byproducts.

With bioethanol as the spearhead of Brazil’s bioeconomy, surely this cannot be the main business of the large-scale Brazilian active industry: Raízen, Braskem and GranBio are the main protagonists of this sector and play a leadership role at global level.

Alongside the petrochemical giants is a purely biotech company, GranBio, developing solutions to turn biomass into renewable products such as biofuels, biochemical, nanomaterials and nutrients. Incorporated in June 2011 by Bernardo Gradin, GranBio manages in Brazil the first commercial plant in the Southern hemisphere for second-generation ethanol (2G). The factory, called Bioflex 1, has been operational since 2014, in Alagoas. The production of biofuels from sugarcane straw and bagasse, the raw material that up until then had been discarded or burnt in the field, places the company amongst the most sustainable on the planet in its sector. READ MORE