The race is on for better biofuels

Brazil is the world's largest producer of ethanol from sugarcane and has become almost entirely energy independent.

Making ethanol from sugarcane requires far less energy than from corn; the cane begins to ferment the moment the stalk is cut and there is no need to convert starch to sugar.

The distillation and fermentation process is quick and easy and the heat orenergy needed for the process is generated not by fossil fuels but by cane ethanol.

The ethanol yield per acre of sugarcane is more than twice that of corn; sugarcane can be harvested seven times a year compared to soy and corn's single yearly harvest.

And, engines that run on cane ethanol crank out more power than typical gas engines because cane ethanol burns at a higher compression. Sound perfect?

Perhaps for Brazil, but it would not be cost effective or environmentally sustainable to ship cane ethanol to other markets, and if rainforest is being leveled to plant the sugarcane, the net C02 gains vanish, (rainforest is a major digester of C02).

But with an energy balance of 1 to 8, cane ethanol has definitely taken hold of the Brazilian economy.

Greenhouse gas emissions are also lower than corn with nine pounds of CO2 per cane gallon for a 56 percent reduction of CO2 over regular gasoline, (again, if forest has not been cut to plant the sugarcane).

from an article at:

http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080309/BIZ/803090330

Brazil requiring two per cent biodiesel content in all diesel fuel

Brazil said Friday that starting Jan. 1 it will require all diesel oil to contain two per cent biodiesel in an effort to grow the market for the renewable, clean-burning fuel.

"The great advantage is for the country to have an alternative fuel that helps in the reduction of carbon gas emissions, that reduces pollution," Mines and Energy Minister Nelson Hubner said at a press conference in Brasilia, the country's capital.

All filling stations will be required to offer diesel containing two per cent vegetable oil starting Tuesday, Huber said. He expressed confidence there will be enough biodiesel available to meet the demand, but acknowledged some potential delivery problems at first in remote areas of the country.

Some 800 million litres of biodiesel will be needed annually to meet the two per cent demand, but Brazil already has the capacity to produce more than three times that amount, he said.

Fuel distributors said they will be prepared.

"It's a bit of a challenge. The distributors have spent about 100 million reals to be able to store the biodiesel, but everything is ready and we have verified there is enough biodiesel supply to meet the demand," Alisio Mendes Vaz, executive vice-president of National Union of Fuel and Lubricant Distribution Companies, said in a telephone interview.

Biodiesel is produced in Brazil from soy beans, castor seeds, sunflower seeds and palm fruits, but Vaz said the vast bulk of Brazil's available biodiesel came from soybeans.

Brazil is a world leader in alternative fuels, poised to edge out the United States as the world's No. 1 ethanol producer. As production of soybean-based biodiesel ramps up, Brazil plans to slowly increase the percentage of the biodiesel blend to 5 per cent by 2013.

Environmentalists have praised biodiesel as a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels, but increased production has stirred concerns that it could speed rainforest deforestation as soy bean growers advance into the Amazon.

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