Sugarcane Based Bioethanol

"Climate change is a challenge facing human life. It will change mobility and asks for new energy solutions. Bioenergy has gained increased attention as an alternative to fossil fuels. Energy based on renewable sources may offer part of the solution. Bio ethanol based on sugar cane offers advantages to people, the environment and the economy. Not surprisingly, governments currently enact powerful incentives for the development and exploitation of bio ethanol. However, every inch we come closer to this achievement, evokes more scepticism. Many questions are raised relating to whether sugar cane is really a sustainable solution. Still much is unknown about the net release of carbon dioxide and what the impacts of sugar cane expansion are on green house gas emissions. This book looks at the scientific base of the debate on sugar cane bio ethanol. Authors from Europe, Brazil and the USA capture many aspects of what is known and address assumptions while not denying that still much is unknown. It covers impacts on climate change, land use, sustainability and market demands. This publication discusses public policy impacts, technology developments, the fuel-food dilemma and the millennium development goals. This makes this publication unique and extremely relevant for policymakers, scientists and the private energy sector worldwide."

Sugarcane has garnered much interest for its potential as a viable renewable energy crop. While the use of sugar juice for ethanol production has been in practice for years, a new focus on using the fibrous co-product known as bagasse for producing renewable fuels and bio-based chemicals is growing in interest. The success of these efforts, and the development of new varieties of energy canes, could greatly increase the use of sugarcane and sugarcane biomass for fuels while enhancing industry sustainability and competitiveness. Sugarcane-Based Biofuels and Bioproducts examines the development of a suite of established and developing biofuels and other renewable products derived from sugarcane and sugarcane-based co-products, such as bagasse. Chapters provide broad-ranging coverage of sugarcane biology, biotechnological advances, and breakthroughs in production and processing techniques. This text brings together essential information regarding the development and utilization of new fuels and bioproducts derived from sugarcane. Authored by experts in the field, Sugarcane-Based Biofuels and Bioproducts is an invaluable resource for researchers studying biofuels, sugarcane, and plant biotechnology as well as sugar and biofuels industry personnel.

This book focuses on the basic science recently produced in Brazil for the improvement of sugarcane as a bioenergy crop and as a raw material for 2nd generation bioethanol production. It reports achievements that have been advancing the science of cell walls, enzymes, genetics, and sustainability related to sugarcane technologies and give continuity to the research reported in the “Routes to Cellulosic Ethanol”, from Springer. The Introduction (Chapter I) explains how the National Institute of Science and Technology of Bioethanol, founded in 2008 in Brazil, became part of the main international initiatives that started to search for forms to use biomass for bioethanol production in Brazil, US and Europe. Part I reports the advances in plant cell wall composition, structure and architecture, and physical characteristics of sugarcane biomass. These discoveries are opening the way to increased efficiency of pretreatments and hydrolysis, being therefore important information for 2nd generation processes as well as for biorefinery initiatives. Part II focuses on the discovery and characterization of hydrolases from microorganisms that could be used in industrial processes. Recent advances in the search for hydrolases using metagenomics is reported. A great number of genes and enzymes from microorganisms have been discovered, affording improvement of enzyme cocktails better adapted to sugarcane biomass. Part III reports two key issues in the process of 2G ethanol, pentose fermentation and sugarcane genetics. These are the discoveries of new yeast species capable of producing ethanol more efficiently from xylose and the advances made on the sugarcane genetics, a key issue to design varieties adapted to 2G ethanol production. Part IV approaches sustainability through two chapters, one discussing the sustainability of the sugarcane agricultural and environmental system and another discussing how national and mainly international policies of Brazil regarding 2G ethanol production affected the country’s strategies to establish itself as an international player in renewable energy area.

Advances in Sugarcane Biorefinery: Technologies, Commercialization, Policy Issues and Paradigm Shift for Bioethanol and By-Products, by Chandel and Tomé, compiles the basic and applied information covering cane and biomass processing for sugar and ethanol production, as well as by-products utilization for improving the economy of sugarcane biorefineries. In this unique collection of 14 chapters, specialists in their field provide critical insights into several topics, review the current research, and discuss future progress in this research area. The book presents the most current advances in sugarcane biorefinery, including sugarcane crop cultivation, new sugarcane varieties, soil health, mechanization of crop, technical aspects of first and second generation ethanol production, economic analysis, life cycle assessment, biomass logistics and storage, co-generation of heat and electricity, process intensification and alternative by-products utilization. The book also explores the business ecosystem of sugarcane biorefineries, marketing analysis of ethanol demand and price dwindling patterns, aiming for a futuristic scenario. This book will be especially useful for scientists, researchers and technicians who are working in the area of biomass based biorefineries, as well as professionals in the sugar and alcohol industry. It also brings relevant content for policy makers, market analysts, agriculture scientists and managers. Presents technological updates on biomass processing, system biology, microbial fermentation, catalysis, regeneration and monitoring of renewable energy and recovery processes Includes topics on techno-economic analysis, life cycle assessment, sustainability, markets and policy Explores the future potential of biorefineries with zero or near zero waste, and the potential of valorization of all by-products, including alternatives to current applications and the management of a large amount of residues

This book offers a broad understanding of bioethanol production from sugarcane, although a few other substrates, except corn, will also be mentioned. The 10 chapters are grouped in five sections. The Fuel Ethanol Production from Sugarcane in Brazil section consists of two chapters dealing with the first-generation ethanol Brazilian industrial process. The Strategies for Sugarcane Bagasse Pretreatment section deals with emerging physicochemical methods for biomass pretreatment, and the non-conventional biomass source for lignocellulosic ethanol production addresses the potential of weed biomass as alternative feedstock. In the Recent Approaches for Increasing Fermentation Efficiency of Lignocellulosic Ethanol section, potential and research progress using thermophile bacteria and yeasts is presented, taking advantage of microorganisms involved in consolidating or simultaneous hydrolysis and fermentation processes. Finally, the Recent Advances in Ethanol Fermentation section presents the use of cold plasma and hydrostatic pressure to increase ethanol production efficiency. Also in this section the use of metabolic-engineered autotrophic cyanobacteria to produce ethanol from carbon dioxide is mentioned.

In Brazil, sugarcane ethanol supplied, in 2009, 17.6 % of the energy for land transportation (excluding railroads)and about 55% of the total energy supplied by liquid fuel for Otto cycle engines. Besides the lower production costs ethanol produced from sugarcane in Brazil has another important advantage: in Central-South Brazil only 1 unit of fossil energy is used for each 8-9 units of energy produced by ethanol from sugarcane. Carbon emissions reduction also benefits from sugarcane ethanol: for each cubic meter of ethanol used as fuel, there is net saving of around 2 t CO2 not emitted to the atmosphere while, at the same time, no SO2 is emitted. Sugarcane was introduced in Brazil in 1532. The "Brazilian model" of producing concomitantly sugar and ethanol, brought important technical benefits and made possible an outstanding increase in the competitiveness in the international market for sugar and ethanol. Today about 50% of the sucrose of sugarcane produced in the country is directed to the production of sugar while another half is used to produce Ethanol. Industrial and academic R&D has helped to increase the productivity of ethanol steadily over the past 35 years, at a rate of 3.2% per year. Productivity gains implied savings of planted area by a factor of 2.6. In 2009/2010 the area planted with sugarcane for Ethanol production was 4.2 Mha, amounting to 1% of the total arable land available in Brazil. About 60% of the Ethanol produced in Brazil comes from the State of Sao Paulo, where the productivity is the highest (around 86 t/ha.year). Most of the recent expansion is happening in the center-west region of the country, in degraded pasture lands. The FAPESP Program for Research on Bioenergy, BIOEN, aims at articulating public and private R&D, using academic and industrial laboratories to advance and apply knowledge in fields related to ethanol production in Brazil. The BIOEN Program has a solid core for supporting academic exploratory research activities that will generate new knowledge and form scientists and professionals essential for advancing industry capacity in ethanol related technologies. On top of this, BIOEN includes partnerships with industry for cooperative R&D activities between industrial and academic laboratories, which are to be co-funded by FAPESP and industry.Federal agencies, such as CNPq, will also co-fund the research.

This book aims to inform readers about the recent developments in production, evaluation, and utilization of bioethanol fuels from non-waste feedstocks. It covers the production of bioethanol fuels from first generation starch feedstocks and sugar feedstocks, grass biomass, wood biomass, cellulose, biosyngas, and third generation algae. In this context, there are nine key sections where the first four chapters cover the production of bioethanol fuels from feedstocks at large and non-waste feedstocks. This book shows that pretreatments and hydrolysis of the non-waste feedstocks, fermentation of hydrolysates, and separation and distillation of bioethanol fuels are the fundamental processes for bioethanol fuel production from these non-waste feedstocks with the exception of the biosyngas feedstocks. This book is a valuable resource for the stakeholders primarily in the research fields of energy and fuels, chemical engineering, environmental science and engineering, biotechnology, microbiology, chemistry, physics, mechanical engineering, agricultural sciences, food science and engineering, materials science, biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, plant sciences, water resources, economics, business and management, transportation science and technology, ecology, public, environmental, and occupational health, social sciences, toxicology, multidisciplinary sciences, and humanities among others