New technologies to double sugar cane ethanol output to 13,000 liters per hectare
Quicknote bioenergy technology
Earlier we referred to a longitudinal study showing how Brazilian ethanol producers had learned to make the entire chain from planting sugar cane to processing it into fuel more efficient. Over the course of 25 years, production costs decreased likewise, some 75% (earlier post). According to Brazilian commodity brokerage Sociedade Corretora De Alcool Trading SA, this process of rising productivity is far from over. At the FO Licht World Ethanol Conference held recently in Amsterdam, director Jacyr Costa Filho, who has 20 years experience in the sector, announced that by 2030, the ethanol output of a hectare of sugar cane will rise to a staggering average of 13,000 liters, more than twice the current output.
Just like the steady rise of the past quarter of a century, the increased productivity of the coming decades will be the result of a series of new technologies and processes, ranging from the development of high-yield plant varieties to the creation of new planting, harvesting and processing techniques.
Being a tropical grass species, sugar cane yields far more energy per hectare than ethanol crops grown in the more temperate climates of the North (US/EU). Corn, for example, yields around 3000 liters, whereas sugar beet may deliver 1000 liters more; one hectare of wheat can be turned into a meagre 1,200 liters of biofuel. These low yields make that the crops in question have a very low positive energy balance, somewhere between 1 and 1.5 for corn and between 1.5 and 2.5 for beet. In other words, for each unit of energy you put into planting, harvesting and processing these feedstocks into ethanol, you only get 1.5 to 2.5 units back in the form of a useable biofuel. The energy balance of sugarcane-based ethanol in Brazil is many times stronger, around 8 to 1. Some highly efficient producers even reach a balance of 11 to 1 (when bagasse, a processing residue, is used to power the ethanol facilities, and when the excess electricity thus produced, is fed to the grid) (earlier post)
Now if Jacyr Costa Filho's projections are correct, the energy balance of sugar cane ethanol will become exceptionally strong, surpassing that of petroleum produced in the many fields whose output has reached a peak. Then it truly becomes a biofuel that can compete with its fossil rival, even if oil prices were to drop significantly (which is very unlikely over the longer term). If looked at from the perspective of land availability, it would mean that much less land will be needed to deliver an equal amount of energy if compared with the current situation [entry ends here].
ethanol :: biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: sugar cane :: efficiency :: productivity :: energy balance :: Brazil ::
Earlier we referred to a longitudinal study showing how Brazilian ethanol producers had learned to make the entire chain from planting sugar cane to processing it into fuel more efficient. Over the course of 25 years, production costs decreased likewise, some 75% (earlier post). According to Brazilian commodity brokerage Sociedade Corretora De Alcool Trading SA, this process of rising productivity is far from over. At the FO Licht World Ethanol Conference held recently in Amsterdam, director Jacyr Costa Filho, who has 20 years experience in the sector, announced that by 2030, the ethanol output of a hectare of sugar cane will rise to a staggering average of 13,000 liters, more than twice the current output.
Just like the steady rise of the past quarter of a century, the increased productivity of the coming decades will be the result of a series of new technologies and processes, ranging from the development of high-yield plant varieties to the creation of new planting, harvesting and processing techniques.
Being a tropical grass species, sugar cane yields far more energy per hectare than ethanol crops grown in the more temperate climates of the North (US/EU). Corn, for example, yields around 3000 liters, whereas sugar beet may deliver 1000 liters more; one hectare of wheat can be turned into a meagre 1,200 liters of biofuel. These low yields make that the crops in question have a very low positive energy balance, somewhere between 1 and 1.5 for corn and between 1.5 and 2.5 for beet. In other words, for each unit of energy you put into planting, harvesting and processing these feedstocks into ethanol, you only get 1.5 to 2.5 units back in the form of a useable biofuel. The energy balance of sugarcane-based ethanol in Brazil is many times stronger, around 8 to 1. Some highly efficient producers even reach a balance of 11 to 1 (when bagasse, a processing residue, is used to power the ethanol facilities, and when the excess electricity thus produced, is fed to the grid) (earlier post)
Now if Jacyr Costa Filho's projections are correct, the energy balance of sugar cane ethanol will become exceptionally strong, surpassing that of petroleum produced in the many fields whose output has reached a peak. Then it truly becomes a biofuel that can compete with its fossil rival, even if oil prices were to drop significantly (which is very unlikely over the longer term). If looked at from the perspective of land availability, it would mean that much less land will be needed to deliver an equal amount of energy if compared with the current situation [entry ends here].
ethanol :: biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: sugar cane :: efficiency :: productivity :: energy balance :: Brazil ::
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