Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
process was aided by a huge spike in sugar production and a corresponding fall in prices.
Numerous new distilleries were built, producing ethanol from both sugar and molasses and
fuelling a boom in ethanol vehicles. By 1985 nearly all new cars sold in Brazil ran on
ethanol only, though this trend was quickly reversed as the price of ethanol rose relative to
gasoline. In recent years, the trend has been towards 'flexible fuel vehicles' (FFVs), which
can run on gasoline, ethanol, or a mixture of the two. By 2007, FFVs accounted for 86 per
cent of all new cars sold in Brazil and were becoming increasingly common in Europe and
North America.
Brazil has stayed well ahead of other countries in its production and use of ethanol
by developing a process in which sugarcane is processed into both ethanol and sugar,
sidestepping the 'food or fuel' dilemma that has made maize-based biofuels so
controversial. In 2006 Brazil was the world's undisputed sugar king, producing 33 million
tonnes of sugar (more than 40 per cent of world demand) and 22.3 billion litres of ethanol
Despite Brazil's spectacular success in breaking, or at least reducing, its dependence
on fossil fuels, biofuels have not caught on to a similar degree elsewhere. Though the
production processes for biofuels are tried and tested, in 2008 they accounted for just 1.5
per cent of world transportation fuel. While that share is expected to grow, bioethanol and
biodiesel are not about to displace petrol and diesel anytime soon.
The main reason for the modesty of biofuels' success is simple. For conventional (or
first-generation) biofuels to seriously compete with fossil fuels, as they do in Brazil,
vast tracts of agricultural land would need to be given over - fully or partially - to the
cultivation of energy crops. On an already crowded planet, that is not a viable option.
However, the biofuel sector is highly innovative. Already the technology to produce biogas
from agricultural wastes (known as second-generation biofuels) is mature, though not yet
exploited at a large scale, and there's a brave new world of new biofuels (third-generation)
on the horizon.
First-Generation Biofuels
We tend to associate biotechnology with genetic engineering and clone-infested dystopias.
Yet the ability to use plant and animal by-products to suit human needs goes right back to
Noah's day - literally. According to the Bible (Genesis 9:20), Noah planted a vineyard on
Mount Ararat, adding anecdote to the archaeological evidence that people living in what
is now Armenia grew grape varieties suitable for wine production about 8,000 years ago
