Raw Material Quality in the Production of Sugarcane Ethanol

It is urgent to advance the discussion on the guidelines that Brazil should adopt to diversify energy sources in order to reduce dependency and promote the replacement of fossil fuels. This is one of the main ways to reduce the already deleterious negative impact that human activities are causing to the environment. This agenda includes the development of technologies for the expansion of sugarcane bioethanol and its transformation into an internationally competitive commodity, as the only way to ensure the country worldwide market leadership. After all, sugarcane ethanol is at present the only fuel capable of meeting growing demand for renewable energy at low-cost and environmentally friendly. For example, gaseous emissions from burning ethanol are about 60% lower compared to emissions from burning gasoline. Currently Brazil produces ethanol mostly from sugarcane juice fermentation. The inclusion of quality of raw material as a prerequisite for the proper performance of the alcoholic fermentation is due to the characteristics of sugarcane, including high water activity, high percentage of sugars, and the presence of amino acids and proteins that contribute to their easy deterioration. Thus, changing the harvesting system, in the near future due to phasing out of sugarcane burning practices and increasing mechanical harvesting in appropriate areas, indicates that technological innovations can be seen with growing optimism. In addition, ethanol production proceses will expand the raw material used today e.g. sugarcane juice, to include also bagasse and trash (straw). A major bottleneck today is the cost of the raw mateRAW MATERIAL QUALITY IN THE PRODUCTION OF SUGARCANE ETHANOL