PANORAMA BRASIL - A New Column by Henrique Oliveira

This is the first in a series of columns that will track what several Brazilian players (including corporations, growers, associations, and the media) are saying on their web sites.

UNICA, the powerful Association of Sugar Cane Growers of Sao Paulo State, presents an article by Brazilian Congressman Antonio Carlos Thame, which highlights the recent technological developments in the field. Mr Thame mentions the tendency to integrate sugar and ethanol-producing plants and to use straw and bagasse (crushed sugar cane) to produce the energy that powers the process. Brazilian plants, in fact, have been producing excess power, which is, in turn, sold to the national electricity grid.

Mr. Thame says that “the sale of energy by sugar and ethanol refineries, until a very short time ago considered a 'subproduct', represents today 8% of revenues for sugar plants, with the investment cost for generating energy from sugarcane bagasse varying between US$ 1 and US$ 1.2 / kilowatt. A single initiative, by Brazil’s COSAN, scheduled to commence operations in 2009, with total investments of around US$ 700 million, will produce 700 MW, an amount large enough to supply a city of 3 million people. Others may come”.

Dedini, the world's largest manufacturer of equipment for sugar and ethanol production, calls itself a "factory of factories" on its site. It draws attention to some of its more important feats, such as the development of a giant mill for USSC (United States Sugar Corporation) in Florida and the construction of the world's first biodiesel plant integrated into a sugar and ethanol-producing unit. It also announces the construction of a plant that will process biodiesel from animal fat, and the development of plants for Grupo Moema, Grupo Santa Elisa, and several other groups in the Brazilian Northeast.

"Jornalcana", an online publication that covers the Brazilian sugar and ethanol industry (Portuguese version here), carries an article that discusses the recently-held Simtec fair, during which numerous issues related to the sugar and ethanol field were discussed in Piracicaba, Sao Paulo state, from July 18th to July 21st, 2006. It also says that registration is already open for the 2007 edition of the event.

In addition, Jornalcana announces that the Banco do Nordeste ("Bank of the Northeast") has set aside R$ 800,000 (~US$ 365,000) for R&D in the sugar and ethanol industry in that region of Brazil. Jornalcana also talks about the Infocana seminar, to be held on September 21st. in the city of Ribeirao Preto, Sao Paulo state. During the seminar, issues related to labor, occupational safety, and sustainable development will be debated.

Henrique Oliveira

Follow what's happening in the Brazilian ethanol market on Ethablog, the only blog in English dedicated to Brazilian ethanol.