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Ethanol Fuels Brazil’s Sugar-Cane Industry
By Mr Ethanol | May 26, 2008
Arkansas Democrat Gazette:
Just a decade ago, the giant Moema ethanol and sugar mill in southeastern Brazil covered less than half of its current 173, 000 acres. It produced mainly sugar.
That was before world petroleum prices skyrocketed and millions of Brazilians turned to cheaper sugar cane-based ethanol to fuel their vehicles. Now, fuels made from sugar cane have become Brazil’s second most-used energy source, only behind fossil fuels.
That boom has transformed Moema into one of Brazil’s biggest sugar-cane mills and turned much of Sao Paulo state, where Moema is located, into the world capital of sugar-cane ethanol.
More than 5, 000 workers now help Moema churn out about 880, 000 tons of sugar and 185 million gallons of ethanol every year, working day and night, rain or shine. Nationwide, sugar-cane mills produced nearly 6 billion gallons of ethanol last year, with output projected to jump by 160 percent through 2016.
“Things have completely changed here since this all started,” said Roberto Santos, who supervises mechanized sugar-cane cutting at Moema. “We’ve become much more efficient and quicker, and we’re producing more. We’re a different mill now.” Some 320 mills all over the nation of 185 million people are locked in the same race to keep up with rising domestic ethanol demand. Another 150 mills are scheduled to come online over the next decade, mostly in the country’s southeast. Read more.
Photo: Lalo de Almeida / The New York Times.
Topics: Brazil, Ethanol, Industry |
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