What is the Ethanol Industry Like Worldwide?

Fuel ethanol generally refers to anhydrous ethanol with a volume concentration of more than 99.5%. Fuel ethanol is a clean, high-octane fuel that is a renewable energy source. Not only is ethanol an excellent fuel, it is also an excellent fuel improver.

Its excellent characteristics are as follows: ethanol is an oxygen-enhancing agent for fuel oil, which increases the internal oxygen of gasoline and fully burns to achieve the purpose of energy saving and environmental protection; ethanol can also reduce the content of aromatics and olefins economically and effectively, that is, reduce the cost of refining refineries Meet new gasoline standards.

Chinese name: Fuel ethanol
Features: Can be used as fuel for ethanol
main ingreadient: Corn, cassava, seaweed

Prospects: Due to fluctuations in oil prices
Attributes: energy
Category: Chemical material

Fuel ethanol overview

Introduction to Fuel Ethanol

Fuel ethanol refers to ^[1] ethanol that can be used as fuel, obtained by biological fermentation and other methods using biological materials as raw materials. Fuel ethanol can be made into ethanol gasoline by mixing with gasoline at a certain ratio after denaturation.

There are two types of fuel ethanol production technologies: the first and second generation. The first generation of fuel ethanol technology uses sugar and starchy crops as raw materials to produce B

Fuel ethanol alcohol. The process is generally divided into five stages, namely liquefaction, saccharification, fermentation, distillation, and dehydration. The second-generation fuel ethanol technology uses lignocellulose as the raw material to produce ethanol. Compared with the first-generation technology, the second-generation fuel ethanol technology must first be pretreated, that is, to remove lignin, increase the porosity of raw materials to increase the contact between various enzymes and cellulose, and improve enzyme efficiency. After the raw materials are decomposed into fermentable sugars, they are then fermented, distilled and dehydrated.

The main raw materials of fuel ethanol in China are aging grains and starchy or sugary non-grain crops such as cassava, sweet sorghum, sweet potatoes, etc. The focus of future research and development will mainly focus on the second-generation fuel ethanol technology using lignocellulose as raw material. The National Development and Reform Commission has approved non-food pilot projects such as cassava fuel ethanol in Guangxi, sweet sorghum fuel ethanol in Inner Mongolia, and xylose fuel ethanol in Shandong, and other projects. Pilot scale of 10,000-ton scale production.

Main fuel ethanol

The main raw materials for fuel ethanol are Yajin sweet sorghum, corn, cassava, seaweed, Yajin sugar taro, and bitter sap tree.

Fuel ethanol development prospects

In recent years, fuel oil consumption has also increased due to fluctuations in oil prices. China's fuel ethanol industry started late, but has developed rapidly, and fuel ethanol has broad prospects in China. With the further increase in domestic oil demand, a diversified energy supply strategy represented by alternative energy sources such as ethanol has become a direction of China's energy policy. China has become the third largest biofuel ethanol producer and user in the world after Brazil and the United States. The National Development and Reform Commission issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Healthy Development of the Deep Processing Industry of Corn", requiring that no new fuel ethanol projects using corn as the main raw material be discontinued, and vigorously encourage the development of non-grain crops as raw material for the development of fuel ethanol. Fuel ethanol has taken the path of non-grain ethanol development and has developed rapidly.

Fuel ethanol is clean and renewable, which can reduce carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emissions in automobile exhaust. In the future, China's fuel ethanol industry will focus on reducing production costs and reducing government subsidies. To this end, formulate consumption control specifications for biofuel ethanol production processes and product quality and technical standards, and unify the fuel ethanol production consumption quota standards, including material consumption, water consumption, Energy consumption is a powerful way to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

Fuel ethanol characteristics

Fuel ethanol as a new fuel alternative

Can be used as a new fuel substitute to reduce oil consumption. Ethanol as a renewable energy source can be used directly as a liquid fuel

The main source of raw materials that can be used to produce biofuel ethanol Or it can be mixed with gasoline, which can reduce the dependence on non-renewable energy-oil and ensure the energy security of the country.

Fuel ethanol as a gasoline additive

As a gasoline additive, it can increase the octane number of gasoline. Generally, the octane number of automotive gasoline is 90 or 93, and the octane number of ethanol can reach 111, so adding fuel ethanol to gasoline can greatly increase the octane number of gasoline, and ethanol has a significant effect on the alkane gasoline component (alkane Base oil, light naphtha) octane blending effect is better than olefinic gasoline component (catalytic cracking gasoline) and aromatic hydrocarbon gasoline component (catalytic reforming gasoline). Adding ethanol can also effectively improve gasoline Explosion resistance.

The oxygen content of ethanol is as high as 34.7%, and ethanol can be added to gasoline at a lower amount than methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE). Adding 7.7% ethanol to gasoline, the oxygen content reaches 2.7%; if 10% ethanol is added, the oxygen content can reach 3.5%, so adding ethanol can help the gasoline to burn completely to reduce pollution to the atmosphere. Using fuel ethanol to replace tetraethyl lead as a gasoline additive can eliminate lead pollution in the air; replacing MTBE can avoid pollution to groundwater and air. In addition, in addition to increasing the octane number and oxygen content of gasoline, ethanol can also improve the quality of automobile exhaust and reduce pollution. Generally, when the amount of ethanol in gasoline does not exceed 15%, there is no significant effect on the vehicle's driving performance, but the content of hydrocarbons, NOx and CO in the exhaust gas is significantly reduced. The American Automobile / Oil Fuel (AQIRP) research report shows that the use of California new formula gasoline with 6% ethanol can reduce HC emissions by 5%, CO emissions by 21-28%, and NOx emissions by 7-16 compared with conventional gasoline %, Toxic gas emissions are reduced by 9-32%.

Fuel ethanol renewable energy

If Yajin sweet sorghum, wheat, corn, rice husks, potatoes, sugarcane, molasses and other biomass are used for fermentation to produce ethanol, the CO2 emitted by combustion and the CO2 consumed by the growth of biological sources as raw materials are basically the same in quantity. This is of great significance for reducing air pollution and suppressing the greenhouse effect.

Fuel ethanol advantages

Fuel ethanol is an excellent quality improver for oil products. Fuel ethanol is not an "oil".

Ethanol has many excellent physical and chemical properties. Fuel ethanol is added to gasoline in a certain proportion, and it is not simply used as a substitute for oil products. This kind of understanding and publicity is very wrong. Fuel ethanol is an excellent oil quality improver, or an oxygenating agent. It is also a high octane blending component of gasoline. It plays the same role as MTBE, which started to develop in the late 1990s to improve oil quality. The oxygen-enhancing effect of ethanol is twice as good as that of MTBE. There are three legal gasoline modifiers in the United States: MTBE (methyl tert-butyl ether), ethanol, and ETBE (ethyl tert-butyl ether). In 2002, the United States Department of Energy was grateful to China when it introduced fuel ethanol use experience to China. As soon as MTBE started, it chose to substitute fuel ethanol. After 20 years of MTBE detours in the United States, it turned around and followed the path of ethanol instead of MTBE. Lessons from the United States can help us better understand fuel ethanol. The fundamental reason why ethanol gasoline can improve exhaust pollution and improve power is the internal oxygen contained in ethanol, which partially supplements the problem of insufficient oxygen supply when gasoline is burned in the cylinder, and also solves the problem of high gasoline. The problem of octane composition, "two good and one good", makes full use of the physical and chemical characteristics of ethanol. Knowing this, the positioning of fuel ethanol is naturally correct. The concept of ethanol as "oil" alone will cause us to enter a misunderstanding and greatly discount the function and value of fuel ethanol.

Fuel ethanol production process

Fuel ethanol fermentation

The fermentation method uses various agricultural products containing sugar (disaccharide), starch (polysaccharide), and cellulose (polyhexose).

Fuel ethanol industry chain Agricultural and forestry by-products and wild plants are used as raw materials. After hydrolysis (ie, saccharification) and fermentation, disaccharides and polysaccharides are converted into monosaccharides and further converted into ethanol. Under the action of microorganisms, starch is hydrolyzed to glucose and further fermented to produce ethanol. The fermentation alcohol production process includes raw material pretreatment, cooking, saccharification, fermentation, distillation, and waste treatment.

In mature fermented mash, the ethanol concentration is generally 8-10% (w). Due to different raw materials, the content of ethanol in the hydrolysate varies. For example, the mass fraction of ethanol in the fermented mash liquor of the grain is not higher than 12%. The cellulose can be hydrolyzed by enzymes or acids. 1.5%. In addition to ethanol and a large amount of water, there are solid substances and many impurities. The ethanol in the fermentation mash must be distilled off to obtain high-concentration ethanol, and at the same time by-products of fusel oil and a lot of lees.

Fuel ethanol dehydration technology

Dehydration technology is one of the key technologies for the production of fuel ethanol. The highest mass concentration of ethanol from the ordinary distillation section can only reach 95%, and further concentration cannot be completed by ordinary distillation, because at this time, alcohol and water form an azeotrope (the corresponding constant The boiling temperature is 78.15 ° C), it is difficult to separate it by ordinary distillation. In order to increase the ethanol concentration and remove excess water, a special dehydration method is required.

The main methods for preparing fuel ethanol include chemical reaction dehydration, azeotropic distillation, extractive distillation, adsorption, membrane separation, vacuum distillation, and ion exchange resin.

Fuel ethanol application status

Fuel ethanol status abroad

66% of the world's alcohol is used for fuel, 14% for food, 11% for industrial solvents, and 9% for other chemical industries. There are two ways to ferment alcohol as vehicle fuel: One is to prepare a mixture of gasoline and anhydrous alcohol-gasoline alcohol, and the proportion of alcohol in the mixture can reach up to 25%. When petrol alcohol is used as a car fuel, the original car engine can be used. The second is to directly use alcohol as a car fuel. At this time, a specially designed engine with a higher compression ratio must be used. In this regard, Brazil is at the forefront. As early as 1989, Brazil used sugar cane, molasses, cassava, and corn as raw materials to produce more than 12 Mt of fermented alcohol per year, almost all of which were used to replace gasoline, and most of them used the second method as fuel for automobiles. Since then, Brazil has stopped importing crude oil, and a small amount of domestic crude oil can be exported, taking the lead in realizing the alcoholification of automobile fuel. Among ethanol products in Brazil, ordinary ethanol accounts for 2/3, and anhydrous ethanol accounts for 1/3. It is also the world's largest producer and consumer of fuel ethanol, and the only country that does not use pure gasoline as a vehicle fuel.

In 1908, Americans designed and manufactured the world s first pure ethanol car. In 1930, an ethanol / gasoline fuel was first introduced in Nebraska, USA. In 1978, a 10% ethanol blended gasoline in Nebraska Large-scale use in California. In November 1990, the U.S. Congress passed an amendment to the Air Purification Law, requiring that from the winter of 1992, 39 regions with excessive CO emissions in the United States must use oxygenated gasoline with an oxygen content of 2.7% (equivalent to an added volume fraction of 7.7). % Ethanol). U.S. ethanol production capacity is 7.078 billion L / a, 58 ethanol production plants are located in 19 states in the United States, and its main raw material is corn, which accounts for about 90%, and sorghum and other raw materials account for 10%.

The EU produces approximately 1.76 million tons of alcohol each year. In 1997, only 5.6% was used for fuel. In 1994, the EU passed a resolution to grant pilot plants exempt from taxes on biofuels. And in 2010, the proportion of fuel alcohol will reach 12%. Therefore, some follow-up countries such as the Netherlands, Sweden and Spain have also introduced bioenergy plans.

Thailand is the first country in Asia to run a national biofuel project with the government. In just two years, Thailand has successfully launched ethanol and fuel alcohol projects. These projects have provided a way to utilize excess edible agricultural products and have played a positive role in improving the living standards of millions of farmers in Thailand.

India is the second largest alcohol producer in Asia after China. The designed production capacity is about 2 million tons, and the actual operating rate is about 50%. The main raw material molasses consumption is 5 million tons per year. 50% of Indian alcohol is used in the famous Indian spices and various organic synthesis. The government imposes different tax rates on different uses of alcohol. At one time, the government temporarily stopped the production of alcohol, which led to a decline in alcohol production. Although India's molasses resources are not enough, the Indian government is still following Brazil's "alcohol gasoline plan".

Fuel ethanol domestic use status

China s 600,000 tons / year fuel ethanol project in Jilin and Henan s 300,000 tons fuel ethanol project started construction in September 2001 and 2004. In addition, Henan Tianguan s 300,000 tons / year Heilongjiang China Resources Jinyu s 100,000 tons / year The ethanol expansion and expansion projects were completed in 2000 and 2001, respectively, and the trial work of ethanol gasoline was started locally. Since 2001, China has started trials of ethanol gasoline for automobiles in Henan and Heilongjiang, and adopted local legislation to close operations in pilot cities. Henan first used ethanol gasoline for vehicles in the three cities of Nanyang, Luoyang, and Zhengzhou, and is now used in the province. 147 tons of fuel ethanol were consumed in 2001, and about 5,000 tons of fuel ethanol were consumed in 2002. Heilongjiang first used ethanol gasoline in Zhaodong and Harbin. It consumed 127 tons of fuel ethanol in 2001 and about 500 tons of fuel ethanol in 2002. The demand for fuel ethanol has increased year by year, and the supply and demand situation is good. After 5 years of trial and promotion, China's bio-ethanol gasoline has mature technology in production, mixing, storage, transportation and sales. As of June 2006, China has formed an annual production capacity of 1.02 million tons of fuel ethanol and an annual capacity of 10.2 million tons of bioethanol gasoline. The consumption of bioethanol gasoline has accounted for 20% of the total gasoline consumption in the country. In 2006, China's fuel ethanol production reached 1.3 million tons.

In 2006, China's annual grain output exceeded 490 million tons, achieving a three-year continuous increase in output, but the overall supply and demand relationship for grain was still in a tightly balanced state. The processing capacity of corn has expanded rapidly in recent years. In 2005, the national deep processing capacity of corn reached 100 billion kilograms, and the actual processing consumption was more than 50 billion kilograms. In 2006, the processing capacity reached 140 billion kilograms, and the actual processing was close to 700. Million jin. Consumption of corn by deep processing has also caused changes in the supply and demand of corn, driving up prices. It is predicted that the price of grain will increase by about 6% in 2007, which is higher than that in 2006. The increase in food prices such as grain and oil will become the main factor driving the rise in CPI. Previously, the National Development and Reform Commission required localities not to use the name of processed corn to construct biofuel ethanol projects in violation of regulations and blindly expand corn processing capacity. In this context, whether the development of the fuel ethanol industry will affect China's food security has become a hot topic.

In 2006, China's corn output was 138.5 million tons, of which 96 million tons were used for feed and 30.2 million tons were used for industrial use. The amount of corn used for fuel ethanol accounted for only 1/10 of the industrial use, and the total corn output was a little over 2%. So there is no suspicion of competing for food.

The feasible way for China to develop non-grain ethanol is to replace grain with raw materials such as sweet sorghum, sweet potato, and cassava. The technology of producing ethanol by fiber method is still immature, and the United States plans to overcome this technical difficulty in 6 years. Some domestic enterprises have realized the production of ethanol from fiber raw materials, but the cost per ton is more than 1,000 yuan higher than the grain law.

According to the Eleventh Five-Year Plan for the Development of Biofuel Ethanol and Vehicle Ethanol Gasoline, by 2010, China will produce 5.22 million tons of fuel ethanol based on non-grain raw materials such as potatoes and sweet sorghum. Will account for 75% of the national gasoline consumption.

By 2020, China's annual output of fuel ethanol will reach 10 million tons.

In fact, the stop of ethanol fuel projects under construction at the Renewable Energy Conference was a phased option. Prior to this, the National Departure and Reform Commission also repeatedly notified that new fuel ethanol projects were required to "brake". However, the results were not satisfactory. How to solve the contradiction between "development" and "resources" hidden behind the problem requires the relevant state departments to take longer to solve it. It stands to reason that the food and energy economies are not related, but are currently becoming closely related. When oil prices rise, so do food prices. According to information released by the Dalian Commodity Exchange, domestic corn prices have risen by nearly 30% in the past nine months, which is due to the use of corn for fuel ethanol.

How to use fuel ethanol

The shelf life of ethanol gasoline is only one month. After the expiration date, the ethanol gasoline is prone to delamination, which becomes turbid in the oil tank and the fuel tank, and cannot catch fire.

Ethanol gasoline has very high environmental requirements, is very afraid of water, and has a short shelf life. Therefore, the sale of ethanol gasoline is much stricter than ordinary gasoline in the deployment, storage, transportation, and sales. Generally petrol stations do not sell ethanol gasoline.

Fuel ethanol market direction

Ethanol is both a basic chemical material and a new energy source.

Although it has a wide range of uses, it is still a traditional market. The market direction of ethanol as a basic industry in the future will be mainly reflected in three aspects:

The first is vehicle fuel, mainly ethanol gasoline and ethanol diesel. This is what we traditionally call the fuel ethanol market, and it is also a smaller market in the next 10 years (about 10 million tons / year in China). The U.S. government has formulated a plan to vigorously develop fuel ethanol, and plans to increase the amount of fuel ethanol in gasoline (excluding diesel) from 1.5 billion gallons (about 4.5 million tons) to at least 4.4 billion gallons (about 1360) by 2011. 10,000 tons);

The second is as fuel for fuel cells. It has a very broad application prospect in low-temperature fuel cells such as mobile phones, notebook computers, and mobile power sources such as new-generation fuel cell vehicles. This is the medium-term market for ethanol (within 10-20 years). Ethanol has been identified as a safe, convenient, and practical fuel cell fuel. Ethanol will have 30-40% of the market for new battery fuels. The market capacity is at least 5 times that of the market (mainly fiber ethanol);

Third, ethanol will become the basic raw material to support modern petrochemical industry with ethylene as raw material. In the next 20 years or so, due to the increasing tension of petroleum resources, coupled with the large-scale industrialization of the production of cellulosic ethanol, the cost is already competitive with petroleum raw materials. Ethanol will naturally enter the field of basic petrochemical raw materials. . The market capacity in China is also at least 20 million tons / year. The technology for producing ethylene from ethanol is mature. With the increasing shortage of petroleum resources and rising prices, ethanol will gradually enter the ethylene raw material market, and it is likely that it will eventually be replaced. If you want to make an exaggerated metaphor, the image of the international oil tycoon in the second half of the twentieth century will be replaced by the alcohol tycoon of the "alcohol test" in the middle of the twenty-first century.

Fuel ethanol economic effect

Fuel ethanol production, in addition to its own economics and benefits to agriculture and energy, has some obvious related economic effects. On the one hand, fuel ethanol has a huge environmental protection effect. With its promotion, it can save a lot on the cost of air pollution in large and medium cities. Beijing spends more than one billion yuan each year on air pollution, and the main source of air pollution is automobile exhaust. According to environmental protection department monitoring, 60-70% of air pollution in Beijing is caused by automobile exhaust. In other aspects, investment in labor management is time-consuming, capital-intensive, and the focus of exhaust pollution must be on "oil". Only in this way can the effect be good. Ethanol gasoline alone can reduce exhaust gas pollution by one third, and the subsidy value required is only about 150 million yuan.

On the other hand, for the development of the petrochemical industry, the huge demand for fuel ethanol is very favorable. The improvement of China's gasoline quality and the development of petrochemical products (chemical fibers) are both constrained by the high octane component of petroleum. Improving oil quality requires high-octane components (such as reformed oils), and the development of chemical and chemical fibers (such as polyester fibers and benzene-based chemicals) also require high-octane components. In petroleum, the amount of high-octane components is constant (generally 6% of petroleum), and the two parties are actually competing for this limited resource. Because it is much better than petrol for petrochemical and chemical fiber, in order to meet the needs, it is necessary to import high-octane component raw materials (naphtha, which imports about 2 million tons per year, which is 1.5 times the price of petroleum), including The MTBE that the petrochemical industry plans to develop in the future is also to solve the problem of insufficient resources of high-octane components of gasoline. We have accepted the lessons of the United States and have determined the industrial policy of no longer developing MTBE, then the development of ethanol is the best choice. We can develop from the amount of high octane components needed to improve the quality of gasoline nationwide, and the amount is also very large. For example, if we refer to some existing formulas in the United States, only 7.7% ethanol can be added to gasoline, and 5.7% ethanol and 5% MTBE can be added (both are new formula gasoline), and the annual demand is at least 2 million tons. . This not only solves the shortage of high-octane components, but also saves a lot of foreign exchange expenditure on imports.

Fuel ethanol abroad

Brazil's ethanol fuel industry has never attracted worldwide attention as follows: US President Bush visits Brazil's ethanol storage and transportation base; Brazil and the United States sign an ethanol cooperation agreement; Japan invests heavily in Brazilian ethanol plants; Italy and Brazil cooperate to build ethanol plants in Africa; Brazil Provide biofuel technology to Indonesia; "ethanol OPEC" is on the horizon ... ^[2]

News about Brazil's ethanol fuel continues to attract global attention, as if an "ethanol storm" is about to take off around the world.

Unique environment for developing ethanol fuel

Brazil's previous government has contributed to the achievements of today's ethanol energy industry in Brazil. In fact, the development of ethanol fuel in Brazil is inseparable from Brazil's unique political and economic environment.

Brazil's proven oil and gas reserves are second only to Venezuela in Latin America, and are basically self-sufficient. But more than 40 years ago, Brazil imported about 90% of its oil consumption, and it is a country that is heavily dependent on imported oil. In 1975, in order to change this situation, the then ruling military government issued an executive order and strongly launched the ethanol fuel development plan.

Brazil has an area of 8.51 million square kilometers, with more than 200 million hectares of pasture and more than 62 million hectares of farmland. In addition to mountains and deserts, there are about 100 million hectares of undeveloped land. With guaranteed food production, Brazil has the conditions to expand the cultivation of cash crops by developing new farmland. Oilseed crops such as soybeans, oil palms, peanuts, castor, and sunflower are suitable for planting in most areas of Brazil. In the Amazon region alone, 50 million hectares of land suitable for oil palm plantation can form an industrial scale of energy agriculture.

As a result, the Brazilian government encourages citizens to use fuel ethanol through subsidies, quotas, unified purchase of fuel ethanol, price adjustments, and administrative intervention, and assists companies in obtaining loans from international financial institutions such as the World Bank. The government also ordered that in cities and towns with a population of more than 1,500 people, petrol stations must be equipped with ethanol petrol pumps, and the proportion of ethanol fuel in gasoline is determined in legal form, and those who do not comply will be punished accordingly. The use of ethanol fuel reached a peak in the mid-1980s. At the time, more than three-quarters of the 800,000 cars produced in Brazil each year were powered by ethanol.

However, in the following ten years or so, the domestic political environment in Brazil changed drastically, and the military government was replaced by an elected government. The elected government has cancelled subsidies for sugarcane farmers, and the sugar processing plant has also changed from producing ethanol to producing sugar. At the same time, the price of oil on the international market plummeted, which directly led to a sharp decline in Brazil's domestic ethanol fuel supply. In 1990, sales of ethanol-fueled vehicles dropped to almost zero.

However, visionary entrepreneurs have never stopped researching and developing alternative energy sources, even in a time when ethanol fuel was unheeded. In an interview with Xinhua News Agency recently, Petrobras officials said that since the military government started the ethanol program, the company has always adhered to the research and development of ethanol fuel technology and has never interrupted capital investment. Established in the 1970s, the Sucrose Technology Center in São Paulo, Brazil has also been working on projects to improve the efficiency of ethanol production, including research on various sugarcane genes and extraction technologies.

Brazilian scientists have discovered new ways to increase the efficiency of sugarcane ethanol production. Residues from pressing sugar cane were previously discarded as waste, and now they can be used to generate electricity, thereby saving the energy required to process sugar cane into ethanol. In addition, other by-products can be used as fertilizer for those planting sugar cane arable land. Brazilian scientists have also begun planting genetically modified sugarcane, which can be more efficiently converted to ethanol. This technology has promoted the production of sugarcane varieties that are resistant to pests and drought.

In addition, Brazil's largest sugarcane ethanol production group, Detini, has announced that it will officially produce ethanol from plant cellulose starting in 2012. In the experimental stage, Detini produced 100 liters of ethanol from plant cellulose per day at a cost of 25 cents per liter, which was similar to the cost of producing ethanol from sugarcane juice. Destiny plans to have a capacity of 50,000 liters of cellulosic ethanol per day in five years.

Brazilian ethanol favors again

At the beginning of this century, when international oil prices began to rise gradually, Brazil's ethanol production efficiency had tripled, and production costs had fallen from 0.6 US dollars per liter to 0.2 US dollars. Since most gas stations in Brazil can still provide ethanol for a small number of domestic ethanol-fueled cars, the re-promotion of ethanol fuel in Brazil becomes economically feasible.

In 2003, Volkswagen (Brazil) introduced the first "flexible fuel" car in the Brazilian domestic market, which can use ethanol and gasoline fuel at the same time, with great success in Brazil. As a result, other car makers, including GM and Ford, have followed suit in Brazil. More than half of the new vehicles sold in Brazil are "flexible fuel" vehicles. The owner can freely choose the type of fuel to be added, which can be petroleum, ethanol, or a mixture of petroleum and ethanol.

Brazil already has the scale of bioenergy production. Brazil is the world's largest producer and exporter of fuel ethanol. From 1976 to 2003, the annual output of sugarcane in Brazil increased from more than 100 million tons to 350 million tons, the output per unit area increased from 50 tons to 70 tons per hectare, and the fuel ethanol extracted from sugarcane per hectare increased from 2204 to 5500. Rise.

There are more than 300 sugarcane processing plants in Brazil. The annual output of fuel ethanol is 17 billion liters. Exports in 2004 were 1.9 billion liters, which increased to 2.1 billion liters in 2005 and 3 billion liters in 2006. Brazil is the country with the lowest energy agriculture cost in the world, with a cost of only $ 26 per barrel of biodiesel. Petrobras President Gabrielle said at a seminar that ethanol fuels will be competitive as long as the price of oil remains above $ 30 a barrel.

With increasing interest in ethanol fuel in various countries, the Brazilian government has developed a more ambitious plan for ethanol fuel production. In a recent speech, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva described entrepreneurs involved in ethanol fuel production as "heroes." Brazilian Minister of Agriculture Roberto Rodriguez recently announced in Tokyo, Japan that by 2013, Brazil plans to expand the annual output of ethanol fuel to 35 billion liters, more than double the annual output, of which about 10 billion liters will be used For export. In the next 7 years, Brazil's sugarcane production will increase from 427 million tons to 627 million tons. To cope with the increase in sugarcane production, the Brazilian government also plans to build 89 new ethanol fuel production plants in the same period.

In fact, Brazil's ethanol fuel industry has been in a slump in the past few years, and many companies are facing severe financial crisis. This time the menacing "ethanol storm" has brought these companies a great opportunity for recovery. The enthusiasm of investors for the ethanol industry has made Brazilian ethanol fuel companies rapidly active, attracting both foreign direct investment and promoting the growth of other relevant economic sectors.

In 2009, investors could buy the entire ethanol fuel plant as long as they spent a year's profit on the plant, but even if they paid twice the price, they may not be able to do so. Since it takes at least three or four years for the new factory to be put into production, many investors prefer to recover costs as soon as possible, so they would rather spend a lot of money to buy the old plant that can be put into production immediately. According to incomplete statistics, 18 factories have now been acquired by foreign capital with an annual milling capacity of 28 million tons of sugar cane. According to Rodriguez, an official of the Brazilian Cane Sugar Industry Federation, according to the current trend of foreign investment in the cane sugar industry, 27 mills will be acquired by foreign capital in the next five years, and the annual milling capacity will reach 70 million tons of sugar cane.

In addition to attracting foreign investment, ethanol fuel has also attracted the attention of many domestic companies. In this area, Brazil's domestic capital mainly comes from companies that have previously been involved in ethanol production, independent fuel distributors, municipal construction departments and other major agricultural and livestock sectors. Among them, independent distributors have bought 10 production plants, while other agricultural and animal husbandry sectors have joined the industry by providing land for sugar cane cultivation.

Environmentally friendly fuel raises environmental concerns

Extracted from sugar cane, ethanol fuel is cleaner than fossil fuels and is therefore widely considered an environmentally friendly energy source. But at the same time, the rapid development of the ethanol fuel industry has also caused more and more economists, scientists and environmentalists to worry. They believe that the large-scale production of ethanol fuel will pay a high price in terms of social and environmental protection, causing forest destruction and increasing food prices. Actually, the disadvantages outweigh the benefits and the gains are outweighed.

In fact, signs that sugarcane cultivation has reduced yields for other food crops have already appeared in many parts of Brazil. For example, the state of São Paulo is Brazil's largest sugarcane producing region, and 62% of the country's sugarcane is produced here. The boom in ethanol fuel production has caused the state's land prices to rise sharply, especially near the factory. Doubled in 2002.

At the same time, rising land prices have also increased production costs in other industries, such as grain and agriculture, because they have to compete with sugar cane for land. A bimonthly report on the land market shows that sugar cane is encroaching on land for food, oranges and pastures. The animal husbandry industry has been hit hard. Since 2004, the land for animal husbandry has lost a lot because of the increase in soybean production. Now it has to make way for sugar cane.

Many farmers in the state of São Paulo believe that it is more cost-effective to lease land than to grow it. Cavaliini is one of them. He gave up growing grain and rented part of his land to a sugar and ethanol production plant. "I'm tired of paying my own crops every year and calculating the return at the end of the year," Cavalini said. "Now I rent out the land, and my income is better than before."

Because of limited land in São Paulo, many growers have begun to expand land to neighboring Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul, Goias, and Parana. The local government is worried that the increase in sugarcane output will definitely affect the development of other agricultural production in these areas. Fabio Feldman, a well-known Brazilian environmentalist and former congressman, said: "The area of sugarcane plantations is too large, and this single planting situation will seriously affect the ecosystem."

Despite its leading position in biofuels, Brazil is still the fourth largest carbon dioxide emitter in the world due to the deforestation of large forests. Relevant experts believe that ethanol, which has the mission of slowing global warming, also has a "black" side. If the demand for ethanol surges around the world, the global warming trend may increase instead.

In order to obtain ethanol, producers will occupy agricultural land and plant crops for ethanol production on a large scale. Once more agricultural land cannot be obtained, the driving force of profit may infringe the Amazon rainforest, the Atlantic rainforest and many precious grasslands and woodlands. The trees on these lands could have absorbed a large amount of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide every year, and sacrificed them for ethanol, in fact it was worth the money.

In addition, the environmental protection effect of ethanol will be diluted by many factors. Fertilizers and pesticides are used to grow crops for ethanol production, and petrol is used to drive agricultural equipment on the farm. These essentially involve the use of fossil fuels. On the other hand, once the world's energy production is focused on crops, the most basic functions of crops will be challenged, and the starvation of poor people will also be challenged.

During his visit to Brazil, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, Klaus Töpfer, stressed that the ethanol alliance established by the leaders of Brazil and the United States poses environmental risks. He said that if the Brazilian government's protection is not in place, once the international market demand for ethanol and other biofuels increases, it may threaten the rainforest in the Amazon. Although sugarcane cultivation in the Amazon area is still small, increasing demand for ethanol may push sugarcane growers into the Amazon area, putting new pressure on rainforest protection in the Amazon area.

In response, Brazilian President Lula said that the Brazilian government will try its best to protect the environment. Lula also said that the level of development in Brazil is very different, and biotechnology is very important for economic development. He hoped that biofuel technology could be used to help relatively poor regions develop their economies and achieve energy self-sufficiency. ^[2]