IMPACT OF BIOETHANOL ON FOOD PRODUCTION IN BRAZIL IS NOT ONLY UNDESIREABLE, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE!

Marcos Buckeridge (msbuck@usp.br)

On May 23rd, New Scientist released an interview I gave to Jan Rocha in which I proposed that Brazil can produce bioethanol at the same time as it protects the environment, especially biodiversity.

If you go to the site of New Scientist, there are several comments, some very interesting because they reflect the opinion of (supposedly) laymen who are interested in science.

What is quite interesting is that a few comments are from people worried with a possible interference of biofuel crops in food production.

This is indeed legitimate if we consider Europe and to a certain extent the US, but not Brazil or Africa.

One of the comments says that Brazilians should worry about the lack of food in Africa instead. This is a very important issue, of course, but its relationship with bioenergy probably will have more benefits than damage. The food problem in Africa is very complex and has connections with politics, economy and agricultural technology, to name but a few. Looking at it form the viewpoint of bioenergy versus food,  there is  simply not enough bioenergy market in the planet, at least up to 2015-2020, that could support the production of bioenergy crops in Africa so that it could influence food production there. Even if it does, and profits are high, Africans could benefit a lot from that and then invest their profit to improve their food technology, therefore increasing food production and quality. Thus, bioenergy crops in Africa, if well managed from the strategic point of view, could be quite beneficial instead!

In the case of Brazil, the current production of bioethanol does not compromise food production at all, as we are using less than 1% of the agriculturally usable land area in the whole country. Furthermore, data gathered by planners of the Faculty of Administration (FEA-USP), working in collaboration with this institute, forecasts that the exports of ethanol needed for 2017 will be ca. 8.3 billion of litres (bl). Considering the actual internal demand, which according to UNICA is 29.7 bl and for 2015/16 will be of 46.9 bl, the impact on land area expansion in Brazil due to sugarcane is likely to be very mild. Furthermore, one has to remember that we are constantly producing new varieties and there are several initiatives in Brazil (NIST-Biothanol is one of them, along with the Centre of Science and Technology of Ethanol – CTBE - in Campinas, BIOEN-FAPESP and EMBRAPA Agroenergy in Brasilia) who are focused on improving productivity of sugarcane. Nowadays the average productivity in Brazil is around 100 tons per ha per year and may reach near 250 in the next 10 years, and I am being conservative with these numbers.

Two factors will strongly influence the productivity in the near future: 1) genetic improvement and 2) effects of the global climatic change.

In the first case, genetic improvement of sugarcane will use classical and modern molecular biology to produce varieties that can grow faster and produce more biomass that can be used for ethanol production with technologies of the first and second generations.

In the second, it is already known that sugarcane will grow faster and produce more biomass with the elevation of atmospheric CO₂ concentration. This is data produced by our group and published last year. The literature is in de Souza et al. (2008).

My point here is that the increase in productivity, when considered together with the demand of ethanol in the same period, will not lead to a great expansion in area for biofuel crops in Brazil. Therefore, there can be not be impact on food production here, even if Brazil wanted to do that!

Below, a text in Portuguese with the opinion of the coordinators of several National Institutes about the disproportional cuts in the Brazilian budget for S&T, due to the economic crisis

SÓ COM INVESTIMENTOS EM CIÊNCIA E TECNOLOGIA SAIREMOS FORTALECIDOS DESSA CRISE

A possibilidade de corte de recursos do Ministério de Ciência e Tecnologia, se consumado, irá interromper o ciclo virtuoso de progresso científico, iniciado há mais de duas décadas. Um sólido desenvolvimento científico e tecnológico é, nos dias de hoje, o caminho mais consistente para a riqueza e a soberania das nações. Os países que apresentaram maior desenvolvimento social e econômico no período que se seguiu à Segunda Grande Guerra foram aqueles que, independentemente do seu modelo político, implementaram uma política consistente e de longo prazo para o aprimoramento de suas pesquisas. O Brasil nas últimas três décadas vem exercendo uma política consistente na área de Ciência, cujo resultado é hoje medido pelos índices expressivos de sua produtividade científica. Mais importante, o aumento da qualificação do parque brasileiro de pesquisa e a inovação tecnológica dela decorrente vêm gerando riquezas ao país. Temas estratégicos para o desenvolvimento nacional, tais como o aumento da produtividade agrícola, a descoberta de novos campos de petróleo e gás, o desenvolvimento de fontes alternativas de energia, o aprimoramento da tecnologia aeronáutica, as estratégias inteligentes de conservação ambiental, as pesquisas em genética e os novos procedimentos de tratamento de moléstias de nosso povo (incluindo a utilização de células-tronco, a produção de novos medicamentos e a instrumentação médica) possuem, todos eles, a “impressão digital” dos pesquisadores brasileiros. Nesse cenário, vemos com grande preocupação a possibilidade de corte de recursos do Ministério de Ciência e Tecnologia, que, se consumado, irá interromper o ciclo virtuoso de progresso científico, iniciado há mais de duas décadas. Um retrocesso nesse momento resultará em conseqüências negativas em médio e longo prazo. Oportunidades de pesquisa serão perdidas, pesquisadores jovens e experientes migrarão para países que lhes ofereçam melhores oportunidades, e um grande número de estudantes perderá a oportunidade de ingressar em atividades de pesquisa. O atual governo dos Estados Unidos da América do Norte isentou de cortes a área de Ciência e Tecnologia, mesmo estando no centro da grave crise econômica. Com isso, os EUA elegem o desenvolvimento da Ciência e da Tecnologia como um instrumento poderoso para vencer as vicissitudes da atual conjuntura e promover o bem estar social. Temos convicção de que o Congresso Nacional, fórum maior das decisões dos destinos da Nação, será sensível a esta questão e assegurará as condições para o contínuo progresso científico e tecnológico de nosso País, recompondo as previsões orçamentárias para o ano de 2009, que foram elaboradas com sobriedade e alinhadas com as metas do Plano de Ação de Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação para o Desenvolvimento Nacional. Somente com investimentos em ciência e tecnologia sairemos fortalecidos dessa crise.

Prof. Dr. Colombo Celso Gaeta Tassinari Coordenador do Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia de Técnicas Analíticas para Exploração de Petróleo e Gás

Prof. Dr. Euripedes Constantino Miguel Coordenador do Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia de Psiquiatria do Desenvolvimento para crianças e adolescentes

Prof. Dr. Glaucius Oliva Coordenador do Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia de Biotecnologia Estrutural e Química Medicinal em Doenças Infecciosas

Prof. Dr. João Evangelista Steiner Coordenador do Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia de Astrofísica

Prof. Dr. Jorge Elias Kalil Filho Coordenador do Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia de Investigação em Imunologia

Prof. Dr. José Antonio Frizzone Coordenador do Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia de Pesquisa e Inovação em Engenharia da Irrigação

Prof. Dr. José Carlos Maldonado Coordenador do Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Sistemas Embarcados Críticos

Prof. Dr. José Roberto Postali Parra Coordenador do Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Semioquímicos na Agricultura

Prof. Dr. Marcos Silveira Buckeridge Coordenador do Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia do Bioetanol

Profa. Dra. Mayana Zatz Coordenadora do Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia de Células-Tronco em Doenças Genéticas Humanas

Profa. Dra. Nadya Araújo Guimarães Coordenadora do Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia para Estudos da Metrópole

Profa. Dra. Ohara Augusto Coordenadora do Instituto Nacional de Ciência Tecnologia de Processos Redox em Biomedicina-Redoxoma

Prof. Dr. Paulo Hilário Nascimento Saldiva Coordenador do Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia de Análise Integrada do Risco Ambiental

Prof. Dr. Roberto Mendonça Faria Coordenador do Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia de Eletrônica Orgânica

Prof. Dr. Roberto Passetto Falcão Coordenador do Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Células-Tronco e Terapia Celular

Prof. Dr. Sérgio França Adorno de Abreu Coordenador do Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia Violência, Democracia e Segurança Cidadã

Prof. Dr. Vanderlei Salvador Bagnato Coordenador do Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Óptica e Fotônica

Sugacane bioethanol: our strategy in four generations

Bioethanol production starting from the sugarcane is accomplished by alcoholic fermentation of the sucrose. The perspectives of obtaining ethanol starting from bagasse, ethanol from sucrose in Brazil, as well as ethanol from the corn starch, in the USA, have been called first generation ethanol. In this way, the ethanol produced from cell wall has been called ethanol of second generation. However, for the production of the cellulosic ethanol, we foresee several stages that can be clearly distinguished:

1) chemical hydrolysis;

2) enzymatic hydrolysis; and

3) auto-hydrolysis (see below).

 For this reason, we propose to call second generation of bioethanol only that one produced exclusively from chemical hydrolysis. This process uses acid and/or alkali in order to break the polymers of the cell wall releasing mono and oligosaccharides that can be fermented. However, besides high costs, these chemical products are thought to produce residues that might pollute the environment. Our expectation is that the combination of biological and physical-chemical processes will make the process more efficient. For being a process that demands a larger input of research and technology, we named this combined process the third generation bioethanol.

We believed that the main bottleneck in this process will be the production of hydrolytic enzymes and microorganisms selected and/or modified for that purpose in large scale. Thus, we are looking forward to form partnership with companies interested in working together with our research groups in the NIST-Bioethanol.

 The fourth generation bioethanol is the one in which the plant itself (GM a characterized variety) will be genetically able to produce the necessary enzymes participate of the process of digestion of its own cell wall. This is what we call auto-hydrolysis should minimize even more the costs of the production. Our long-term goal is to provide means for the integration of the four generations of bioethanol so that combinations of them would lead to a much more efficient, productive sustainable bioenergy.

Besides the methods of hydrolysis of the wall, the progress in the knowledge on the physiology of plants used for the ethanol production, the employment of genetic tools and industrial engineering shall perform important roles in the increase of the productivity of the ethanol, independently of the “generation”. On the other hand, complete development of second and third generation of bioethanol will open the possibility to include other sources of biomass what have the potential to revolutionize the production of liquid fuels.

Regarding sugarcane, one long-term goal would be the expectancy of an increase in the production of bioethanol to twice as much what is produced nowadays. This is expected on the basis of our discoveries granting access to the cell wall polysaccharides and the coupling of the consequent sugar release, fermentation and ethanol production.

Therefore, the investment made by Brazilian national and state funding agencies in the NIST-Bioethanol, which focus on research related to cellulosic ethanol production must yield great array of basic and applied knowledge with important impact in society by producing new business opportunities as well as under-graduate and post-graduation research and formation. Above all, to invest in renewable energy is important for Brazil to consolidate its leadership in this area and to accomplish its role as an example of sustainability to the world.

Brazilian initiative to produce cellulosic ethanol from sugarcane

The use of fossil fuels by civilization has led humanity to a unique situation in History. Emissions of CO₂ to the atmosphere as a consequence of energy demand for several purposes are now accepted to be provoking changes in the climate. In the 70s, Brazil started a program to substitute gasoline by ethanol in order to decrease dependence from politically and economically variable periods. The plant species chosen was sugarcane and as a consequence, agricultural and technological studies were greatly intensified, leading Brazil to a very favorable position in terms of energy security. Nowadays, Brazil has more than 80% of its cars running with bioethanol and even airplane engines are now being developed. With the increasing political instability in the Middle East, since 2001, the USA has also decided to direct its energy policy towards the use of biofuels. This is now being followed by Europe and Japan and it is likely to be followed by several other countries in the world. This imposes an enormous pressure on the production of crops that can supply bioethanol.

The Brazilian sugarcane system of agroenergy is the most efficient extant system. However, only part of the biomass produced is used for bioenergy production, 1/3 of the plant being used for sucrose production, 1/3 is bagasse, which is burnt for electricity production and the last third is left in the field and latter on decomposed by microorganisms.  Therefore, in order to supply wider needs, a significant increase in production of ethanol is possible if we can provide the basic knowledge necessary for development of technologies that will be capable to obtain energy from the polysaccharides of the cell wall, which makes 80% of the biomass burnt inefficiently and left in the field. The availability of such processes within the distillery planta and the higher marketing value of liquid fuel concedes additional economical advantages to its conversion instead of the simply burn. Sugarcane is specially approached because of its relevance in the market, but other plant of energetic value is also studied as source of biomass. Although the chemical hydrolysis of biomass is a consolidated methodology under laboratory conditions, its large-scale application is not economically viable, yet. The necessary use of acids reduces the life-time of equipments, produces toxic wastes and produces non-fermentable sugars, increasing the costs of the products. One alternative is the enzymatic hydrolysis of the cell wall. Such a process requires the use of a complex machinery of specific enzymes that are produced either by the plant itself or by microorganism able to degrade plant cell. On the other hand, relatively little is known about the structure and architecture of the cell wall.

We are the National Institute of Science and Technology of Bioethanol, a network of 29 laboratories which will work together for the next 5 years. One of the goals is to understand the fine structure of the principal hemicelluloses of sugarcane and other possible sources of biomass. We intend to find patterns of gene expression that could be useful to find ways to induce the plants to degrade their own wall and become prepared for subsequent hydrolysis. In parallel, we are going to prospect microorganisms, enzymes and genes both in microorganisms and sugarcane that are capable to efficiently hydrolyze the walls.  Such enzymes will be designed to have the highest possible performance to degrade plant cell walls, especially the walls of sugarcane. A group of researchers will screen existent varieties to find gene markers that could guide the groups to quickly identify plant materials that would be more suitable for use in industrial processes. From the latter viewpoint, our group intends to perform tests of mechanical preparation of sugarcane for further acid and/or enzymatic hydrolysis. With the data from the Centers of Genetics, Breeding, Physiology and Cellulosic Ethanol in hands, we shall be able to provide the fundamental knowledge of biotechnology necessary for scaling up studies and further increase in efficient of bioethanol production in Brazil.