The hard choice for alternative biofuels to diesel in Brazil

This paper selects biofuel scenarios to substitute diesel in Brazil based on oil reserves increase, diesel imports, CO2 emissions, crops agronomic yields, byproducts marketing and social impacts. This hard task still considers that agricultural practices in developing countries have large social imp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Biotechnology advances Vol. 27; no. 6; pp. 1043 - 1050
Main Authors:	Carioca, J.O.B., Hiluy Filho, J.J., Leal, M.R.L.V., Macambira, F.S.
Format:	Journal Article Conference Proceeding
Language:	English
Published:	Kidlington Elsevier Inc 01-11-2009 Elsevier
Subjects:	Biodiesel Biodiesel scenario Biofuel production Biofuels Biological and medical sciences Biomass Biorefinery Biotechnology Brazil Cellulose - chemistry Energy Eukaryota - chemistry Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology Gasoline Industrial applications and implications. Economical aspects Brazil Biodiesel Biorefinery Biodiesel scenario Biofuel Diesel fuel
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Summary:	This paper selects biofuel scenarios to substitute diesel in Brazil based on oil reserves increase, diesel imports, CO2 emissions, crops agronomic yields, byproducts marketing and social impacts. This hard task still considers that agricultural practices in developing countries have large social impacts. Brazil presents high consumption of diesel oil in transport; low agronomic yield of traditional vegetable oil crops, which demand large cultivation areas contrasting with microalgae and palm oils which present high productivity. Concerning technologies, thermal cracking and transesterification of vegetable oils present a difficult economic situation related to vegetable oils price, food competition and glycerin market; BTL technology, meaning thermal gasification of biomass to liquids, faces problems related to low density of biomaterials and low viscosity of synthetic biodiesel produced. Biorefinery algal integrated systems and co-solvent technology to introduce up to 8% of ethanol into diesel seem to be feasible routes to reduce diesel consumption.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-2 ObjectType-Feature-1
ISSN:	0734-9750 1873-1899
DOI:	10.1016/j.biotechadv.2009.05.012