How Sweet It Is... Brazil's Sugar Ethanol Fuels China's Recovery

[one...two...tree 2,762]

by Eric Ehrmann

China has made a $10 billion investment in energy giant Petrobras strengthening Brazil's efforts toward sustainability and putting sugar based ethanol in the center of the geopolitical arena.

Using its own technology and just 1% of its arable land, Brazil efficiently produced 6.57 billion gallons of sugar ethanol last statistical year, roughly half the reported annual oil production of Iraq. Ironically, China's investment in Petrobras would buy about seven weeks worth of the US presence that protects the oil business in Iraq. Brazil could double ethanol production with the right market conditions and if a couple former presidents, now powerful senators, push the government to expand production in Brazil's low income northern states.

Ethanol trade has helped make China Brazil's top trade partner, replacing Uncle Sam, who had been top dog ever since Herbert Hoover was in the White House. Unlike the US, Brazil runs a favorable trade balance with China and will continue to do so as China rebounds from the crisis. Opportunities for expanding US-Brazil trade, meanwhile, are limited by the 54 cents per gallon predatory tariff Washington slaps on sugar based ethanol which president Barack Obama voted for as a senator to gain support from agribusiness and Corn Belt farmers in his quest for the White House.

more...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-ehrmann...s_b_207825.html

[almaty 19]

good idea..china is right thinking..and brazil....also

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Good thing the US taxes the ####### out of Brazilian ethynol imports, otherwise we could save money buying it from Brazil instead of making it ouselves from corn which has driven up the price of corn, which in turn has driven up the price of beef etc. Brazil is coming close to being energy independant.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Sugar ethanol production was subsidized in Brazil at one time, although Brazil reports it no longer does so. The idea was considered in the US, as recently as 2006, as an alternative to the heavily subsidized corn ethanol production:

Factors impacting sugar to ethanol viability

Corn is currently the least-cost feedstock available for ethanol production. Ethanol from sugarcane or sugar beet feedstocks costs twice as much. USDA’s recent sugar/ethanol report provides these comparative production costs.

High oil prices have spurred interest in ethanol, to put it mildly. But for how long? (Prices were dropping at press deadline in September.)

With ethanol prices hovering near $4 a gallon this summer, the USDA report concludes that it would be profitable to produce ethanol from sugar and sugar byproducts. However, if ethanol prices were to drop below $2.35 a gallon, it would not be profitable to use raw or refined sugar as a feedstock. Based on current futures prices, the price of ethanol is expected to drop.

Alternative market prices for sugar

As can be seen above, it is far more costly to convert U.S. refined sugar to ethanol than to convert corn. One reason is that recent domestic sugar prices make it more profitable to convert sugarcane and sugar beets to sugar than to convert it to ethanol. As Jose Alvarez, vice president of operations for the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida, said: “It’s simple economics. Refined sugar sells at about 18 cents a pound, and the experts tell us ethanol from sugar would be close to 10 cents.” (Florida Sun-Sentinel, May 31, 2006.)

http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/pub/sep06/ethanol.htm

There still remains some doubt, all around, as to whether or not ethanol produced from either corn, or sugar, is economically viable, with, or without, government assistance:

Doesn't producing ethanol on a large scale use a great deal of energy?

Yes. Some ethanol skeptics have even argued that the process involved in growing grain and then transforming it into ethanol requires more energy from fossil fuels than ethanol generates. In other words, they say the whole movement is a farce.

There's no absolute consensus in the scientific community, but that argument is losing strength. Michael Wang, a scientist at the Energy Dept.-funded Argonne National Laboratory for Transportation Research, says "The energy used for each unit of ethanol produced has been reduced by about half [since 1980]." Now, Wang says, the delivery of 1 million British thermal units (BTUs) of ethanol uses 0.74 million BTUs of fossil fuels. (That does not include the solar energy -- the sun shining -- used in growing corn.) By contrast, he finds that the delivery of 1 million BTUs of gasoline requires 1.23 million BTU of fossil fuels.*

Producing ethanol could get more efficient soon as new technologies help farmers get more corn per acre of land and allow ethanol producers to get more of the fuel from the same amount of corn. The companies developing new corn technologies include chemical giant Dupont (DD) and Monsanto (MON), which sells genetically modified seeds as well as chemicals for protecting crops.

http://marketpublishers.com/lists/4681/news.html

*Common sense would make this number suspect. Raw crude can be converted into about 20 gallons of gasoline per 42 gallon barrel and about 22 gallons of other products, like diesel and kerosene. Early refineries burned the "waste' product as fuel, to run the distillation process.

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

I'd like to know whats gonna fuel your recovery? I'm sure it will involve a bail-out!

Edited May 29, 2009 by ={Rogue}=

[natty bumppo 297]

Good thing the US taxes the ####### out of Brazilian ethynol imports, otherwise we could save money buying it from Brazil instead of making it ouselves from corn which has driven up the price of corn, which in turn has driven up the price of beef etc. Brazil is coming close to being energy independant.

only close?

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Good thing the US taxes the ####### out of Brazilian ethynol imports, otherwise we could save money buying it from Brazil instead of making it ouselves from corn which has driven up the price of corn, which in turn has driven up the price of beef etc. Brazil is coming close to being energy independant.

only close?

Well, almost counts in horeshoes and hand grenades.

[natty bumppo 297]

Good thing the US taxes the ####### out of Brazilian ethynol imports, otherwise we could save money buying it from Brazil instead of making it ouselves from corn which has driven up the price of corn, which in turn has driven up the price of beef etc. Brazil is coming close to being energy independant.

only close?

Well, almost counts in horeshoes and hand grenades.

check your facts ... Brazil exports vs imports ... and why this happens.

btw: you forgot atom bombs

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Good thing the US taxes the ####### out of Brazilian ethynol imports, otherwise we could save money buying it from Brazil instead of making it ouselves from corn which has driven up the price of corn, which in turn has driven up the price of beef etc. Brazil is coming close to being energy independant.

only close?

Well, almost counts in horeshoes and hand grenades.

check your facts ... Brazil exports vs imports ... and why this happens.

btw: you forgot atom bombs

I read somewhere recently that Brazil would be energy independant within the next 5 years or so.

[natty bumppo 297]

Good thing the US taxes the ####### out of Brazilian ethynol imports, otherwise we could save money buying it from Brazil instead of making it ouselves from corn which has driven up the price of corn, which in turn has driven up the price of beef etc. Brazil is coming close to being energy independant.

only close?

Well, almost counts in horeshoes and hand grenades.

check your facts ... Brazil exports vs imports ... and why this happens.

btw: you forgot atom bombs

I read somewhere recently that Brazil would be energy independant within the next 5 years or so.

exports vs imports.

refining capabilities internal vs external.

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

No sweat Nat! Its a to much time on my hands Steve thread!

[Ban Hammer 13,771]

Good thing the US taxes the ####### out of Brazilian ethynol imports, otherwise we could save money buying it from Brazil instead of making it ouselves from corn which has driven up the price of corn, which in turn has driven up the price of beef etc. Brazil is coming close to being energy independant.

only close?

Well, almost counts in horeshoes and hand grenades.

[Marina-Del 10]

Very nice! One of my private students is *one* of the top dogs in his branch of the Petrobras company. I'm surprised he didn't mention this today.

Does this mean I can charge him more money?

[almaty 19]

yes, charge him lots of yuans

[Marina-Del 10]

yes, charge him lots of yuans