Sweet sorghum vs Sugarcane: the ethanol produced through both pathways is sustainable? (4 posts)

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  • Michela Pin said 3 years, 8 months ago:

    Dear Oscar and dear all,
    in accordance with the sustainability criteria and logic of market, the ethanol produced from sugarcane is an important competitor of the one produced from sweet sorghum.

    In fact the GHGs saving of the ethanol produced from sugarcane is 71% (RES Directive, Annex V, table A) and the estimated GHGs saving of the ethanol produced from sweet sorghum is 70%.

    But the value for the ethanol obtained from sugarcane is effective only if the production of sugarcane complies with the sustainability criteria, such as the protection of the primary forest (i.e. in accordance with the definition used by FAO), the control of the impact of the collection of non-wood forest products on the indigenous peoples and the safeguard of the high stock of carbon (i.e. carbon sink) in soil and vegetation (e.g. forested areas with a canopy cover of between 10 to 30%).

    Besides, does remain sustainable the ethanol produced from sugarcane if transported by sea from Brazil to the EU?

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  • Oscar Leòn said 3 years, 8 months ago:

    Dear Michela,

    as you said, the sustainability is necesary for the ethanol production from sugar cane.. and from sweet sorghum. I think that both crops are not going to be a competence here, in Europe. At the end, in Europe we can work and produce sweet sorghum, but sugar cane, with the exception of Canary Islands or south of Spain, is not going to be a good alternative.

    The same considerations in Latin Ameria must be applied to Sweet Sorghum and Sugar Cane, as the protection of the primary forest or the control of the impact, as must be done with other raw materials, like CEREALS… (mainly for food or animal feed), and with a worst balance, comparing with sugar cane or sweet sorghum.

    The last point, really is very good and very important…. If we make the evaluation of the carbon footprint, what´s happen with the transport from Brazil to Europe?… or from EEUU to Europe. How is going to be evaluated this environmental cost?

    At the end, comparing several raw materials, the consideration of the best one is going to be possible only in specific areas or countries (the best raw material in Europe is not going to be the same than in Brazil or in Colombia, for example). How can we evaluate the best raw material in Europe?
    Economic criterias
    Environmental Criterias
    Technical Criteria???

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  • Michela Pin said 3 years, 8 months ago:

    Dear Oscar and dear all,
    in the last week I submitted this question to Dr. Vito Pignatelli, senior researcher and referring person for biofuels of ENEA.

    In his opinion ethanol, is produced from sugarcane in Brazil and imported in the EU by sea, is sustainable. Besides Brazil has yet a lot of fields to increase the cultivation of sugarcane, in accordance with the sustainability criteria of the RES DIrective.

    In any cases, in the Italian energy plan an internal ethanol production is foreseen (approximately 20% of the internal consumption) and consequently Dr. Pignatelli completely agrees with the approach and objectives of the SWEETHANOL project.

    Basing on this principle, also ENEA is studying some ethanol crops, are suitable to the Italian conditions (i.e. climate, soil). In particular the reseachers of ENEA focus on the Jerusalem Artichoke.

    These different ethanol crops are complementary: sweet sorghum is annual, whereas Jerusalem Artichoke is perennial and basing on the specific situation the most suitable crop can be chosen. Both plants are suitable to the marginal fields and they avoid the dispute “Food vs Fuel”.

    Therefore, since these crops are actually the future for the EU ethanol production, we are studying about the related economic, environmental and technical aspects.

    Afterwards we will able to compare the obtained results and eventually we will be able to define the best raw material for the EU.

    But I believe that there will not be the best, but a mix of very good raw materials, because the best in one context is not necessarily the best in another context.

    Do you agree? What is your opinion?

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  • Oscar Leòn said 3 years, 8 months ago:

    Dear Michela,

    I am agree with you. The best solution for EU will be the combination of different raw materials (energy crops) to produce bioethanol. In the case of Jerusalem Artichoke, the “problem” is that the harvesting period (of the roots) is going to be more or less from october to january, or if you work from the stalks, you could work from July to October. But, the production process using Jerusalem Artichoke is going to use more energy than the bioethanol production process from sweet sorghum due to the type of sugar stored in the jersusalem artichoke (inulin vs saccharose of sweet sorghum).

    At the end, we need to select the best types of raw materials, with these objectives:

    Use of marginal fields.
    Low consumption of water and fertilizers.
    High productivity per hectarea of sugar
    High productivity per hectarea of biomass
    Combination of different harvesting periods to produce all the year.
    Low production cost (mainly if we use a raw material with saccharose as sugar)

    Now, we can consider the Sweet Sorghum, but, we need other complementary crops to increase the production period… please, let me know what kind of crops can be the solution to solve the last questions…..

    Cheers.

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