Presentation

   

Brazil has a well established agro industrial sector based on the sugarcane culture. Sucrose is directly extracted from cane stalk and converted to ethanol mainly for fuel purposes and as chemical precursor for alcohol chemistry.

Although ethanol production from sugarcane is profitable and attains a substantial production scale, there is a large margin to optimize land resources and biomass exploitation. Present ethanol processing procedures sub utilize bagasse (the remaining fibrous material after sucrose extraction) in an inefficient conversion to mechanical and thermal energy. The leaves and tops are burned or left on the field and represent near one third of the biomass synthesized from carbon dioxide by sunlight.

A more efficient process could convert as much as possible of sugarcane lignocellulosic biomass into ethanol. This means more ethanol from a planted hectare of land, more carbon dioxide captured, more sunlight energy converted into liquid fuel, more sustainable practices and more production of fuels and chemical goods based on renewable materials.

The Centro de Ciência e Tecnologia do Bioetanol (CTBE) is launching a research program to contribute to the development of this technology, ensuring Brazilian leadership in the sustainable production of ethanol from sugarcane. The Workshop on Hydrolysis Route for Cellulosic Ethanol from Sugarcane is an initiative in this direction. The focus of the workshop will be on the hydrolysis route for conversion of sugarcane bagasse into fermentable sugars and final conversion to ethanol, research line of the Pilot Plant for Process Development (PPDP) of CTBE.

It is expected that the workshop will provide an opportunity to discuss a systematic and fundamental science-based approach to the technology of cellulose conversion and promote a brainstorming scenario to generate new proposals for biomass processing to fermentable sugars and ethanol.

The workshop will also offer to participating research groups the opportunity to present their main research topics related to the above topics in a poster session. We expect that this format will promote discussions among these different groups and with the Center staff, encouraging future scientific collaborations that may make full use of the RD&I infrastructure of the CTBE.

 

Complete Workshop Theme Document (download here)