CTBE Sustainability Research Program

 

The Bioethanol Science and Technology Center (Centro de Ciência e Tecnologia do Bioetanol - CTBE) is a Brazilian National Laboratory with the Mission to:
 

Contribute for keeping Brazilian leadership regarding the sustainable production of bioethanol from sugarcane, through state-of-the-art research, development, and innovation.

CTBE is operated by the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Technology Association (ABTLuS), a private non-profitable organization, which already operates the Brazilian National Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS) and the Center of Molecular Biology (CeBiME). When completed, CTBE facilities, being built in the same area as LNLS and CeBiME, in Campinas, Sao Paulo, will house up to 80 permanent researchers, a similar number of visitors (graduate students, PhD students, post-doctoral fellows, associated researchers), and technical staff, working towards the goals of the Center. Its first building, housing laboratories and administration, is expected to be finished by September of 2009. For more information, click here to CTBE institutional web site.

Sustainability Research Program

Sustainability at CTBE will focus on the alternative processes for ethanol production from sugarcane compared to the conventional one. The main purposes of the comparative analysis are:

(i) Identification of advantages and/or disadvantages of the alternative processes compared with the conventional one;
(ii) Evaluation of the necessary actions in order to maximize the benefits and to reduce the drawbacks;

Understanding that the concept of Sustainability is wide and normative, CTBE proposal is to work centered in three issues regarding the ethanol supply chain, which are considered fundamental in both the national as well as in the international agenda:

(i) energy balance and balance on greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions;
(ii) socio-economic issues regarding the conventional and alternative processes;
(iii) impacts on the availability and quality of water resources.

Aware of specific needs, along with the expertise of CTBE staff and specialists from associated research groups, other environmental concerns could be prioritized, like biodiversity conservation, soil impacts (e.g. soil contamination and erosion), as well economic aspects of new production processes.

The initial outlines of the Sustainability Research Program at CTBE will include:

- Identification of the priorities regarding the sustainability of the bioethanol production chain from sugarcane, in both the national and international debate;
- Evaluation of the priorities on research and development (R&D), in short and medium terms, with the objective to guarantee the sustainability on the bioethanol production from sugarcane in Brazil (considering economic, social and environmental impacts);
- Use and development of methodologies and models aiming at assess the sustainablity of the ethanol supply chain;
- Identification and interaction with strategic partners involved with sustainability issues, in Brazil and overseas.

More specifically, with regard to innovative processes in the industrial area, CTBE is developing a tool to analyze the new technologies and products, the Virtual Biorefinery.

To accomplish this evaluation, mathematical modeling and computerized simulation will be applied. Obtained results shall be used to analyze the sustainability of the alternative routes for ethanol production.

This tool will make possible a more accurate evaluation of specific technologies/systems, regarding required raw materials, energy consumption, effluent flows, required personnel and so forth. The Virtual Biorefinery has also been conceived for the identification of optimization opportunities for equipments and systems.