Researchers Find More Pollution from Sugarcane Ethanol
University researchers from California, Iowa and Chile have found that sugarcane ethanol production creates up to seven times more air pollutants than previously estimated, according to news from the University of Iowa.
The research team used agricultural survey data from Brazil to calculate emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases from the entire production, distribution, and lifecycle of sugarcane ethanol from 2000 to 2008.
The estimated pollutants were 1.5 to 7.3 times higher than those from satellite-based methods, according to lead author Elliott Campbell of the University of California, Merced.
Greg Carmichael, Karl Kammermeyer Professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering in the UI College of Engineering and co-director of the Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research (CGRER), and UI assistant professor Scott Spak note that the findings reflect continued practices and trends that are a part of the production of sugarcane ethanol. These include the practice of burning sugarcane fields before harvest, as well as the fact that sugarcane production in Brazil continues to grow.
“We found that the vast majority of emissions come from burning the sugarcane fields prior to harvesting, a practice the Brazilian government has been moving to end,” says Spak. “However, the sugarcane industry has been expanding rapidly and moving into more remote areas, which makes it much more difficult to enforce new regulations over this growing source of air pollution and greenhouse gases.
“As people try to determine how to integrate biofuels into the global economy, Brazilian sugarcane ethanol has often been considered a more environmentally friendly fuel source than U.S. corn ethanol. In fact, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers sugarcane ethanol an ‘advanced biofuel’ with fewer greenhouse gas emissions than conventional biofuels like corn ethanol. These new findings help us refine those estimates and move closer to making more informed comparisons between different fuel sources, and ultimately make better decisions about how to grow and use biofuels,” Spak says.
The study, titled “Increased estimates of air-pollution emissions from Brazilian sugarcane ethanol,” is featured in the Nature Highlights section and published in the Dec. 11 Advance Online Publication of the journal Nature Climate Change.
11 Comments »
Emerson Olenewa
This study and the story about it seem badly out of touch with reality. This might have made sense several years ago, but not in 2011/12. Sugarcane burning is disappearing quickly in Brazil – in the main growing state, São Paulo, 63% of the harvest is mechanized and burning is set to virtually disappear by 2014. The argument that new mills are surfacing in remote areas doesn’t hold water at all, because new mills are entirely mechanized, so from day one there is no burning involved in their operations. Finally, when the EPA designated sugarcane ethanol as an advanced biofuel, the burning was already factored into their calculations. That’s easy enough to check – probably a phone call to the EPA will do. Surprising that “researchers” would wrap up a paper, distribute their findings, but not do all the checking. So for the record, the EPA found that sugarcane ethanol cuts greenhouse gas emissions by 61 to 91% (the base for comparison is gasoline). That variation has to do with how the cane is harvested and processed, things like whether or not there is still any field burning going on. So the worst case scenario with cane ethanol, according to the EPA, is a 61% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, which is about double the best reduction corn ethanol could manage – about 30%. So what was the point of this study again???
Martin Tjossem
I think the corn ethanol plant I invested in that gets part of its fuel from landfill methane has got to be better. I still remember being in Brazil in 2001 and watching a sugarcane field being burned—-very big cloud.
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James T. Kirk
It took the Corn Farmers years to kill off the sugar cane industry in the USA. Finally, with the help of a Corn Farmer friendly congress, they managed to wipe it out. The last place I’m listening to regarding anything about domestic fuels is the University of Corn (Iowa).
Jose Felix Silva Junior
For God sake, in three years, when the study was finished, up to now, there was a big change in the sugarcane field with increasing in mechanical harvest and decreasing of burned cane.
There is no sense to consider that new mills was projected to work of hand-cut burned cane, this is not economical nowadays.
I do not know why this paper was published in 2011 with data collected up to 2008, i.e. completely out of today practice in the fields.
The problem is that sugarcane ethanol is more sustainable than corn ethanol, independently from the calculations made or created.
lee mcclune
Well, The most Sustainable Crop/Process, is the Sorganol Concept, it has been shown to be ‘Sustainable’ and also is/can be ‘Carbon Neutral’,, A study done by Univ of Hawaii, shows
Sweet Sorghum, will Produce about 2 times the Sorganol (ie, fuel Ethanol) as Sugar Cane, and at 1/4 – 1/3 the Cost of Corn,
(by Dr Anderson of ISU (Iowa)) , and the Univ of AZ showed Sweet Sorghum takes about 1/3 the water as Corn, and about 1/6 the water as sugar cane, We have shown we are able to produce 1000+ gal Sorganol/acre for about 60-70 cents per gal,,
I call Sweet Sorghum ‘America’s Sugar Cane’ as it grows all across America very well,, Lee McClune, Iowa, USA,,,
Charlie Peters
Will GMO corn fuel ethanol welfare to Big oil refiners and Government motors affect the beef?
Charlie Peters
STOP using food in my gas.
Frank
STOP using OIL in my gas.
sas
This article is totally inconsistent to the actual reality of sugarcane production. Nowadays, the burning before harvesting is made only in a part of the production (~20%) and with prohibition in 2014 in mechanical areas and 2017 in non-mechanical areas. That’s because I think this project has policy tendency.
Charlie Peters
Gerald Secundy, the President and CEO of the California Council for Environmental and Economic Balance (CCEEB) discusses air quality and transportation projects, environmental justice, and climate change.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN-tNxPrZkY
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