i know not if this info has been on the list before,
and if so, pls. excuse. maybe re-reading it won't do any harm
!
brazil is today the only serious ethanol player in
the world. all other ethanol users are amateurs by comparison.
in 1984 brazil decided to go the anhydrous ethanol
route. it set up vehicle mix standards for manufacturers, and made available
(until 1997) a subsidy of 140 million dollars to anhydrous ethanol (ae)
manufacturers. in a country with 140 million people this is mere chickenfeed.
since then brazil has manufactured close to six
million vehicles that run on straight 100% ae. these include over seven hundred
thousand trucks and farm tractors, and some twelve thousand
buses.
all manufacturers, and that includes ford and gm,
have a line-up of ae powered vehicles.
to manufacture the necessary ae, brazil has some
fifteen million acres of dedicated sugar cane plantations.
as if this where not enough, all brazilian gasoline
has a minimum of 24% ae (v/v) content, and this will probably be upped to 26% in
the near future.
as things stand, brazil has the experience and
the expertise derived from running the world's largest alcohol fueled
fleet, for over sixteen years.
as of this posting, the factory price for a liter of
ae in brazil is $R 0.40, or $R 1.51 a us gallon. this translates to us$ 0.90 a
gallon ! (R=real, the local currency)
brazilian ae producers are already having to
reach agreements with vehicle manufacturers, as the available ae
production will only fuel 25% of the total brazilian vehicle fleet. as fossil
fuel prices escalate, the demand for ae vehicles grows too, and premium prices
for such vehicles will become common.
brazil also has developed the world's most efficient
technology for transforming wood to methanol, with wood charcoal as a
by-product. considering that a typical eucalyptus plantation in brazil yields
well over thirty metric tons of growth per year, per hectare (27500 pounds per
year per acre), brazil is in a position to launch a methanol/charcoal program to
supplement it's standing ae undertaking. the wood used in such a program would
all be plantation grown, thus the methanol and charcoal co2 generation
would be neutral or even negative when these components are
burnt.
so now the rabbit is out of the hat. after this, all
other ethanol efforts will look puny by comparison,
methinks.
and by the way, making ethanol from corn is half as
efficient as making it from sugarcane.
enjoy !, dick.
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- Re: [biofuel] serious ethanol players Dick Carlstein
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- [biofuel] Re: serious ethanol players Keith Addison
- Re: [biofuel] serious ethanol players Keith Addison
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- Re: [biofuel] serious ethanol players jerry dycus