Fenasucro & Agrocana converges present and future of bioenergy

Fenasucro & Agrocana - the largest fair in the world focused exclusively on the bioenergy sector - presents Brazilian technologies to the world, exposing the present and pointing to the future of the sector.

On the third day of the 28th edition of the fair, Green Diesel was launched as a great promise and opportunity for ethanol. This is a new technology that transforms hydrated ethanol into a substitute for diesel, without modifying the engines. The topic was addressed during Visão Agro Talk: The Future of Green Energy, which presented trends and highlights for the sector in the generation of clean and renewable energy.

According to Marcos Daniel de Lima, Automation engineer, Director of R&D and Technological Innovation at DUO Automation, Green Diesel is the future of the bioenergy sector for heavy vehicles. “Ethanol, today, serves light vehicles well. But it is suffering competition from electric vehicles, green hydrogen, hybrids, in addition to pressure from the price of oil. Which directly affects the producer and the consumer,” he explains.

Given this scenario, Lima highlights the time as opportune to replace conventional diesel, which has fossil origins, with an ethanol derivative with the same technical characteristics of engine combustion.

This is because, according to him, the great advantage of Green Diesel is the reduction of particulate pollution. “The pollution generated by heavy transport (buses and trucks) in large centers is large and Green Diesel comes to mitigate this problem, as it eliminates particulate emissions and, as a consequence, pollution”, he explains.

In the field, the technology can be implemented in any plant and can represent a profit, given that today, according to Lima, they consume 10% of their gross revenue with fossil diesel for fleets and machines. “There have been 10 years of research into this solution produced with national technology, both for the plants and for the consumer market and society”, he highlights. “In 2024 we will already have green diesel as a reality. It’s a very near future for the sector”, he concludes.

Technology for the present

Biogas generated from sugar cane, which was once a trend, is now a reality in the bioenergy sector. This scenario was anticipated by Fenasucro & Agrocana in the 2019 edition.

After this period, Brazil now has 5 plants authorized by the National Petroleum Agency (ANP) to produce this byproduct and the trend is for growth, but it is still necessary to consider the creation of new biogas generating plants to meet the expected demand.

This is because the sector understands that great coordination is needed to meet the growing demand for electrical energy, as explained by energy specialist and Commercial Manager OnPower Geradores, Fernando Lemos. "In the last 5 years we have had fantastic growth and we can grow much more in the next 5 years given the installed potential. We are talking about clean, renewable and decentralized energy, which is produced from an abundant by-product", he states.

Currently, 71% of biogas is used to generate electricity, with production at 2,3 billion Nmᶟ. By 2027, the number is expected to reach 10,8 billion Nmᶟ.

The sugarcane industry should play a leading role in this scenario because, according to ANP estimates, the sugar-energy sector has the greatest potential for generating electricity (57,6%). Then comes generation through animal protein (38,2%) and then agricultural production (18,2%).

The Executive Manager of the Brazilian Biogas Association (ABiogás), Tamar Roitman, understands that the technology is a consolidated reality, with 811 plants installed in the country, but we need to go further. "The sector could produce 50% more using the same energy source without planting an extra hectare of sugarcane. The industry is increasingly looking for solutions, and we see that today bioelectricity is what guarantees a good part of these companies' revenues" , she declares.

Tamar also remembers that in a year of difficulties in obtaining fertilizers, the plants could use this byproduct. "The dependence on external fertilizer is constant. Agriculture needs this input and we could produce it here taking advantage of abundant nutrients in the sugarcane industry", he ponders.