Biofuels Digest special report on Colombian, Indian partnership for advanced biofuels

By special correspondent Joelle Brink

While Brazil has long been acknowledged as the world’s largest sugarcane ethanol producer, in only three years a new rival has shot up and is being hailed as a model for the entire ethanol industry. Recently USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) sent a team to South America to investigate differences between the Brazilian and Colombian models.

“Colombian government policies have aided in the development of the domestic ethanol industry”, begins the ERS report. “In 2001, Law 693 established that gasoline must contain a 10-percent ethanol blend by 2006 and a 25-percent blend within15 years. When the law was issued, Colombia had no ethanol production facilities. It was not until October 2005 that the country began to produce sugarcane-based ethanol.”

At present, sugar cane is produced only in Colombia’s Cuenca Valley, where it has been cultivated for more than 140 years. About 50% of the land, or 518,000 acres, are currently used for commercial sugar plantation. “About 20 percent of this land, or 101,000 acres,” according to the ERS report, “is used to raise cane for ethanol production. These findings suggest that, on average, 1 acre sown with sugarcane in Colombia provides about 740 gallons of ethanol. “According to ASOCAÑ,” ERS reports,” the Colombian sugar industry is the most efficient in the world when measured by sucrose yield tons/acres/year.”

“Colombia uses Indian technology rather than Brazilian technology,” continues ERS. (The Indian technology supplied to Colombia is that of ethanol engineering leader Praj Industries.) “According to engineers at Colombian ethanol plants, Indian technology enables the plants to comply with tight environmental regulations set by the Colombian government.”

“The advantage of Indian technology is that it produces low volumes of vinasse, the byproduct generated after the distillation of fermented molasses, and allows for the vinasse to be further processed. Most ethanol plants in Brazil do not further process vinasse. On average, Colombian ethanol production generates 1 to 2 liters of vinasse per liter of ethanol, whereas in Brazil, a liter of ethanol generates 15 liters of vinasse. If not properly disposed of or further processed vinasse can pose a threat to water or soil conditions.”

“Colombian processed vinasse contains high volumes of potassium, phosphor, and magnesium, which allows it to be sold as fertilizer. Annual vinasse sales return about $40 million to the industry. Lastly, ethanol plants in Colombia use about one-third of the water of Brazilian plants, and about one-half of the energy (ASOCAÑA 2007, 2008).”

“The progress of Colombia’s ethanol industry has encouraged the government, international organizations, and the industry itself to expand the production of biofuels,” concludes the report. Read the entire publication online here.

Free Subscription to the Daily Biofuels Digest e-newsletter

Related Stories

Biofuels Digest Special Report on Gasification & Pyrolysis: Coskata aims for grand scale in Florida

Last December, Coskata was ranked #1 on the Biofuels Digest "Hottest 50 Companies in Bioenergy", nearing an historic deal to build a 100 Mgy gasification based cellulosic ethanol plan based on gasific...

KLM to test biofuels with passengers on flight, on November 23

In the Netherlands, KLM announced that it would become the first airline to test biofuels on a passenger flight. The company said that it would utilize a 50/50 mixture of camelina and standard jet fue...

Special update on Indian rail industry and alternative fuels

In India, Biofuels Digest special correspondent Joelle Brink filed this note on development of alternative fuels for the Indian rail market: "India currently has access to a lot of natural gas that...

India’s biodiesel mission on hold due to a problem-laden Greenrush: a Biofuels Digest special report

By Biofuels Digest special correspondent Joelle Brink Too much of a good thing can sometimes turn into a very bad problem. With nearly one third of the world’s corporate-funded Jatropha biodiesel...

Biofuels Digest celebrates first anniversary: Top 10 Stories of the Year; 10 Stories We Should Have Read; 10 Most Offbeat

Today, BiofuelsDigest.com celebrates its first anniversary with a special look back at: The 10 Most Popular Stories of the Year 10 Stories That We Probably Should Have Read The 10 Most Offbea...

Part two of a special Biofuels Digest report on technology behind the $2500 Tata car

From Biofuels Digest correspondent Joelle Brink, part two of a special report on Tata: When it debuted earlier this year at the Detroit Auto Show, Tata Motors’ mighty mini was hailed by the ...