Comentario de futurodecuba.org: Dada  la destrucción castrista de la industria azucarera cubana muchos se preguntan si el etanol o simplemente dicho propiamente fabricar alcohol de las mieles sin llegar al  paso final de producir azúcar seria una forma eficiente de utilizar lo que  resta de la industria. No es asunto nuevo. Durante la segunda guerra mundial se fabricó alcohol en Cuba y se incorporó a la gasolina. Se le llamó entonces mofuco, término bastante malsonante y menos elegante que etanol. Se utilizaban las  mieles finales también conocidas como 'miel de purga" porque era lo que restaba después de haber agotado el proceso industrial de cristalizar azúcar al máximo. Lo que no era apto para ser cristalizado en azúcar era un sub producto final que se vendía entre otras cosas para alimento de ganado, fabricación de siropes etc. Como subproducto su costo era muy bajo pues el costo importante se aplicaba al azúcar refinado.  El artículo que sigue relata el proceso brasilero originado  por la crisis petrolera de los 70s que sumió a  Brasil en una fuerte recesión y amenazó con parar en seco el desarrollo del país. Era cuestión de supervivencia y se obligó por decreto a mezclar alcohol  con la gasolina, llegándose hasta el 25% del volumen, se subsidió a los productores (16 billones de subsidios en 11 años hasta que se suprimieron por demasiado costosos), se rebajaron los impuestos, 42cts a la gasolina y 9 al etanol, se diseñaron autos aptos  para esa  mezcla y eventualmente se pudo arribar a la eliminación de los subsidios forzando una mayor eficiencia industrial. Paralelamente a través de satélites se estudió cuales variedades de caña podrían producir mayor rendimiento de sacarosa y ser más aptas para su cultivo y transformación en alcohol. Se subió de obtener 2000 lits. de alcohol por ha. de caña a 6000 lts. Todo esto tomó más  de veinte años. Supuestamente los productores más eficientes en  Brasil hoy en día pueden producir a 80cts el galón lo cual es muy atractivo.

Respecto a Cuba: Una cosa es recibir subsidios para empezar, contar con enormes extensiones de tierra y regadío para la caña, y además ingenios técnicamente al día con sistemas de transporte de caña también al día. Entender que no se trata aquí de utilizar las mieles finales sino de moler para hacer mieles y alcohol como producto primario. Esto requiere alta eficiencia y los ingenios cubanos en buena parte son obsoletos. Sembrar y transportar la caña requiere energía. Igualmente el molerla. El bagazo puede aportar parte de la energía para moler pero no toda. Se trata entonces de calcular el saldo energético. Si se gasta más energía de la que se produce a un costo igual o más alto que la importada, no hay mucho que hacer.

No obstante, había tierras muy feraces  en Cuba (esperemos que aun lo sean) que pudieran dar altos rendimientos  e ingenios con buena zona cañera, no muy distante de la fabrica y de los puertos ( si fuera caso el exportar)  que tal vez  pudieran  ser eficientes si se les pone al día.  Es cuestión de sacar cálculos, y balancear de un lado el precio del mercado internacional de petróleo, y los costos de producción del alcohol con el ahorro de divisas producido; y de otro lado la necesidad de dar trabajo, las  posibilidades de subsidiar inicialmente o la imposibilidad de hacerlo. El estado cubano está quebrado y el subsidio es una lacra que genera ineficiencia, déficits e inflación, por lo cual estimamos que en Cuba esta idea tendría que valer por sí sola. También hay que considerar las posibilidades petroleras de Cuba, y la utilización alterna de la tierra para otros cultivos de exportación más rentables, y que por ser intensivos, como por ejemplo los frutos y vegetales de invierno, tendrían mercado asegurado y altos precios. Cuba es  un país relativamente pequeño, con buena precipitación, buen clima, y tierras feraces, pero por eso mismo tiene que administrar su agricultura  inteligentemente. Sólo el desarrollo futuro de los mercados energéticos y el conocimiento cabal de la  magnitud del desastre azucarero nos permitirá llegar a conclusiones sobre lo que es factible en cuanto a producir azúcar o alcohol en forma rentable o dedicar la tierra a otros renglones.

Una cosa sí es cierta. Cuba no volverá a ser jamás un  país gran productor y exportador de azúcar. Esos tiempos pasaron pero no significa que no pueda encontrar mejores usos para su agro. No hay mal que por bien no venga.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
The Wall Street Journal  

January 9, 2006

 
PAGE ONE


Bumper Crop
As Brazil Fills Up on Ethanol,
It Weans Off Energy Imports

After Years of State Support,
Use of Cheap Fuel Made
From Sugar Is Widespread
U.S. Delegations Pay a Visit
By DAVID LUHNOW and GERALDO SAMOR
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
January 9, 2006; Page A1

 

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- After nearly three decades of work, Brazil has succeeded where much of the industrialized world has failed: It has developed a cost-effective alternative to gasoline. Along with new offshore oil discoveries, that's a big reason Brazil expects to become energy independent this year.

To see how, take a look at Gildo Ferreira, a 39-year-old real-estate executive, who pulled his VW Fox into a filling station one recent afternoon. Instead of reaching for the gasoline, he spent $29 to fill up his car on ethanol made from sugar cane, an option that's available at 29,000 gas stations from Rio to the Amazon. A comparable tank of gasoline would have cost him $36. "It's cheaper and it's made here in Brazil," Mr. Ferreira says of ethanol. If the price of oil stays at current levels, he can expect to save about $350 a year.

[Saving at the Pump]

At current prices, Brazil can make ethanol for about $1 a gallon, according to the World Bank. That compares with the international price of gasoline of about $1.50 a gallon. Even though ethanol gets less mileage than gasoline, in Brazil it's still cheaper per mile driven. As a result, ethanol now accounts for as much as 20% of Brazil's transport fuel market. The country's use of gasoline has actually declined since the late 1970s. The use of alternative fuels in the rest of the world is a scant 1%.

Yet countries wanting to follow Brazil's example may be leery about following its methods. Military and civilian leaders laid the groundwork by mandating ethanol use and dictating production levels. They bankrolled technology projects costing billions of dollars, despite criticism they were wasting money. Brazil ended most government support for its sugar industry in the late 1990s, forcing sugar producers to become more efficient and helping lower the cost of ethanol's raw material. That's something Western countries are loath to do, preferring to support domestic farmers.

With government support, sugar companies and auto makers' local units delivered cost-saving breakthroughs. "Flexible fuel" cars running ethanol, gasoline or a mixture of both, have become a hit. Car buyers no longer have to worry about fluctuating prices for either fuel because flex-fuel cars allow them to hedge their bets at the pump. Seven out of every 10 new cars sold in Brazil are flex-fuel.

Brazil is also fortunate that sugar is the cheapest way to make ethanol and Brazil has the right conditions for growing the crop -- plenty of land, rain and cheap labor.

Despite these unique circumstances, Brazil's efforts are being closely followed by countries with big fuel bills. India and China have sent a parade of top officials to see Brazil's program. India, the world's second-biggest sugar producer behind Brazil, mandated in 2003 that nine of its states add a 5% ethanol mixture to gas. The Brazilian unit of Germany's Volkswagen AG, the first car maker to introduce a flex-fuel model in Brazil, has received 38 delegations from more than a dozen countries in the past year alone, VW officials say.

Brazil says its ethanol exports will likely double to $1.3 billion in 2010 from $600 million in 2005, largely to Japan and Sweden. These countries hope using ethanol -- which releases less carbon dioxide than fossil fuels -- will help them meet their obligations under the Kyoto Protocol to cut emissions.

The U.S., which currently imports 60% of its oil, is watching Brazil's progress, too. Three members of the Senate Energy Committee recently visited, and Sen. Hillary Clinton has cited Brazil as a role model in cutting dependence on imported oil. When President Bush made a recent stop-over in Brasilia, Brazilian leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva hosted a barbecue and described to Mr. Bush how the country has reduced its oil import bill, according to Brazilian officials at the meeting.

The most recent U.S. energy bill, signed into law in August, calls for more than doubling ethanol use by 2012. But U.S. ethanol, which is made from corn, costs at least 30% more than Brazil's product, in part because the starch in corn must be first turned into sugar before being distilled into alcohol. It may take the U.S. a few more decades to bring the cost of ethanol down to 80 cents a gallon -- equivalent to Brazil's most efficient producers -- according to the U.S. Department of Energy. U.S. trade barriers make Brazilian ethanol and its sugar expensive to buy.

Using carbohydrates instead of fossil-fuels to run cars is not a new idea. Henry Ford's first car was made to run on ethanol. So was the first spark-ignition car engine, developed by German Nicolas Otto in the second half of the 19th century. During World War II, the U.S., Brazil and other nations relied on ethanol to extend gasoline supplies. In the postwar period, however, gasoline was so plentiful and cheap that ethanol lost its allure.

'Strategic Challenge'

The first oil shock in 1973, sparked by an oil embargo amid war in the Middle East, rekindled interest. Months after Syrian and Egyptian tanks rolled into Israeli-held territory, the price of oil quadrupled. Few places were hit harder than Brazil, which imported 80% of its fuel at the time. Within months, Brazil's economy slid into recession. About 40% of its foreign-exchange income was used to import oil.

"We faced a clear strategic challenge: How would we develop without oil?" recalls Eduardo Pereira de Carvalho, a finance ministry official at the time who now heads the São Paulo state sugar-growers' federation.

In 1975, Brazil's military leader, Gen. Ernesto Geisel, ordered that the country's gasoline supply be mixed with 10% ethanol, a level Brazil steadily raised to 25% over the next five years. That meant the same amount of gasoline would last longer. It also allowed Brazil to pay for fuel with local currency, in the form of payments to farmers.

To help the nascent industry, the government gave sugar companies cut-rate loans to build ethanol plants and guaranteed prices for their product. Sugar companies were delighted with the new market, which helped when prices were low. The government also funded Urbano Ernesto Stumpf, an ethanol researcher at a Brazilian Air Force laboratory, who was developing a car that would run on ethanol alone.

In November 1976, three ethanol-powered cars created by Mr. Stumpf -- a Beetle, a Dodge and a Brazilian car called a Gurgel -- embarked on a 5,000 mile trip from the air force's research lab in the southeastern state of São Paulo to the northern city of Manaus in the heart of the Amazon. The trip, christened "The National Integration Rally," aimed to demonstrate to Brazilians that ethanol really worked. When the government ordered state-owned companies to test ethanol engines in their fleet, the São Paulo state telephone company converted 400 gasoline cars into ethanol ones. They displayed the logo: "Powered by Alcohol."

After the 1979 Iranian revolution caused the world's second oil-price shock, Brazil sped up its efforts, initiating what became known as the Proalcool program. In Brazil, ethanol is called "alcool" (pronounced OWL-coal).

Brazil's new leader, Gen. Joao Baptista Figueiredo, ordered sugar companies to ramp up production. He also required state-run oil giant Petrobras to make the fuel available at filling stations. Car companies received tax breaks to get ethanol-powered vehicles into showrooms. By the end of the year, Italian car maker Fiat SpA was offering an ethanol-only car for sale. Within a year, every foreign and domestic auto company in Brazil had followed suit.

Big Hit With Consumers

The cars were hard to start on cold mornings because ethanol burns at a higher temperature than gasoline. Creating a fuel with 10% ethanol makes little difference to a car's performance, but anything above that, researchers have found, can cause problems. The mixture can corrode metal engine parts because of its high water content, for example.

Nonetheless, the cars were big hits with consumers, largely because government price supports made the fuel 35% cheaper than gasoline at the pump. Ethanol also helps acceleration, an advantage in a country where Formula One racing is a national passion. By 1983, nine out of every 10 new cars sold in Brazil ran on ethanol alone.

While motorists grew fond of the made-in-Brazil fuel, there was a cost in the form of hefty government subsidies. Consulting firm Datagro, which counts Brazil's biggest sugar companies as its clients, estimates that Brazil spent at least $16 billion in 2005 dollars from 1979 to the mid-1990s on loans to sugar companies and price supports. The Datagro estimate doesn't include foregone revenue from tax breaks as well as other costs to consumers.

In 1986, after civilians replaced generals in Brazilian politics, the world price of oil plunged, endangering the government's pledge to keep the price of ethanol below that of gasoline. In the following years, the country was battered by hyperinflation, prompting the International Monetary Fund and other creditors to urge Brasilia to rein in spending. In 1989, President Jose Sarney started cutting ethanol price supports. Sales of ethanol cars plummeted and some Brazilians felt the entire experiment had been a waste.

But the ethanol market never dried up entirely, thanks largely to the decades of groundwork. Sugar companies continued to make the fuel and learned how to cut costs, encouraged by a state requirement that all gasoline be mixed with ethanol. Gas stations still offered the fuel, which is taxed at just nine cents a liter compared with about 42 cents a liter for gasoline, according to World Bank estimates.

While other countries were busy mapping the human genome, Brazilian scientists at the Centro de Tecnologia Canavieira, a research lab funded by sugar growers, were decoding the DNA of sugar cane. That helped them select varieties that were more resistant to drought and pests and yielded more sugar content.

The center is located in the heart of Brazil's sugar country, about two hours drive from São Paulo. Giant satellite images of sugar fields help researchers identify which variety will grow best in which part of the country, where to locate new fields and the best time to harvest. Over the past 20 years, the center has developed some 140 varieties of sugar, which has helped lower growing costs by more than 1% a year, according to Jaime Finguerut, the center's director of ethanol research.

Other improvements include using remains of processed cane to power sugar and ethanol plants, and using industrial waste from ethanol production to fertilize sugar fields. As a result, the productivity of Brazil's ethanol producers has steadily increased. In 1975, Brazil squeezed 2,000 liters, or about 520 gallons, of ethanol from a hectare, or nearly 2.5 acres, of sugar cane. Today, it's nearly 6,000 liters.

As gasoline prices soared in recent years, ethanol rebounded. By 2002, its price was again competitive with gasoline and old ethanol-only cars started recovering their prestige. Last year, thieves stole an ethanol-only, 1994 Ford Royale, owned by Francisco Baccaro Nigro, one of the engineers who helped develop ethanol-only cars. "I'm sure it's because ethanol is cheaper," Mr. Nigro says. "Thieves know this."

One last step remained. Some consumers were leery of buying ethanol cars because they weren't convinced the fuel would remain cheaper than gasoline.

A Cheaper Device

[Fernando Damasceno]

Fernando Damasceno, chief engineer at the Brazilian unit of Italian car parts company Magneti Marelli, thought the solution was to create cars that ran on either fuel equally well. Ford Motor Co. had offered flex-fuel cars in the U.S. since 1991 but the Brazilians thought its flex-fuel device expensive and cumbersome.

Mr. Damasceno created a cheaper device by programming a standard car computer to constantly calculate the mixture of ethanol versus gasoline in the tank and adjust the engine accordingly. In 2002, the team sold the device to Volkswagen, which introduced its flex-fuel Gol the next year. Mr. Damasceno's black box is now sold by five major car makers in Brazil. Even Ford's Brazil unit uses the Damasceno device.

In Ford's newest ad in Brazil, an indecisive young boy can't decide between a pair of brown and red shoes. As a teenager, he can't pick between a blonde and a brunette at a party. The ad ends with the young man pulling up to a gas station in his Ford Ecosport. The attendant asks: "Alcohol or gasoline?" The man, happy he doesn't have to choose, raises two fingers, signifying both.

Write to David Luhnow at david.luhnow@wsj.com1 and Geraldo Samor at geraldo.samor@wsj.

m2