Oscar A. Braunbeck

Assessment of sugarcane trash for agronomic and energy purposes in Brazil

Due to new possibilities for using sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) trash for electricity generation, and the production of 2nd generation ethanol and others chemicals, the interest for its recovery has increased. However, the question of how much trash can be removed from sugarcane field still needs to be clarified. This study evaluated the amount of dry matter, nutrients content, structural compounds and efficiency of the enzymatic hydrolysis of the hydrothermal pretreated materials for tops and dry leaves in samples from sugarcane varieties. Tops and dry leaves present differences in nutrients content and moisture. Therefore, the amount of trash to be collected should not be simply based on percentages, but also should take into account the different fractions of the crop residues. For instance, around 80 % of N, P and K were derived from tops. Therein, the environmental indicators of the entire chain of sugarcane could be benefited because more nutrients would be recycled and less mineral fertilizers might be used for sugarcane production if tops are left on the field. Further, the tops have seven times more moisture than dry leaves and higher amounts of extractives (organic compounds of low molecular weight). Moreover, as the result of yield obtained in the pretreatment steps for dry leaves were superior to the tops and the glucose yields obtained in the enzymatic hydrolysis step were similar, it can be predicted that for second generation ethanol production, it is more viable to recover parts of the dry leaves fraction, leaving the tops on the field.

Technical and economic assessment of trash recovery in the sugarcane bioenergy production system

Mechanized sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) harvest without burning has been increasingly adopted in Brazil, increasing trash availability on the field. This study aims at showing the importance of using an integrated framework tool to assess technical and economic impacts of integral harvesting and baling trash recovery strategies and different recovery rates as well as its implications in the sugarcane production, transport and processing stages. Trash recovery using baling system presents higher costs per unit of mass of recovered trash in comparison to system in which trash is harvested and transported with sugarcane stalks (integral harvesting system). However, the integrated agricultural and industrial assessment showed that recovering trash using baling system presents better economic results (higher internal rate of return and lower ethanol production cost) than the integral harvesting system for trash recovery rates higher than 30 %. Varying trash recovery fraction, stalks productivity and mean transport distance for both integral harvesting and baling systems, sensitivity analyses showed that higher trash recovery fractions associated with higher stalks yields and long transport distances favors baling system, mainly due to the reduction of bulk load density for integral harvesting system under those conditions.

Analysis of six systems of trash recovery in mechanical harvesting of sugarcane.

A biomassa da cana-de-acucar e uma das fontes de energia renovavel mais disponivel no Brasil, em virtude dos seus residuos de colheita, como palhico (pontas e folhas); todavia, o aproveitamento do palhico em larga escala e dificultado pelo alto custo de sua recuperacao, sobretudo no que diz respeito ao recolhimento, adensamento e transporte. Com o presente trabalho, apresenta-se uma analise dos processos envolvidos na recuperacao do palhico, como densidade final do palhico e principios operacionais das maquinas envolvidas, juntamente com uma analise economica, atraves de um modelo de calculo de custo, por meio de simulacao de rendimentos e capacidades operacionais que compoem cada sistema de recuperacao do palhico. Seis sistemas foram avaliados, tecnica e economicamente. De acordo com os resultados, o sistema de colheita integral apresentou o menor custo de recuperacao do palhico para qualquer distância, seguido dos sistemas picado a granel, fardo cilindrico, fardo algodoeiro, peletizacao e briquetagem.

Considerations on the worldwide use of bioethanol as a contribution for sustainability

The use of ethanol from biomass as a gasoline substitute in cars and light trucks is possibly one of the most attractive and feasible alternatives to deal with global warming. As environmental concern grows, many countries are increasing their efforts to consolidate bioethanol processes and supply. The sustainable production of bioethanol requires well planned and reasoned development programs to assure that the many environmental, social and economic concerns related to its use are addressed adequately. The key for making ethanol competitive as an alternative fuel is the ability to produce it from low‐cost biomass. Many countries around the world are working extensively to develop new technologies for ethanol production from biomass, from which the lignocellulosic materials conversion seem to be the most promising one. This paper aims at providing some information about the status of bioethanol production and use around the world.

Suspensão pantográfica para corte de base de cana-de-açúcar

Sugar cane harvester performs five simple operations involving cutting of the stems in the base and in the top, feeding of the stems into the interior of the harvester, removing the leaves and cutting the stem in billets, which is optional. However, nowadays, there is a lack of processes to make these operations in an efficient way. The base cutter used in the conventional harvesters is made of double discs positioned in the inter row, however it is not adapted for the furrow planting system used in Brazil, and since it does not present capability of independent flotation for each disk, it causes the movement of a great amount of soil. This research project aimed to design, simulate, construct and evaluate in soil bin a four bar linkage suspension for a sugar cane base cutter to be used in a semi-mechanized harvesting system. The simulations allowed determining the suspension spring stiffness and its initial deformation in order to guarantee the flotation of the mechanism on the soil profile. The mechanism designed was built and mounted on a soil bin carriage for evaluation of the tracking performance of the base cutter when moving on a soil sine wave profile with amplitude of 25 and 50mm and 1.5m length. The results show that the mechanism accomplishes its objectives satisfactory with errors between 8 and 9mm for forward speeds of 0.14m s-1 and 0.42m s-1 respectively.

Colheita de cana-de-açúcar com auxílio mecânico

Civil society and sugarcane farmer demands indicate that harvesting technology has enough limitations to jeopardize production in large sugar cane producing areas. This work analyses the current mechanical harvesting compared to a semi-mechanical harvesting proposal, on the bases of eleven characteristics considered determinant for a quick spreading of green cane harvesting on hilly areas, with lower impact on agricultural labor and farmers investment capacity.

Modernizing Cane Production to Enhance the Biomass Base in Brazil

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses modernization of cane production in Brazil to enhance the biomass base in the country. The most important biomass sources in Brazil are sugarcane and forest residues. The Brazilian sugar industry is almost as old as the country itself. Today, Brazil is the largest sugarcane producer in the world, being responsible for nearly 25% of the total cane production, 13.5% of the sugar production, and 55% of the worlds ethanol. The cultivated area covered by sugarcane plantations reaches more than 5 million ha or 1.5% of the total arable land in the country. This chapter evaluates the technologies available for green cane harvesting, how they need to be improved, and how they can help enhance the biomass available for energy conversion in Brazil. The chapter analyzes some of the difficulties and barriers that need to be addressed in favor of the adoption of such technologies. The chapter focuses particularly on the technological barriers, thereby showing how productivity of sugarcane production systems can be improved while also helping improve the overall economy of this industry.

Use of the Decision Tree Technique to Estimate Sugarcane Productivity Under Edaphoclimatic Conditions

AbstractA number of biometric evaluations are performed during harvest for measuring the growth and development of the sugarcane crop. From these evaluations, hundreds of data values are generated, containing certain information on the productivity of the culture in that crop and edaphoclimatic region. Accordingly, the objective of this work was to identify, using a decision tree classification technique, the biometric attribute having the greatest effect on the productivity of the plant cane in different planting configurations and edaphoclimatic conditions. To accomplish this, data were evaluated from four experiments with sugarcane, located within the São Paulo municipalities of Teodoro Sampaio, Guaíra, Iracemápolis, and Lençóis Paulista. The classification model was generated using the decision tree technique, a type of intuitive learning that creates a hypothesis based on particular instances that results in general conclusions. The decision trees applied to the data of the four sites showed that the population of plants per hectare has the highest information gain (split attribute) on the class attribute (productivity). Using the “Chi-square” method of attribute selection, the population of plants per hectare was observed to have the largest correlation with the final productivity of the culture. Therefore, the decision tree indicates that the attribute “plant population per area” should be used as the method to evaluate the productive potential of the culture during its growth cycle. It has the best correlation with the final productivity of the crop, in addition to being an attribute easy to measure in the field.

The Agricultural Production Model

Numerous crops have been used to produce bioenergy around the world. Among the alternatives of biomass intended for renewable energy purposes, sugarcane is highlighted as a great alternative, and the knowledge of all the steps of the agricultural phase of its production chain is imperative in order to improve the sustainability of bioethanol production in Brazil. This chapter presents an agricultural model, called CanaSoft, which is intended for simulation and assessment of the most important agricultural parameters of biomass production system alternatives, as well as for integrated sustainability optimization. The complete description of the parameters considered in the model for sugarcane production is provided, as well as a description of its adaptation to other biomass.

Superfícies protetoras na diminuição de danos mecânicos em tomate de mesa

Quality losses of fresh market fruit are often related to mechanical damages that occur from harvest thru final consumer. Those damages normally occur when fruits drop from high heights or collide against not protected surfaces or against other fruits. The main goal of this work was to evaluate in laboratory for impact magnitude and tomato quality different surfaces in three drop heights. For measuring impact magnitude it was used the instrumented sphere and for tomato quality the evaluation was based on internal bruising. Fruit drop tests were done using three protective surfaces that showed different levels of maximum acceleration combined with three different heights. It was concluded that the use of determined protective surfaces rubber plate, under low drop high can decrease internal bruising incidence and impact magnitude on packing lines.