Friday, May 25th

After a late night at the soccer game, we woke up early to get on the bus and drive to an ethanol refinery. We drove about 3 hours, leaving the city and rolling through lots of hills and farm fields. There was a crop that I had never seen before on the way, which I was pretty sure was sugar cane. As we rolled up to the refinery, I was certain that the acres and acres of the crop were sugar cane. Everywhere, the land was being used to grow the dense stalks.

At the refinery, we got a walk-through of the entire process. Trucks laden with sugar cane get weighed upon entry to the plant. Then, they drive to a loading area where the sugar cane gets dumped and begins the process. The sugar cane is crushed, mixed with water, and then the juice is separated from the plant matter. The leaves and stalks are used to power a boiler, which generates electricity covering all of the needs of the plant. The leftover plant matter, or 'bagasse', is sold to other plants to use as livestock feed or to be combusted. The sugar juice is fermented for 8 hours to produce ethanol, and then the ethanol is distilled to yield a high-quality product for sale.

Fields upon fields of sugar cane

Industrial as heck. 

I was interested in the water that they used for the processes. The lady who took us on the tour said that it was brought to the plant through 3 separate canals. The wastewater from the process was treated onsite before being discharged, to where I am not sure. I asked to see the wastewater treatment equipment but she explained that the plant was in the middle of a shutdown process. There is a major diesel shortage in Brazil right now, and the trucks that bring sugar cane to the plant can no longer run. After the tour, they hosted us with coffee, delicious chocolate cake and cachaca- a liquor made from the sugar cane juice.

We drove about an hour, then stopped in a little town for lunch. We ate at a restaurant along the river, getting family style portions of french fries, salad, rice, beans, and fresh fish. It was delicious and refreshing. We drove another hour or so, where we ran into protests for the diesel shortage. All across Brazil, truck drivers have been on strike to protest the high fuel prices and lack of availability. We drove along a few mile stretch of highway where trucks were lined up on the shoulder of the road, their drivers out of the car, watching traffic go by and filming. It was an odd experience. There was no violence and they didn't look very active, but clearly the drivers were trying to do the best thing they knew how to bring about justice with their issues.

Views of the river at lunch

We finally got to our destination, which was an agricultural research center funded by the federal government. They talked about the research they have been doing into biofuel production. The center has worked to develop a calculator which estimates the carbon emissions for each ethanol refinery's processess. numbers. This can be compared to the carbon emissions for fossil fuels. I was interested in the intense cultivation required to grow all of the sugar can for the biofuels. The researcher said that they didn't actually need to deforest any land to increase ethanol production. Currently, 9 million hectares are dedicated to ethanol production. Another 40 million are available for cultivation without having to cut down any trees, which was good to hear.

zoom zoom

In the evening, we got back and worked on our project with our Brazilian student, Eduardo. We prepared 3 strategies for both Boston and Sao Paulo to reduce carbon emissions/ increase renewable energy capacity. After a long day, our group worked and then went to bed.