Resumen:
Throughout recent years, greater interest has been observed in
developing activities of research on environmental problems related to CO2
emissions. The Kyoto Protocol, carbon market aims to minimize the effects of
the increased emissions of this gas as it alows incentives for developing
countries not to adjust to a high CO2 energy matrix.
This work studies the carbon dioxide emission and capture balance in
the sugar and alcohol sector. Through a life cycle analysis methodology of
surplus electricity production the CO2 balance is calculated. The results
obtained show that 145.3 tons CO2/hectare are sequestered during
sugarcane cultivation and 111.5 tons CO2/hectare emitted for electricity
production, resulting in a viable capture balance scenario of 33.8 tons od CO2
per hectare of plantation in one life cycle of surplus electricity production. This
CO2 cenário is even more attractive if the electricity can be generated in
substitution for fossil fuels.
It can be seen that the cultivation of sugarcane biomass allowed a
positive value to be obtained for the CO2 absorption during the process
studied. In comparison with other forms of electricity generation, the enenergy
produced in sugar mills presents the lowest values of CO2 emission, not
considering bagasse that is combusted for production of heat and electricity
for the sugar and alcohol production process.
