Tobacco Documents Online

-i'H E VVALL STREET JOURNAL, Wednesday, July 12,1978 Cczn. U.S.. Reauce JmForts. With t7aso . ..... .. • __ . .. . .. _ . ~ .y :' Xation Looks to New Fuel, Ydro and Atom. P-ower .To Help ReNive Economy By Ev'zp.Eri G. MAartx . SSaf,/ Reporter Of'I~SE WALLSTREETJOLRNAL • S~o PAL'LO, >3rz~~i 1 i1 = There are 5clD .Yo!ks,;•aven Beetles being driven by: te)e-.. phone repairmen ai-ound this city that are spreading. the Brazilian government's en- : ergy message: Driving and alcohol can be snixed:= The-alcohol,bi.coutse;.isn't fii.the repair•- lrien but in the tanks of their cats. It-is 190- proof :grain.:2k.ohoI distilled _frotn. sugar eane. 1And_ the. perfozmance of the--experi- taental cars is so encouraging that the gov ernment Is plunging ahead a-1th a multibi]=: lloa-dollar. program that It bopes.will.turn all the cars in the country into alcoholics.by .the end•of the century: . ~ Not only sugar cane but also a staple root erop' calle.d manioc `(bette.r known-ln the U.S. in a granular form called tapioca). as well as . some more exotic. plants, is being corsidered as raw "material for the alcohol T,ro;ram. The distilleries that will be needed to. turn these plants into alcohol could num- ber as'tnany as 320, which would involve an .Inves:..~^.ent of as much-as 5L6 billion by._the ez'ly 19Sas. _ .Ut Brazil apparently isn't: disiurbed by V ~e size of this ir.vesanent, any more than It s by-the billions It is spending or plan^.:ng iD -^_cd on developing bydrrueiectri cueiectric Fov.'cr o: a}:.ee nuclear prograr.t. -The reason I: is oil-poor: lts reserves a•~sld ?^- : t to sLrply the co.Lnt-y for jst t.,. r. _ t.~.E YrEsent rate of Co:S:2mrtG;. :.. a day. y Yev, but 0fficiats Are Vubioi~cs A. CrippIina Payment Brazil's oil-Import bill now_ is running at over $4 billion a year, or 34.6 %.of.the cou.n- try's export income, an amount that is crip• pling the nation's -grocRh rate. Thus.` the prospect:.of .being able to replace gasoline with a renewable fuel, alcohol,.fs spurring the Brazilians Into some pioneering technol- ogy. "1Ye'li be.tLrning solar energy Into liQ~ uid energy," one research scientist says. The.U.S., which is gmwing ever more de- pendent on impopted oil (3450. of IJ S export income now goes.to pay for the oil bill), is closely a•atchir.g Brazil's a]cohol program. A nun-,ber of :.;idwestern statics are busily, promoting the use of gzybol, a 1of;. mixture cf a!cohol with gass:ine. The a]=ltol would be distilled from grain gro•.c:: on idle farm- lar.d. A few gasoane stations in the Midwest u;ll be pumping gasohol this summer. (See ! stc-ry on page 16.) Here in Brazil. the oil bill has increased 11-fold In five years and has sharply de- flated the country's economic g:o~~th. Be- 'fore the first oiI-price increase by the Orga- nization of Petroleum Exporting Coimtries, Brazil's economy was averaging an a.unial growth rate of 11176, and the country was able to use .its foreign exchange to import machinery and ,technology: But:.last year's growth rate was barely more than the popu• lation increase of 3.8%a f ear. with, half the population of 115 million under the age of 20. Brazil' can't afford many more "years like that before job-.shortages bring social un= rest. .There seems-little hope 'of cutting down on oil--imports'through increased domestic production. In 1970, domestic. output met 35~70 of Brazil`s oil needs, but declining fields and rising needs reduced that figure to 18",v last year. Petrobras, the national oil cqrn- pany: plans to drill 507 wells in the next'ive years at a cost of SL3 billion. And the Bra- ilians have swallowed their national pride and have awarded offshore-eaierat!.n :.- tracts to foreign oil companies. troleum already has starteddri:ling. Nuclear 'CorB•oversy ~; " The otl is necded not only for Easo'line but . also'"';:fo%: frunning ele .ctricity-generaiing plants:`Thai Is why the Braiilians•bave em- barked: on their.controven•ial nuclear pro- gram; which Involves buying eight large re- actors, from West Germany by_ 1990 and training thousands of techniciars. Diuch to Washington's dismay, the Germans also iill supply a reprocessing plant to extract pltrto- nium - the stuff of tveaponry '- from the spent nuclear fuel;,thus saving Brazil on.its nuciear-fueI bill:= 'Hydroelectric power, which now provides 2176 of the country's energy needs.-w•ill con- tinue to play an important role. By 1985, In= stalled capacity in the southeast region near the industrial centers.tcill have reached 35; 000 megawatts. There is considetable-poten- tial In the Amazon Basin, but this vast re- gion is far frommajor cities. If. these ambitious plans are met, the na- tion's oil imports will be sharply reduced. But ' the Imports could be halved just by re- placin- sSi7lJn e~•,'"h a+'te believe that if, t}:ey ca n produce e:.ough aEca- hol to meet expected ;so:::.e co:as•.trnrt:cn of 7-9 ' miilion gallons in t:`:e ,: id 153: s, nearly.a million new jobs could be crested on farms-to•grow the sugar cane or ma^.ioc -and in the distilieries. They also say that trey -can produce all of the needed ma- - }.i' i chinery themselves. Ironically, it is the hi;h~ cost of imported ~ :; oil that has made the alcohol program possi- b!e. In order to disceura;e consun:p:ion, the Brazilian governr.tent has imposed taxes that brin; the cost of a; llon cf ; soii.e to S1.6t. This tiigh cost makes a:cohol a cota- petitive fuel, even thoue't it costs twice as m;t& to produce as `.~ddle East oil. Re- searchers believe that alcohol cou:d be re- t2iied for aLaut S1.30 a e!,or.. In Ls:: Sii:ce 19JZs Ac:;:ally. so^:P r:.-:'.i7:ns ~:e c:d t~nc's C'. "... 'hfir cars.yln some pz-a /of the cou-,::•y It : as t;:en mixed ra: o:ine s:nce the

c Cr-•;aeed Frcm First Pc,7e a5'sa. and it was v.-idely used dc:ring Wo:ld T.'ar II. Over tt;e yess the amount of sug`r car.e to alcchol pm3uct:on has fiuc- ._:;e~ G:ice of sugar. tt L:r5er~;. aL•J:: [C31nb::JO.. €adl0as Of afco' ..- e: . Ts:e a'.z_'::e: uhat is pror_~.:ced from the S:°ar c2.T:e is tP..ti:P:caaj; tm.^.-A:1 as e'.11a::oll The s;:gar ferme:,ts, and this mixture then tzaveis ....,;:g'- ;;:ree l:eati^g towers to re- ..,ove excess water and to reduce it to 55So alcebol. Manioc Is another promising source of ethanoll althou,vh 0e distilling technology Is still- being developed. One problem Is that the plant is as much as 40 re starch and thus can't be fermented without the introduction oi an enzyme to turn the starch into sugar. . Sugar cane has an advantage overr man- *ioc in that the stalks can be used as a fuel, called bagasse, to supply the heat in the dis- tilleries; • manioc would require an outside beat source. On the other hand, sugar cane is a seasonal crop that needs careful cultifa- tion and the use of fertilizers; manioc is a hardy -plant that will grow in the poorest ground. Indeed, scientists say it would be an ideal crop for the 250 million acres of dry, nutrient-poor land In an area of c.entral Bra- zil lmown as the Cerrados. There bad been fears until fairly recentty that manioc would require so much energy to turn it into ethanol that it would consume_ more energy in the distilIing: process than would be provided by the ethanol. But Prof. Jose Goldemberg, head of the -Institute of Physics at the University of Sao Paulo, now believes- that the energy return -will-be-1.4 times the energy input. Ethanol from sugar cane yields 2.5 timese the energy._Input,-.he says.: The first manioc distiliery will begin op- erating this year, and Prof. Goldemberg is hoping that it will indicate the possibility of cost reductions. "We really haven't'started serious ' research on fmproving distilling methods. I'm certain that new developments will bring costs down," be says. .The building of 170 sugar-cane distilleries hzs been approved by the government. Each distillery will cost an average of $1.5 mil- l.ion: Private investors will put up the distil- leries with 60176 government loans at'a 17170 annual interest rate (that compares with the present Brazilian inflatlon rate of 40510). The government also will provide 10076 financing at 75'a interest to develop new sugar-cane farm s. Then there's the problem of getting the ethanol from the distillery and into the car. Recent experiments have shown that the av erage automobile engine can run on a mix- ture of up to 2015 ethanol and 80o gasoline without any modification. Cars in Sao Paulo are tz:nr.ing on a 15c,-a etrar,ol mixture and in Rio de Janeiro on a 10% mixture. The only noticeable d:`terence, according to eabdriv crr, :s t: at spzrk plues rati•e to be cleaned Mc-re often. ::F;:s Antonio I.icio„ a te-clunical adsiser to tbc •::in°aer cf agriculture: "14e orio n;113• inte nded to produce enough alcohol tc prc•- t-ide a 20% .:dxture for all cars. Eu: t::.~- m:.rng Is oz.1y the first stage. We are ~?re to p all the w ay " Persuading the President The man who a-iJ be largely rerpcrsftle :a: t:+:s Is tTrha^.o 1t,_*r^f. a sc'e-tist at the : •r ~+ero s;,ace ~s;ace Fesearc:r Center at San Jose dos ~.c:m;csZ/ hc-~r*s e.-:,-e !=u:= Pa::?o. lIaas Mr. Stumpf who in 1K5 first persuaded the president of Br azil, Ernesto Geisel, to drive a car that had beer, modified to burn pure alcohol. President Geisel, who or.ce headed Petrobras, was immediately im• pressed and committed the go} ernment to the support of the alcohol program. Mr. Stg:mpf says that It costs about S350 to convert the VolksAragen Beetle engine to burn pure alcohol. His research cor:plex also is working on the conversion of other engines sent in by manufacturers that Q-ill ultimatelyy want to produce ethanol-burning _ engines. b~rst, Mr. Stumpf says, the compression ratio has to be increased, then the Ignition timing has to be changed, and the blend of air and fuel in the carburetor -has, to be made richer. The alcohol has to be pre- heated before it' enters, the combustion chamber because It vaporizes at a higher temperature than gasoline. Mr. Stumpf does this by enclosing the intake manifold in a metal jacket through which he feeds hot wa- ter or hot air from the engine cooling.sys- ~ tetn: AlenhoI-burriing-engiaes are lilu dieseL engines in that they are liardrro to st:.rC in cold.weather.. So Mr.-Stumpf has borrowed from the diesel and-has installed-a small eiectric.heater that vaporizes alcohol within seconds after the Ignition has been switched on.. . . ; _ Mr. Skumpf is enthusiastic when laytrien visit his project. To indicate the lower levels of pollutants emitted by his modified alcohol engine, he asks each. visitor to breathe deeply "from - the . exhaust pipe. "Smells sweet, doesn't it?" he asks. "We could drive this car in California withoutany_ (pollution- eontrol) changes." Certainly, the alcohol, engine has a lot of pep: -It can go fzom a standing start In fourth gear without any knocldng and can accelerate up steep )tllls without so much as a cough. That's because the ethanol has an octane rating of about 12t1, compared with 73 for regular gasoline in Brazil and with about. .90 for regular unleaded gasoline iwthe U.S. Mr. Stumpf also is looking at the possibll- ity of using alcohol "for diesel engines. This Is particularly vital for -Brazil because nearly three-fourths of the country's goods are hauled by truck. But although alcohol has already proved successful when mixed with 50176 diesel oil, Mr. Stumpf believes that peanut oil might make a better fuel. Other scientists in Brazil are looking at even more exotic replacements 'for petro- leurn. One is the babasu palm that grows wild in the Amazon Basin and that produces a nut yieldiz:g vegetable oil, animal feed and r.Icobel. Another potential so;trce Is the mar- meleito, a plant that grows wild in not2hezsL Brazil. '