To set up a panel to allow a broad overview of efforts currently being undertaken by the main participants in the second generation ethanol race was one of the challenges proposed by the 2009 Ethanol Summit. To that end, we were able to congregate representatives of four world heavyweights in research on that theme: Novozymes, British Petroleum, Monsanto and CTC Centro de Tecnologia Canavieira (Sugarcane Plantation Technology Center).

I had the pleasure of acting as the mediator of this panel and I tried to obtain from the participants the more important information about progress in research, particularly with respect to what one actually expects in terms of making this technology and its results feasible. Steen Riisgard, CEO of Novozymes, opened the panel with a presentation on progress the company has made in developing enzymes suitable for the conversion of several biomasses.

Novozymes operates internationally in several established strategic partnerships, positioning itself in the key markets (United States, Europe, China and Brazil) as a technological partner to render second generation ethanol feasible at competitive prices. In recent years, Novozymes was funded by the U.S. government to accelerate its research, and has played an important role in developing micro-organisms that interfere in the efficient separation of the several components of pulp, in a short time period.

Steen reported that, in the case of cellulose from corn, Novozymes will be able to reduce, to approximately one third, the quantity of enzymes necessary to produce a gallon of ethanol, beginning as soon as 2010. This will, for example, allow the cost of a gallon of ethanol from biomass to be comparable to that produced from cornstarch, at a level of US$ 2.

Even if that amount is insufficient to assure the competitiveness of ethanol from corn in the Brazilian market – because the costs of ethanol extracted from sugarcane by conventional methods are approximately 30% lower −, Novozymes is also confident that there will soon be a significant cost reduction in obtaining second generation ethanol from sugarcane. For this to become a reality, the company employs a staff of almost 150 scientists.

Actually, in Brazil, Novozymes operates in partnership with CTC – Centro de Tecnologia Canavieira (Sugarcane Plantation Technology Center) – in the quest for the best technological combination. This association tends to generate, in the near future, a solution capable of integrating second generation ethanol to the production of industrial units operating in Brazil.

The second speaker was Ricardo Madureira, the President of Canavialis, a genetic research company that was recently acquired by multinational corporation Monsanto. Madureira covered the history of Canavialis, emphasizing the areas of activity that are expected to generate competitive advantages for its products in coming years.

The highlights of the presentation were sugarcane varieties resistent to hydric stress, which will be highly valuable for regions such as the Midwest, where the expansion of new mills sets the new frontier of the sugar-alcohol industry. The availability of varieties with higher saccharose content, will be essential for increasing the productivity of the sugarcane plantations, emphasizes the Monsanto executive.

Another of the company’s bets focuses on the development of varieties resistant to insects – mainly the sugarcane worm, which is related to transgenic methods and uses the ”Bt” gene. Another objective of Canavialis is to generate varieties with a larger quantity of fibers, because, in the future, with the feasibility of competitively selling pulp to generate ethanol, we might, in theory, reach viable results without sacharose operating as the main raw material.

But, to that end, one must bear in mind that a new mill design, different from the current one, will need to be developed, specifically to process this sugarcane, whose composition is expected to contain up to 25% more fibers, unlike the “soft” canes nowadays being crushed in our crushing mills. Madureira believes that, with the new cane, and other technologies, in ten years, we might achieve twice the productivity currently obtained in Brazilian sugarcane plantations.

BP, short for British Petroleum, was represented by its Technology Manager, Ian Dobson. The executive made a summarized presentation of his company’s view on the use of renewable energy. BP is one of the world’s largest companies in the area of exploration, refining, and distribution of fossil fuel and also pioneered the inclusion in its strategic planning of a business vision tied to alternative energy, such as solar, wind power and mainly biofuel. BP develops partnerships with companies and institutions, aimed at fostering renewable fuel.

In Europe, for example, the company cooperates with DuPont in biobutanol research. According to BP, the advantage of butanol is that it constitutes a fuel with an energy value close to that of gasoline, which is also easily transportable through pipelines and equally functional with respect to being mixable with gasoline in any proportion. This latter attribute, according to BP, allows its use in countries in which ethanol is not yet used, such as those of the northern hemisphere.

Finally, BP stated that it believes that butanol too will find its place in the renewable fuel matrix in Brazil, in the future. Speaking about the domestic market, BP has already effected its initial investiments in the production of ethanol, by acquiring a 50% equity share in Tropical BioEnergia, in the municipality of Edeia, in the State of Goiás, originally in partnership with the Maeda and Santelisa Vale groups.

With an annual production of 435 million liters of ethanol in two industrial plants, BP offhand clearly shows its willingness to invest in the industry. At the same time, the company reinforces our view with respect to the confidence of large companies in the market potential for renewable energy. Based on the enthusiasm of the speakers and the question and answer session that followed, one could note the big interest of invitees in the debate, an aspect later reinforced by the excellent coverage the press gave the matter.

It became apparent to me, in my capacity as coordinator of the work, that major progress was made in the world’s renewable energy market since 2007 – when the first Ethanol Summit took place – until now. In the next edition of the event, scheduled for 2011, it is highly likely that we will already have concrete results from the first cellulosic ethanol plants in operation in the world, on a large scale.