Biorefinery - Ethanol as a raw material

The availability of ethanol in Brazil is indisputable and tends to grow mainly due to the use of corn as a raw material, and also due to technological developments that allow the use of sugarcane straw and excess bagasse.With the migration of some combustion engine vehicles to electric vehicles, we will soon be facing a scenario that favors the search for new uses for ethanol.The use of corn as a raw material and increased production means lower costs for ethanol.In addition, the lower greenhouse gas emissions from products that replace naphtha with ethanol will allow companies to obtain carbon credits, further improving their profit margins.This is a very promising scenario for setting up biorefineries in Brazil using ethanol as a raw material.Between the 1960s and the early 1990s, several companies in Brazil successfully used ethanol as a raw material, replacing naphtha to produce, among other things, basic products for the petrochemical chain, such as 1.3 butadiene and ethylene.There is still isolated production of ethylene via ethanol.In this article, we analyze the feasibility of an ethanol plant associated with a biorefinery using ethanol as a raw material to simultaneously produce the same oil derivatives currently obtained via naphtha.The economic advantages are shown, as well as the reduction in CO emissions 2 and the possibility of alternative biodegradable products.