Ecobreves – BRASIL: Ethanol Also Comes from Eucalyptus Bark

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RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 17 2011 (IPS) - The great volume of industrial waste from the paper pulp industry — eucalyptus bark — can be made into raw material for ethanol, according to a study by the Luiz de Queiroz Agricultural School at Brazil's University of São Paulo. The soluble sugars of the eucalyptus bark, like glucose, fructose and sucrose, ferment in contact with yeast and produce ethanol.

“The cellulose (paper pulp) industry throws out huge quantities of this waste each month. Each ton can generate 200 kilograms of sugars, enough to produce 100 liters of biofuel,” chemist Juliano Bragatto, head of the project, explained to Tierramérica.

“Breaking (the structure of) the cellulose, we can obtain 94 additional liters. The research will continue, and we'll test different varieties of eucalyptus,” he said.