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Ethanol Industry |
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To better balance Brazil's petroleum consumption with its crude oil production, intensive research was conducted from the late 1960's through the early 1970's to identify an economically viable alternative to oil as a fuel source. Ethanol, extracted from sugarcane, was chosen as one of these alternatives. The objective of the National Alcohol Program (PROALCOOL), established in 1975, was to use ethanol as a fuel substitute for gasoline and to increase ethanol production for industrial uses.
By 1985, when the programme had been in operation for ten years, some US $6.5 billion had been invested in the production of 13 billion gallons (50 billion liters) of ethanol, some 500,000 jobs had been created, 2.5 million vehicles were running on pure ethanol, and all the gasoline at filling stations had an admixture of 20 percent ethanol. Brazil now has technology and equipment capable of maintaining a four billion gallon (16 billion liter) annual output and of exporting the related technology, equipment, and services. Finally, by dramatically reducing the level of carbor monoxide released by motor vehicles, PROALCOOL is contributing to Brazil's efforts towards protecting the environment. A great many of the passenger cars manufactured in Brazil run on ethanol.
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