Presentation of Cristina M. M. Machado for the Workshop on Hydrolysis Route for Cellulosic Ethanol from Sugarcane. Apresentação de Cristina M. M. Machado realizada no "Workshop on Hydrolysis Route for Cellulosic Ethanol from Sugarcane" Date / Data : February 10 - 11th 2009/ 10 e 11 de fevereiro de 2009 Place / Local: Unicamp, Campinas, Brazil Event Website / Website do evento: http://www.bioetanol.org.br/workshop1

1. EMBRAPA’S STRATEGY FOR
IMPROVEMENT OF
BIOETHANOL PRODUCTION
Cristina Machado – Researcher
Hugo Molinari – Researcher
Sílvia Belém – Researcher
Esdras Sundfeld – R & D Chair

2. Embrapa Agroenergy
 Mission: To enable innovative technological solutions for sustainable
and equitable development of the Agroenergy business in Brazil for
the benefit of society.
 Basic Information:
 Creation: May 24th, 2006
 Installation: January, 2007
 Staff: 150 employees
 Location: Brasília – DF
 Duties: 1) Coordination of Agroenergy R&D actions at Embrapa.
2 ) Execution of R&D projects

3. Embrapa Agroenergy
Working Structure
Laboratory of Knowledge Management in Agroenergy
Laboratory of Energetic Biology
Laboratory of Energetic Feedstock Processing
Pilot plant
Laboratory of Co-products and Residues Processing

4. Strategic Priorities 2008-2011-2023
 Development of new technologies of energy (ethanol from cellulose, products of bio-
refinery, hydrogen)
 Enzymatic pathway for ethanol from lignocellulosic materials.
 Enzymes, fungi, bacteria and catalysts for energy production.
 R&D focusing the concept of bio-refinery.
 Development of technologies for economical use of by-products and residues
 Economical use of meals, glycerin & by-products of biodiesel production.
 Economical use of by-products from the charcoal industry for the production of
biofertilizers and biopesticides.
 Economical use of residues and by-products from the 1st and 2nd generation ethanol
production processes.

5. Strategic Priorities 2008-2011-2023
 Development of novel production systems and raw materials with superior
characteristics for the production of energy.
 Zoning and evaluation of environmental, economic and social impacts for the
identification of areas for the competitive and sustainable production of
agroenergy.
 Development of technologies and production systems aiming at using degraded
areas for the production of bioenergy.

6. Embrapa’s R&D Platforms in Agroenergy
Biodiesel Lignocellulosic Energetic
Ethanol Florests
Sugar Cane Potential
Sources

7. Characteristics of these Projects
 Target technological issues of national relevance
 Carried out by multi-institutional networks (public and private
partners acting in R&D, technology transfer, information systems,
farming and industrial processing, among other issues)
 Multi-disciplinary approach
 Require high volume of resources (scientists, $$$, infra-
structure,..)

8. Sugar Cane
Production
Systems
NETWORK: 100 scientists (8 Embrapa R&D Centers, 2 Universities, 1 R&D Institute, ...)

9. Ethanol from lignocellulose
Platform Management
Characterization & selection of lignocellulosic biomass
Prospection & selection of microorganisms
Molecular genetics of gramineae & microorganisms
Conversion Processes
Alternative sources of biomass & technological routes for the sustainable
production of ethanol from lignocellulosic materials
NETWORK: being organized ...

10. Platform Management
 Monitoring of the project development, verifying the accomplishment of
its objectives;
 Establishment of partnerships in the public and private sectors for
technology transfer;
 Management of the IP aspects;
 Utilization of the databanks of Brazilian System of Genetic Resources
(SIBRARGEN - Embrapa) to concentrate the information about raw
material and microorganisms obtained in the project
 Creation of a homepage with different levels of access for publicizing the
project results for the team and public

11. Characterization & selection of
lignocellulosic biomass
Adaptation and standardization of analytical methodologies
for different lignocellulosic materials;
Establishment raw material selection criteria;
Characterization and selection of lignocellulosic biomass for
its physical-chemical properties;
Characterization and selection of lignocellulosic biomass for
its cell wall composition and structure.

12. Distribution of germplasm banks
 Materials partially
characterized:
 Bromatological
 Agronomical

13. Prospection & selection of microorganisms
Selection of microorganisms for:
Production of cell wall hydrolytic enzymes
Ethanol production from pentoses
Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation

14. Distribution of germoplasm banks
 Yeasts
characterized and
evaluated for
ethanol production
 Molds and bacteria
characterized and
evaluated for other
uses:
 Biological control;
 Plant diseases;
 ….

15. Molecular genetics of gramineae &
microorganisms
Modification of polymeric structure of plant cell wall to
facilitate hydrolysis;
Prospection and characterization of hydrolytic enzymes
coding genes for the increase of specific activity;
Evaluation of hydrolytic enzymes and pentoses and hexoses
metabolizing coding genes;
Construction of microorganisms with amplified hydrolytic
enzymes expression and catabolic repression control;

16. Conversion Processes
 Definition of lignocellulosic ethanol conversion process models in
bench scale experiments;
 Bench scale evaluation of defined conversion process models
with the selected raw material and microorganisms;
 Pilot scale evaluation of technological routes (selected process
using selected raw material and microorganisms);
 Mass and energy balances and preliminary technical &
economical feasibility studies of selected technological routes;
 Evaluation and management of residues generated in selected
technological routes.

17. Final Remarks
 Management of the R & D process is a big challenge
 involving the integration of efforts, networking, sharing and allocation of
resources to meet the needs of R & D, establishment of public-private
partnerships, among other aspects.
 Embrapa, has a long history working on “open knowledge”.
But…
 Information security, protection, patent (IP) and business.
 aspects will be indispensable to maintain Brazil’s leadership, and more than
that, sovereignty on biofuels.

18. Embrapa Agroenergy
www.cnpae.embrapa.br
cristina.machado@embrapa.br