Abstract
Bioenergy production, particularly liquid biofuels, has been promoted as a mean to enhance energy security and reduce climate change impacts. However, the expansion of biofuels production based on food crops and its impact on land use have given rise to the so-called "food vs. bioenergy" debate. At the same time, livestock production is the largest anthropic use of land resources worldwide, which includes grazing land and cropland dedicated to feed production. Brazilian livestock production has low average productivity because of extensive management, low input and low technology adoption. In this context, integration of ethanol and livestock production can improve land use in Brazil, since more intensive systems can maintain, or even increase, food production while reducing land use. As a result, it is possible to expand cropland for biofuels production without displacing food crops or livestock production, which otherwise could advance in forest areas. This project focuses on the optimization of the integrated system aiming at the sustainable production of food and bioenergy, considering the synergies between the production chains of sugarcane (considering both first and second generation processes), livestock (cattle) and other crops (e.g. corn, energy cane, soybean and peanut). The Virtual Sugarcane Biorefinery (VSB) - a computer framework that simulates the entire production chain and assesses the sustainability impacts of different biorefinery alternatives/routes - will be used in this project. Representative computational models for each system, based on experimental and literature data, and for sustainability assessment methodologies will be developed and integrated for optimization of economic, environmental and social impacts of sugarcane-livestock production. (AU)
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