Multiobjective optimization of economic balances of sugarcane harvest biomass

Author(s)

Florentino, Helenice de Oliveira ; Moreno, Edmundo Vergara ; Pereira Sartori, Maria Marcia

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: CIENTIA AGRICOL; v. 65, n. 5, p. 4-pg., 2008-01-01.

Abstract

The fact that Brazil is the world's largest sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) producer, leads to a great concern about the cropping systems used, since the most common practice involves manual harvesting prior to straw burning. Brazilian authorities approved a law prohibiting the burning practice of crop residues prior to harvest. However mechanized harvest creates the new problem of how to deal with the residues. Many studies have proposed the use of these residues as an energy source. The major difficulty in its use is how to economically transport sugarcane harvested biomass from the farm to a processing center. The aim of this work was to develop a model to optimize plant variety selection, minimize the cost of the residual biomass transfer process, to evaluate the economics of using this material, and to address sucrose production and planting area constraints, considering distances from plot to processing center. For this 0-1 multiple objective linear programming techniques were used. The results show the viability of the model in selecting varieties, which provide increased profit from residual biomass use. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 06/02476-9 - Mathematical programming in the exploitation of sugarcane harvest residual biomass
• Grantee: Helenice de Oliveira Florentino Silva
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 04/08993-0 - Edmundo Ruben Vergara Moreno | National University of Trujillo - Peru
• Grantee: Helenice de Oliveira Florentino Silva
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Visiting Researcher Grant - International