The benefits of a Brazilian agro-industrial symbiosis system and the strategies to make it happen

Alcohol fuel is generally presented as a sustainable fuel in comparison with other fossil fuel due to lower emissions during production and combustion steps as well as due to its (assumed) closed carbon cycle. However, assessing the Brazilian traditional alcohol production cycle, many social and environmental impacts may still be indicated: burning, pesticides, biodiversity, labor exploration, high water consumption, erosion and others. Based on the strategy of an agro-industrial networking and symbiosis, a project was designed to optimize the system by means of polygeneration and total integration of production steps. The case presented in this paper is the project for a social and ecological agro-industry model, named GERIPA (Geração de Energia Renovável Integrada à Produção de Alimentos), which produces renewable fuel, electricity and organic food. Besides the technical project, an economic evaluation is also presented, resulting into a five year pay back time. In addition, environmental and social aspects were evaluated by means the Emergy Synthesis methodology (Odum, 1996), which assesses the value of all inputs through an estimate of the environmental work directly and indirectly required for their production and sustainable supply. The emergy-based comparison of GERIPA system and a traditional system in Brazil indicates better performance of GERIPA, with an eMergy Sustainability Index of 1.26, much higher than for a traditional system, 0.22. The project is presently under discussion with investors and Government and, if approved, will be carried out in marginal and presently unused land. In addition to providing an environmentally friendly process for food and energy production, the project would generate new jobs opportunities for Brazilian rural workers presently unemployed.