Resumo:

Besides the use of ethanol in flex fuel engines, fuel ethanol has also been used in Brazil as an additive to gasoline (20% to 25%), and also exported to other countries with the objective to reduce GHG emissions. The impending shortage of oil, the main global energy source, along with the legitimate concerns of society with environmental degradation has created space for a return of fuel ethanol. Produced from biomass, a renewable raw material, this biofuel is now economically attractive. It cab be observed that the transportation sector is one of those with the fastest growth in the world energy matrix, and thus it is not difficult to realize the impact on the world economy. Besides, its use as a fuel blend , alcohol has increasingly been used also as an additive to gasoline to reduce emissions from fossil fuel. Brazil is, at the same time, the largest exporter of ethanol in the world. These were some of the reasons that led to the creation of the Project on Guidelines for Public Policy for Sugarcane Ethanol in the State of São Paulo, which started in 2006. This project built upon the completion of a series of “workshops” in which subjects that sought to address the entire ethanol fuel production chain were discussed. The main points discussed in the initial event in November 2006 entitled “Ethanol Production” are the subject of this article.