University’s chemists enable Unilever to improve household products

Unilever is working with the University of Liverpool to improve the effectiveness and sustainability of its household products, including bleach and toothpaste.

The University’s £9.6 million Centre for Materials Discovery enables industries to move rapidly into the next generation of manufacturing novel materials. Its high-throughput technology accelerates research by enabling scientists to produce and test large numbers of new materials in parallel.

Unilever is developing new polymers – large molecules of repeating units – with improved properties in a wide range of home and personal care products. The new materials have enabled Unilever to improve the structure, feel and flow of products as well as their ability to bind to surfaces.

Glyn Roberts, Unilever Director for Structured Materials, said: “We aim to double the size of our business while reducing our overall environmental impact so identifying new materials which are both highly effective and sustainably sourced is crucial. Improving the way a product looks, feels and performs is key to how consumers view their experience of using it.”

A number of components in all home and personal care products are derived from non-sustainable sources. Companies are increasingly looking to develop more sustainable alternatives which have similar or enhanced properties and the technology available at the University make it well-placed to support Unilever.

The innovative robotic platforms within the Centre for Materials Discovery are provided by Chemspeed Technologies and allow the automation of polymer synthesis – the development of new materials from their component parts – as well as analysis to check the structure and purity of the material and the formulation of prototype products. These capabilities allow libraries of materials to be made and studied much more rapidly than has been possible in the past.

The Centre opened in 2006, following investment from the University, the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), and Merseyside European Objective One funding. Unilever has been working with the University on the optimisation of household products since the Centre opened and has now agreed to extend the collaboration until 2017.

Jon Hague, Unilever Vice-President for Open Innovation, said: “The University has enabled a transformation in the way Unilever approaches a traditional and established field such as chemistry, enabling a dramatic uptick in speed and quality of output. The success of this partnership has been instrumental in boosting our innovation funnel and so we are delighted to be extending our collaboration with Liverpool.”

Professor Andy Cooper, Director of the Centre for Materials Discovery, said: “Enabling companies like Unilever to develop new materials and improve products is exactly what the Centre was set up to achieve. I’m delighted that our strong relationships with Unilever and Chemspeed are enabling real innovation in materials discovery.”

University’s chemists enable Unilever to improve household products

Unilever is working with the University of Liverpool to improve the effectiveness and sustainability of its household products, including bleach and toothpaste.

The University’s £9.6 million Centre for Materials Discovery enables industries to move rapidly into the next generation of manufacturing novel materials. Its high-throughput technology accelerates research by enabling scientists to produce and test large numbers of new materials in parallel.

Unilever is developing new polymers – large molecules of repeating units – with improved properties in a wide range of home and personal care products. The new materials have enabled Unilever to improve the structure, feel and flow of products as well as their ability to bind to surfaces.

Glyn Roberts, Unilever Director for Structured Materials, said: “We aim to double the size of our business while reducing our overall environmental impact so identifying new materials which are both highly effective and sustainably sourced is crucial. Improving the way a product looks, feels and performs is key to how consumers view their experience of using it.”

A number of components in all home and personal care products are derived from non-sustainable sources. Companies are increasingly looking to develop more sustainable alternatives which have similar or enhanced properties and the technology available at the University make it well-placed to support Unilever.

The innovative robotic platforms within the Centre for Materials Discovery are provided by Chemspeed Technologies and allow the automation of polymer synthesis – the development of new materials from their component parts – as well as analysis to check the structure and purity of the material and the formulation of prototype products. These capabilities allow libraries of materials to be made and studied much more rapidly than has been possible in the past.

The Centre opened in 2006, following investment from the University, the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), and Merseyside European Objective One funding. Unilever has been working with the University on the optimisation of household products since the Centre opened and has now agreed to extend the collaboration until 2017.

Jon Hague, Unilever Vice-President for Open Innovation, said: “The University has enabled a transformation in the way Unilever approaches a traditional and established field such as chemistry, enabling a dramatic uptick in speed and quality of output. The success of this partnership has been instrumental in boosting our innovation funnel and so we are delighted to be extending our collaboration with Liverpool.”

Professor Andy Cooper, Director of the Centre for Materials Discovery, said: “Enabling companies like Unilever to develop new materials and improve products is exactly what the Centre was set up to achieve. I’m delighted that our strong relationships with Unilever and Chemspeed are enabling real innovation in materials discovery.”

Sizzle Factor for a Restless Climate

ENJOYING the heat wave?


The answer is probably no if you live in Abilene, Tex., where temperatures have been at or above 100 degrees for 40 days this summer. It’s been a little cooler in Savannah, Ga., where the mercury hit 90 or more for 56 days in a row. Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma are coping with their driest nine-month stretch since 1895.

Yes, it has been a very hot summer after one of the most extreme-weather springs on record. It’s time to face the fact that the weather isn’t what it used to be.

Every 10 years, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recalculates what it calls climate “normals,” 30-year averages of temperature and precipitation for about 7,500 locations across the United States. The latest numbers, released earlier this month, show that the climate of the last 10 years was about 1.5 degrees warmer than the climate of the 1970s, and the warmest since the first decade of the last century. Temperatures were, on average, 0.5 degrees warmer from 1981 to 2010 than they were from 1971 to 2000, and the average annual temperatures for all of the lower 48 states have gone up.

For climate geeks like me, the new normals offer a fascinating and disturbing snapshot of a restless climate. The numbers don’t take sides or point fingers. They acknowledge both powerful natural climate fluctuations as well as the steady drumbeat of warming caused by roughly seven billion people trying to live and prosper on a small planet, emitting heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the process.

Even this seemingly modest shift in climate can mean a big change in weather. Shifting weather patterns influence energy demand, affect crop productivity and lead to weather-related disasters. In the United States, in any given year, routine weather events like a hot day or a heavy downpour can cost the economy as much as $485 billion in crop losses, construction delays and travel disruptions, a recent study by the National Center for Atmospheric Research found. In other words, that extra 1.5 degrees might be more than we can afford.

And while the new normals don’t point to a cause, climate science does. Drawing from methods used in epidemiology, a field of climate research called “detection and attribution” tests how human actions like burning fossil fuels affect climate and increase the odds of extreme weather events.

Heat-trapping pollution at least doubled the likelihood of the infamous European heat wave that killed more than 30,000 people during the summer of 2003, according to a study in the journal Nature in 2004. And if we don’t ease our grip on the climate, summers like that one will likely happen every other year by 2040, the study warned. Human actions have warmed the climate on all seven continents, and as a result all weather is now occurring in an environment that bears humanity’s signature, with warmer air and seas and more moisture than there was just a few decades ago, resulting in more extreme weather.

The snapshots of climate history from NOAA can also provide a glimpse of what’s in store locally in the future. Using climate models, we can project what future Julys might look like. For example, by 2050, assuming we continue to pump heat-trapping pollution into our atmosphere at a rate similar to today’s, New Yorkers can expect the number of July days exceeding 90 degrees to double, and those exceeding 95 degrees to roughly triple. Sweltering days in excess of 100 degrees, rare now, will become a regular feature of the Big Apple’s climate in the 2050s.

The next time NOAA calculates its new temperature normals will be in 2021 — when there will be about another billion people on the planet. Lady Gaga may no longer be hot. But the climate almost surely will be.

Heidi Cullen, a scientist at Climate Central, a journalism and research organization, is the author of “The Weather of the Future: Heat Waves, Extreme Storms, and Other Scenes From a Climate-Changed Planet.”




A version of this op-ed appeared in print on July 20, 2011, on page A27 of the New York edition with the headline: Sizzle Factor for a Restless Climate.

Sizzle Factor for a Restless Climate

ENJOYING the heat wave?


The answer is probably no if you live in Abilene, Tex., where temperatures have been at or above 100 degrees for 40 days this summer. It’s been a little cooler in Savannah, Ga., where the mercury hit 90 or more for 56 days in a row. Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma are coping with their driest nine-month stretch since 1895.

Yes, it has been a very hot summer after one of the most extreme-weather springs on record. It’s time to face the fact that the weather isn’t what it used to be.

Every 10 years, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recalculates what it calls climate “normals,” 30-year averages of temperature and precipitation for about 7,500 locations across the United States. The latest numbers, released earlier this month, show that the climate of the last 10 years was about 1.5 degrees warmer than the climate of the 1970s, and the warmest since the first decade of the last century. Temperatures were, on average, 0.5 degrees warmer from 1981 to 2010 than they were from 1971 to 2000, and the average annual temperatures for all of the lower 48 states have gone up.

For climate geeks like me, the new normals offer a fascinating and disturbing snapshot of a restless climate. The numbers don’t take sides or point fingers. They acknowledge both powerful natural climate fluctuations as well as the steady drumbeat of warming caused by roughly seven billion people trying to live and prosper on a small planet, emitting heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the process.

Even this seemingly modest shift in climate can mean a big change in weather. Shifting weather patterns influence energy demand, affect crop productivity and lead to weather-related disasters. In the United States, in any given year, routine weather events like a hot day or a heavy downpour can cost the economy as much as $485 billion in crop losses, construction delays and travel disruptions, a recent study by the National Center for Atmospheric Research found. In other words, that extra 1.5 degrees might be more than we can afford.

And while the new normals don’t point to a cause, climate science does. Drawing from methods used in epidemiology, a field of climate research called “detection and attribution” tests how human actions like burning fossil fuels affect climate and increase the odds of extreme weather events.

Heat-trapping pollution at least doubled the likelihood of the infamous European heat wave that killed more than 30,000 people during the summer of 2003, according to a study in the journal Nature in 2004. And if we don’t ease our grip on the climate, summers like that one will likely happen every other year by 2040, the study warned. Human actions have warmed the climate on all seven continents, and as a result all weather is now occurring in an environment that bears humanity’s signature, with warmer air and seas and more moisture than there was just a few decades ago, resulting in more extreme weather.

The snapshots of climate history from NOAA can also provide a glimpse of what’s in store locally in the future. Using climate models, we can project what future Julys might look like. For example, by 2050, assuming we continue to pump heat-trapping pollution into our atmosphere at a rate similar to today’s, New Yorkers can expect the number of July days exceeding 90 degrees to double, and those exceeding 95 degrees to roughly triple. Sweltering days in excess of 100 degrees, rare now, will become a regular feature of the Big Apple’s climate in the 2050s.

The next time NOAA calculates its new temperature normals will be in 2021 — when there will be about another billion people on the planet. Lady Gaga may no longer be hot. But the climate almost surely will be.

Heidi Cullen, a scientist at Climate Central, a journalism and research organization, is the author of “The Weather of the Future: Heat Waves, Extreme Storms, and Other Scenes From a Climate-Changed Planet.”




A version of this op-ed appeared in print on July 20, 2011, on page A27 of the New York edition with the headline: Sizzle Factor for a Restless Climate.

Study: Changes to ocean expected to damage shellfish around world

(CNN) -- Massive global greenhouse gas pollution is changing the chemistry of the world's oceans so much that scientists now predict it could severely damage shellfish populations and the nations that depend on the harvests if significant action isn't taken.

A new study from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts shows that ocean acidification is becoming a very serious problem. The study was published in July online in the journal Fish and Fisheries.

"What the study found was that in the next 10 to 50 years many countries are going to see impacts, particularly countries that are heavily reliant on clams and oysters and mussels, and will not be able to adapt by shifting to other foods or aquaculture methods," said Jackie Savitz, senior scientist and chief strategist for the international ocean conservation and advocacy organization Oceana.

Ocean acidification, or the changing chemical make-up of seawater, has occurred since the industrial revolution as ocean waters absorbed too much carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a by-product of human industrial activities, mainly the burning of fossil fuels.

The Woods Hole study found that many marine animals like mollusks and corals that build hard shells and skeletons are most at risk from this.

Those countries directly impacted are mostly poor and developing nations that are heavily dependent on shellfish as main sources for protein, like Senegal, Madagascar and Haiti. But the research also suggests damage caused by ocean acidification could ripple across economies around the world. It's already blamed for economic losses at oyster farms in the Pacific Northwest and the slowing of coral growth in Australia's Great Barrier Reef, according to Oceana.

"The truth is, if you look at all the effects of ocean acidification, nobody really gets off the hook," Savitz told CNN Radio. "Impacts on coral reefs, for example, that can affect tourism, that can affect fisheries because fish depend on coral reefs. And when you look at those impacts, what you find is, in many cases, it's the developed countries, like the United States, the U.K. and other European countries that will be impacted."

Even though this current study by Woods Hole found that ocean acidification is likely to have the worst impact on poor and developing nations first, it's a problem with widespread impact.

"If you look at Somalia, where industrial fishing has fished out Somalian waters and the local fishermen can't get food anymore, what do they do?" Savitz said. "They turn to piracy. Who does that affect? That affects anybody with a ship that's going through those waters. They've taken a lot of different ships hostage. So, ultimately, food insecurity can become a national security issue."

Savitz also said, "If all these countries are going to have food insecurities because their clams or oysters are no longer available or because their fisheries are no longer available as a result of climate change, that could put pressure on other countries and it can affect all of us."

Savitz and her organization Oceana are urging more support for a clean energy sector, something the Obama administration has been pushing and trying to develop for several years, and an end to taxpayer subsidies for fossil fuel industries.

CNN's Ninette Sosa and Barbara Hall contributed to this report.

Study: Changes to ocean expected to damage shellfish around world

(CNN) -- Massive global greenhouse gas pollution is changing the chemistry of the world's oceans so much that scientists now predict it could severely damage shellfish populations and the nations that depend on the harvests if significant action isn't taken.

A new study from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts shows that ocean acidification is becoming a very serious problem. The study was published in July online in the journal Fish and Fisheries.

"What the study found was that in the next 10 to 50 years many countries are going to see impacts, particularly countries that are heavily reliant on clams and oysters and mussels, and will not be able to adapt by shifting to other foods or aquaculture methods," said Jackie Savitz, senior scientist and chief strategist for the international ocean conservation and advocacy organization Oceana.

Ocean acidification, or the changing chemical make-up of seawater, has occurred since the industrial revolution as ocean waters absorbed too much carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a by-product of human industrial activities, mainly the burning of fossil fuels.

The Woods Hole study found that many marine animals like mollusks and corals that build hard shells and skeletons are most at risk from this.

Those countries directly impacted are mostly poor and developing nations that are heavily dependent on shellfish as main sources for protein, like Senegal, Madagascar and Haiti. But the research also suggests damage caused by ocean acidification could ripple across economies around the world. It's already blamed for economic losses at oyster farms in the Pacific Northwest and the slowing of coral growth in Australia's Great Barrier Reef, according to Oceana.

"The truth is, if you look at all the effects of ocean acidification, nobody really gets off the hook," Savitz told CNN Radio. "Impacts on coral reefs, for example, that can affect tourism, that can affect fisheries because fish depend on coral reefs. And when you look at those impacts, what you find is, in many cases, it's the developed countries, like the United States, the U.K. and other European countries that will be impacted."

Even though this current study by Woods Hole found that ocean acidification is likely to have the worst impact on poor and developing nations first, it's a problem with widespread impact.

"If you look at Somalia, where industrial fishing has fished out Somalian waters and the local fishermen can't get food anymore, what do they do?" Savitz said. "They turn to piracy. Who does that affect? That affects anybody with a ship that's going through those waters. They've taken a lot of different ships hostage. So, ultimately, food insecurity can become a national security issue."

Savitz also said, "If all these countries are going to have food insecurities because their clams or oysters are no longer available or because their fisheries are no longer available as a result of climate change, that could put pressure on other countries and it can affect all of us."

Savitz and her organization Oceana are urging more support for a clean energy sector, something the Obama administration has been pushing and trying to develop for several years, and an end to taxpayer subsidies for fossil fuel industries.

CNN's Ninette Sosa and Barbara Hall contributed to this report.

Cosan e Shell anunciam a Raízen

A Raízen, nome da nova organização formada pela Royal Dutch Shell e a Cosan S.A., será uma das cinco maiores do país em faturamento, com valor de mercado estimado em US$ 12 bilhões e cerca de 40 mil funcionários, posicionando-se como uma das mais competitivas na área de energia sustentável do mundo.

A Raízen será responsável por uma produção de mais de 2.2 bilhões de litros de etanol por ano para atendimento ao mercado interno e externo. Além do etanol, as atuais 23 usinas produzem 4 milhões de toneladas de açúcar e tem 900 MW de capacidade instalada de produção de energia elétrica a partir do bagaço da cana. Na área de combustíveis, a joint venture comercializará aproximadamente 20 bilhões de litros para os segmentos de Transporte, Indústria e sua rede de 4500 postos de serviço.

Ao mesmo tempo que é uma organização nova, a Raízen acumula a experiência dos acionistas. É uma organização nacional, que se beneficia de ter no portfólio produtos e soluções com a qualidade de ambas as empresas acionistas e o uso da marca Shell, que é sinônimo de inovação e tecnologia, em sua rede de postos de serviço e no segmento de aviação.

"Nascemos grandes e queremos ser ainda maiores. A Raízen terá porte, talento, recursos e tecnologia para atender às necessidades de nossos clientes, da sociedade e dos acionistas. Queremos ser reconhecidos globalmente pela excelência no desenvolvimento, produção e comercialização de energia sustentável," diz seu presidente designado Vasco Dias.

"Pela dimensão de suas operações, a Raízen contribuirá para que o etanol de cana-de-açúcar, fonte de energia sustentável, limpa e renovável, consolide-se mundialmente e fortaleça a posição do Brasil no comércio internacional de biocombustíveis", acrescenta Vasco.

O processo de integração das unidades de negócios da Cosan e Shell, que fazem parte desta joint venture, está em andamento e espera-se o seu lançamento neste 1º semestre de 2011.


Sobre a marca

O nome Raízen é a união de duas forças, raiz e energia. A primeira remete à parte das plantas que extrai nutrientes e água necessários para a vida e a outra, ao fator crítico para qualquer dinâmica: para que haja vida ou movimento é preciso energia. A opção pelo nome em português reforça tratar-se de uma organização brasileira e a cor roxa da marca remete à aparência da cana-de-açúcar madura.

Visão: ser reconhecida globalmente pela excelência no desenvolvimento, produção e comercialização de energia sustentável.
Missão: prover soluções de energia sustentável, através de tecnologia, talento e agilidade, maximizando valor para os clientes, acionistas e contribuindo para a sociedade.

O desenvolvimento do nome e da plataforma de marca foi coordenado pela empresa Ana Couto Branding & Design.

A Raízen terá em seu portfólio:

- 23 usinas com aproximadamente 62 milhões de toneladas de capacidade de moagem de cana-de-açúcar por ano, com produção de mais de 2.2 bilhões de litros de etanol;• Estão incluídos os projetos de co-geração de eletricidade das 23 unidades, das quais 12 já com contrato para venda de energia, com capacidade instalada de aproximadamente 900 MW.

- Distribuidora de combustíveis no Brasil com rede de cerca de 4.500 postos de serviço, 550 lojas de conveniência, atuação em 53 terminais de distribuição e no negócio de combustíveis de aviação em 54 aeroportos.

- Participação em empresa de logística de etanol (alcoolduto).

- Aproximadamente US$ 1,6 bilhão de aporte de caixa.

- Direitos de comercialização da Shell na Iogen Energy*.

- 16.3% de participação na Codexis**.

*Sobre a Iogen Energy

A Iogen Energy é uma empresa líder mundial em biotecnologia especializada em etanol celulósico - um biocombustível proveniente da celulose completamente renovável e pode ser utilizado nos modelos atuais de automóveis. A Iogen construiu e opera uma planta em escala de demonstração para conversão de biomassa em etanol celulósico usando tecnologia de enzimas.

**Sobre a Codexis

A Codexis é uma companhia de tecnologia limpa. A Codexis desenvolve biocatalizadores otimizados, que tornam processos industriais mais rápidos, limpos e eficientes. A Codexis comercializa seus biocatalizadores na indústria farmacêutica e está desenvolvendo-os para uso na produção de biocombustíveis avançados, em uma parceria com a Shell, e na captura de carbono, em parceria com a Alstom. Outros mercados potenciais para as soluções com biocatalisadores ativos da empresa incluem o tratamento de produtos químicos e de água.

Cosan e Shell anunciam a Raízen

A Raízen, nome da nova organização formada pela Royal Dutch Shell e a Cosan S.A., será uma das cinco maiores do país em faturamento, com valor de mercado estimado em US$ 12 bilhões e cerca de 40 mil funcionários, posicionando-se como uma das mais competitivas na área de energia sustentável do mundo.

A Raízen será responsável por uma produção de mais de 2.2 bilhões de litros de etanol por ano para atendimento ao mercado interno e externo. Além do etanol, as atuais 23 usinas produzem 4 milhões de toneladas de açúcar e tem 900 MW de capacidade instalada de produção de energia elétrica a partir do bagaço da cana. Na área de combustíveis, a joint venture comercializará aproximadamente 20 bilhões de litros para os segmentos de Transporte, Indústria e sua rede de 4500 postos de serviço.

Ao mesmo tempo que é uma organização nova, a Raízen acumula a experiência dos acionistas. É uma organização nacional, que se beneficia de ter no portfólio produtos e soluções com a qualidade de ambas as empresas acionistas e o uso da marca Shell, que é sinônimo de inovação e tecnologia, em sua rede de postos de serviço e no segmento de aviação.

"Nascemos grandes e queremos ser ainda maiores. A Raízen terá porte, talento, recursos e tecnologia para atender às necessidades de nossos clientes, da sociedade e dos acionistas. Queremos ser reconhecidos globalmente pela excelência no desenvolvimento, produção e comercialização de energia sustentável," diz seu presidente designado Vasco Dias.

"Pela dimensão de suas operações, a Raízen contribuirá para que o etanol de cana-de-açúcar, fonte de energia sustentável, limpa e renovável, consolide-se mundialmente e fortaleça a posição do Brasil no comércio internacional de biocombustíveis", acrescenta Vasco.

O processo de integração das unidades de negócios da Cosan e Shell, que fazem parte desta joint venture, está em andamento e espera-se o seu lançamento neste 1º semestre de 2011.


Sobre a marca

O nome Raízen é a união de duas forças, raiz e energia. A primeira remete à parte das plantas que extrai nutrientes e água necessários para a vida e a outra, ao fator crítico para qualquer dinâmica: para que haja vida ou movimento é preciso energia. A opção pelo nome em português reforça tratar-se de uma organização brasileira e a cor roxa da marca remete à aparência da cana-de-açúcar madura.

Visão: ser reconhecida globalmente pela excelência no desenvolvimento, produção e comercialização de energia sustentável.
Missão: prover soluções de energia sustentável, através de tecnologia, talento e agilidade, maximizando valor para os clientes, acionistas e contribuindo para a sociedade.

O desenvolvimento do nome e da plataforma de marca foi coordenado pela empresa Ana Couto Branding & Design.

A Raízen terá em seu portfólio:

- 23 usinas com aproximadamente 62 milhões de toneladas de capacidade de moagem de cana-de-açúcar por ano, com produção de mais de 2.2 bilhões de litros de etanol;• Estão incluídos os projetos de co-geração de eletricidade das 23 unidades, das quais 12 já com contrato para venda de energia, com capacidade instalada de aproximadamente 900 MW.

- Distribuidora de combustíveis no Brasil com rede de cerca de 4.500 postos de serviço, 550 lojas de conveniência, atuação em 53 terminais de distribuição e no negócio de combustíveis de aviação em 54 aeroportos.

- Participação em empresa de logística de etanol (alcoolduto).

- Aproximadamente US$ 1,6 bilhão de aporte de caixa.

- Direitos de comercialização da Shell na Iogen Energy*.

- 16.3% de participação na Codexis**.

*Sobre a Iogen Energy

A Iogen Energy é uma empresa líder mundial em biotecnologia especializada em etanol celulósico - um biocombustível proveniente da celulose completamente renovável e pode ser utilizado nos modelos atuais de automóveis. A Iogen construiu e opera uma planta em escala de demonstração para conversão de biomassa em etanol celulósico usando tecnologia de enzimas.

**Sobre a Codexis

A Codexis é uma companhia de tecnologia limpa. A Codexis desenvolve biocatalizadores otimizados, que tornam processos industriais mais rápidos, limpos e eficientes. A Codexis comercializa seus biocatalizadores na indústria farmacêutica e está desenvolvendo-os para uso na produção de biocombustíveis avançados, em uma parceria com a Shell, e na captura de carbono, em parceria com a Alstom. Outros mercados potenciais para as soluções com biocatalisadores ativos da empresa incluem o tratamento de produtos químicos e de água.

Ethanol fuel in the United States

The United States is the world's largest producer of ethanol fuel since 2005. The U.S. produced 13.2 billion U.S. liquid gallons (50.0 billion liters) of ethanol fuel in 2010, and together with Brazil, both countries accounted for 88% of the world's production in that year. Ethanol fuel is mainly used in the U.S. as an oxygenate to gasoline in the form of low-level blends up to 10 percent, and to a lesser extent, as E85 fuel for flex-fuel vehicles. Most ethanol fuel in the U.S. is produced using corn as feedstock.

The ethanol market share in the U.S. gasoline supply by volume grew from just over 1 percent in 2000 through less than 4 percent in 2006 to a peak of almost 10 percent in 2010, and domestic production capacity has increased fifteen times since 1990, from 900 million of gallons back then, through 1.63 billion in 2000, reaching 13.5 billion gallons in 2010. Most cars on the road today in the U.S. can run on blends of up to 10% ethanol, and motor vehicle manufacturers already produce vehicles designed to run on much higher ethanol blends. Flexible-fuel cars, trucks, and minivans can use gasoline and ethanol blends ranging from pure gasoline up to 85% ethanol (E85). By December 2010 there were nearly 9 million E85 flex-fuel vehicles on U.S. roads, however, regular use of E85 is low but common in the Midwest.

The Renewable Fuels Association reports 204 ethanol distilleries in operation and another 9 under construction or expansion as of December 2010, that when completed, will bring U.S. total installed capacity to 14.6 bg.[4][6] Ethanol production is likely to continue to soar over the next several years, since the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 requires 36 billion gallons of annual renewable fuel use by 2022, of which, ethanol from cellulosic feedstocks is mandated to be at 16 billion gallons a year. Production from corn ethanol is set to 15 billion gallons by 2015. Expanding ethanol industries provide jobs in plant construction, operations, and maintenance, mostly in rural communities. However, in early 2009 the industry was under financial stress due to the effects of the economic crisis of 2008 as motorists were driving less, gasoline prices had dropped sharply, there was excess production capacity, and less financing available.

Since most U.S. ethanol is produced from corn and the required electricity from many distilleries comes mainly from coal plants, there has been considerable debate about how sustainable corn-based bio-ethanol could be in replacing fossil fuels in vehicles. Controversy and concerns relate to the large amount of arable land required for crops and its impact on grain supply, direct and indirect land use change effects, as well as issues regarding its energy balance and carbon intensity considering the full life cycle of ethanol production. Recent developments with cellulosic ethanol production and commercialization may allay some of these concerns.

Ethanol fuel in the United States

The United States is the world's largest producer of ethanol fuel since 2005. The U.S. produced 13.2 billion U.S. liquid gallons (50.0 billion liters) of ethanol fuel in 2010, and together with Brazil, both countries accounted for 88% of the world's production in that year. Ethanol fuel is mainly used in the U.S. as an oxygenate to gasoline in the form of low-level blends up to 10 percent, and to a lesser extent, as E85 fuel for flex-fuel vehicles. Most ethanol fuel in the U.S. is produced using corn as feedstock.

The ethanol market share in the U.S. gasoline supply by volume grew from just over 1 percent in 2000 through less than 4 percent in 2006 to a peak of almost 10 percent in 2010, and domestic production capacity has increased fifteen times since 1990, from 900 million of gallons back then, through 1.63 billion in 2000, reaching 13.5 billion gallons in 2010. Most cars on the road today in the U.S. can run on blends of up to 10% ethanol, and motor vehicle manufacturers already produce vehicles designed to run on much higher ethanol blends. Flexible-fuel cars, trucks, and minivans can use gasoline and ethanol blends ranging from pure gasoline up to 85% ethanol (E85). By December 2010 there were nearly 9 million E85 flex-fuel vehicles on U.S. roads, however, regular use of E85 is low but common in the Midwest.

The Renewable Fuels Association reports 204 ethanol distilleries in operation and another 9 under construction or expansion as of December 2010, that when completed, will bring U.S. total installed capacity to 14.6 bg.[4][6] Ethanol production is likely to continue to soar over the next several years, since the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 requires 36 billion gallons of annual renewable fuel use by 2022, of which, ethanol from cellulosic feedstocks is mandated to be at 16 billion gallons a year. Production from corn ethanol is set to 15 billion gallons by 2015. Expanding ethanol industries provide jobs in plant construction, operations, and maintenance, mostly in rural communities. However, in early 2009 the industry was under financial stress due to the effects of the economic crisis of 2008 as motorists were driving less, gasoline prices had dropped sharply, there was excess production capacity, and less financing available.

Since most U.S. ethanol is produced from corn and the required electricity from many distilleries comes mainly from coal plants, there has been considerable debate about how sustainable corn-based bio-ethanol could be in replacing fossil fuels in vehicles. Controversy and concerns relate to the large amount of arable land required for crops and its impact on grain supply, direct and indirect land use change effects, as well as issues regarding its energy balance and carbon intensity considering the full life cycle of ethanol production. Recent developments with cellulosic ethanol production and commercialization may allay some of these concerns.