Como O Etanol Chega Até Você? - Etanol sem fronteira - Episódio 4

- We went through the sugar mill and we saw how sugarcane becomes ethanol. Now it’s time to find out what happens on the way to the fuel station. ETHANOL WITHOUT BORDERS HOW DOES ETHANOL GET TO YOU? PAULÍNIA—SÃO PAULO, 11:40 a.m. - I think we’re getting there, huh? - “Welcome to Paulínia.” NEXT MISSION: FIND THE PAULÍNIA DISTRIBUTION CENTER - We need to find the distribution terminal. - Over there: “Petrobras” PAULÍNIA TERMINAL-SÃO PAULO, 12:00 noon STORAGE AND QUALITY ANALYSIS - Look at the tanks over there! OF THE FUELS HAPPENS AT THE - Look at that! DISTRIBUTION CENTERS BEFORE IT ARRIVES AT THE FUEL STATION - We arrived at the terminal and the person who received us was Luis Henrique. LUIS HENRIQUE SILVERIO DE OLIVEIRA - OPERATIONS SUPERVISOR - Welcome. I am going to explain how ethanol is received at the unit and the steps it moves through until it is loaded for the client. 1: VERIFICATION - This truck was loaded at the sugar mill and arrived here at the terminal; we then check its documentation to identify what type of deal the company made with the sugar mill. 2: ANALYSIS - So the truck arrives, goes over the scale, then it comes over here and stops. What is this phase? - We will collect a sample of the product to evaluate its ethanol content, compare it with the ethanol content that is shown on the documents. We will make a quantitative measurement. THE ETHANOL USED FOR FUELING AT THE STATION IS CALLED HYDROUS ETHANOL GASOLINE ALSO HAS A PERCENTAGE OF ETHANOL (ANHYDROUS ETHANOL), WHICH RECEIVES AN ORANGE DYE SO IT CAN BE DISTINGUISHED FROM HYDROUS ETHANOL - Can I do that? - Sure. - Once that is done and provided it checked out okay, it goes 3: RECEIVING from here to the receiving process. - After everything is done, and the quantity and quality have been analyzed, the truck is put into position to unload the material; from here it goes to our collection tank; from the collection tank a pump THE TERMINAL MOVES ABOUT 5.5 BILLION sucks it up and transports LITRES OF FUEL PER YEAR, it to the storage tank. AND 250 MILLION LITRES OF ETHANOL. - So, lets go to the collection tank? TRANSPORTATION CAN BE DONE BY TRUCK, TRAIN OR PIPELINE 4: COLLECTION TANK 5: LABORATORY - Once the product has been checked and released by the laboratory, it is ready for shipment. The unit’s entire quality control process takes place in the lab. - The lab is the “boss”. - Exactly! - And these guys say whether it can go or not. - You got it. - Is it common for product to not be approved? - Rarely. It hardly ever happens. - So the product leaves from there and comes over here. - Can we climb up there? - Sure we can! 6: STORAGE - We can? That’s cool! 7: FUELING - The truck comes over here, which is the fuel station for the truck, and this is where the truck will be loaded... Same thing that happens with us at a gas station; there’s a guy who receives him, tells him to change the oil, throws a little water on the “thingy,” or what? - No... Almost that... - The truck arrives and is fueled. - The person who does that is the truck driver himself? - He puts the loading arm in and then the system does everything automatically. Once the truck is loaded, he seals the compartments, goes and gets the invoice and takes off. - Luis, I noticed that all the trucks have this sticker. - You’re right! - “Eye on the fuel” is a company program and they visit the gas stations from time to time, and the station gets this certification. - It’s a quality seal, right? - That’s it. - That guarantees that the fuel sold at the gas station is the same fuel that left from here. - That’s exactly it. - Hey driver, can we ride with you up there? LUIZ ANTÔNIO RODRIGUES-DRIVER - Hitch hiking is not allowed. - Why is that? - It’s company policy. - He can’t give us a ride? - So go slowly and we will follow you. - You got it! - Once we left the terminal, we followed Luiz to the station. JOÃO ARANHA GAS STATION-PAULÍNIA, 4:30 p.m. DANGER, STAY AWAY - Luiz, while we are at it, can we check out your truck? - Let’s go! - This is the famous cab of the truck, right? - That’s it! - That’s funny; I’d never been in a place like this... - So, is it easy? If I wanted to do this, do you think I could... - Trucks are easy! - Would I do a good job? - The transmission is automatic... - This truck is automatic! - Hey, you’re right, that’s easy! - I have something here to give to you. - What is it? - This right here. - Another envelope! NEXT MISSIONS: GO TO PETROBRAS’ - “Use the tickets in this envelope HEADQUARTERS IN RIO DE JANEIRO and head off to Petrobras’ headquarters LEARN ABOUT THE ETHANOL'S MARKET in Rio de Janeiro. Another story will unfold there!” PETROBRAS’ HEADQUARTERS, RIO DE JANEIRO, 4:50 p.m. - I saw on your door that you are the director for Ethanol, right? RICARDO CASTELLO BRANCO-ETHANOL DIRECTOR - It’s right there! - You are the “Ethanol”; I saw it on the door. “Ethanol Director” - We went through this whole process, went to several sugar mills and everything, it was an adventure, and it is a pleasure to be here talking to you. Very good! - So, during our expedition to learn about ethanol production, we found out that it is mixed in gasoline. Why is that? - Does that affect gasoline prices? - Gasoline, to meet today’s requirements, in terms of environmental quality, of pollutant emissions that a vehicle puts into the atmosphere, it must be mixed with something else. You have to put oxygenated compounds into the gasoline for it to have a good emissions standard. Ethanol, if you study it in depth, going back to the chemistry that you studied, Ethanol has an oxygen molecule, an oxygen atom; therefore, it is an oxygenated compound. This helps with gasoline combustion, and it helps combustion to be less polluting. - What sets the price of fuel? - Basically, what sets the price is the distance from the production point to the consumption point. Another factor that affects ethanol’s price in geographic distribution is taxation. Each state sets its taxation level. There are states that tax at 12 percent, others at 25 percent; because of that, in some parts of Brazil ethanol is more or less competitive depending on the taxes. And there are other non-geographic reasons, such as climate. At harvest time, the producer sells ethanol cheaper than between harvests. If you look at a graph, almost every year this model is replicated. Around April or May, when production is in full swing at the sugar mills, the price goes down and when December rolls around, it goes up. That’s when people are driving more, with summertime, the holidays and there is no bargain, no production. A really cool thing that Petrobras does, even after having made the greatest oil and natural gas finds of the last few decades, which are the pre-salt ones, even though it is engaged in further growth in oil and natural gas, it did not abandon its agenda of being a company with a continuously growing production of renewable energy and among the renewable energy types, it made bio-fuels a priority. Today we have pipelines that are capable of taking ethanol from Paulínia all the way to the ports. And we are currently building a pipeline system that will bring ethanol from the production regions, where you were, in Quirinópolis, at the Boa Vista mill, the pipeline goes by there, we will be able to get ethanol from that mill, put it in a pipeline and deliver it to São Paulo, cheaper, more efficiently, with less chances for accidents, and better environmentally, because the emissions of CO2 by pipeline transportation is much less than by truck transportation, it will be more environmentally sustainable. - As you suspected, at the end of the interview with Castello... it was time for the envelope. - Let’s go! - Let’s see... "It’s time to talk about the future. You are going to the Petrobras research center to learn about its second generation ethanol studies and the new uses of this biofuel. Relax, and good luck!" IN THE NEXT EPISODE: - Now that the station has been filled, WHAT IS ETHANOL OF THE FUTURE LIKE? we will understand what Ethanol of the future is like. 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