Use of sugarcane biofuel ethanol in gasoline vehicles in Mexico. A strategy for energy security and sustainable development?

Abstract

This paper describes the production of sugarcane ethanol in Mexican sugar mills as the most attractive option from the point of view of availability of renewable raw materials, energy security, rural development, revalorization of sugarcane as a renewable raw material and mitigation of greenhouse gases emitted by gasoline-powered vehicles at the national level. A systematic review methodology was used to evaluate the complexity of its introduction as a biofuel, physicochemical properties, public policy instruments and technology to convert sugar mills into biorefineries, taking Brazil as the basis for analysis, as the world's largest producer of sugarcane ethanol, leader in technological development, production, ethanol commercialization and successful public policies to analyze the Mexican context, available technologies and its experience with the development of public policies to encourage its production and use. This work concludes that for its successful implementation as an oxygenate in gasoline blends, it is necessary to build a national ethanol plan with the participation of all the actors in the sugarcane value chain, based on international experience, government leadership with the creation of competitive advantages and the transfer to sugar mills developed by Mexican researchers.