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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Atlanta, GA | Posted: February 18, 2008
This Ethanol Mission to Brazil by the delegation from Georgia succeeded in establishing in the minds of Brazilian business and academic leaders that Georgia has unique assets with regard to ethanol production and logistics. First, Georgia has existing timber feedstock from which cellulosic ethanol could likely be made in large quantities. Second, Georgia is the distribution center of the Southeast and has the Port of Savannah which can serve as a key entry point for ethanol produced abroad as in Brazil (or ultimately as an exit point for export of ethanol produced in Georgia). The quality of the mission participants cemented in the minds of Brazilian business and academic leaders that Georgia has the intellectual talent and seriousness of purpose necessary for a productive cooperative effort.
It is clear from this mission that Brazil has unique assets of its own to offer in cooperative efforts with Georgia on ethanol. Brazil has decades of experience in utilizing ethanol as a fuel for vehicles, and in those decades of experience Brazil has learned a great deal about the logistics of ethanol transport. In addition, Brazil is pursuing the production of cellulosic ethanol from bagasse (the biomass left after crushing of sugar cane) and sugar cane field residues. There appear to be aspects of the Brazilian effort with bagasse and cane residues that could provide the basis for cooperative research and exchange of information in connection with Georgia's efforts to produce cellulosic ethanol from timber product feedstock.
There are many states (and countries) vying for the chance to form cooperative efforts with Brazil on ethanol, and Brazilian resources are limited. Georgia should move promptly to identify the most productive potential cooperative ventures and to dispatch to Brazil a followup mission to pursue those possibilities.
