First 500 Sequilana Agave Seedles, from Mexico, have already gone through the quarantine process
A Agave tequilanaplant used in Mexico in tequila production, is the target of a survey of in Campina Grande, Paraíba, in partnership with the company Baiana Santa Anna Bioenergia, for ethanol production. Other uses, such as carbon sequestration and animal feed, are also under analysis.
The study also includes other promising varieties of the genre Agave maintained in the active bank of Embrapa Geroplasm, for biomass production, including the Agave Sisalana (Sisal), today mainly used for the production of strings, rugs, carpets and construction.
In addition to contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the study aims to develop a cultivation system for the production of Agave tequilana and other species for energy purposes. The purpose is also to promote the best use of these plants, considering that, currently, only 4% of the sheet biomass Agave Sisalana It is used in the industrialization process.
Brazil is the world’s largest producer Agave Sisalana With 95,000 tons of fiber in 2023, according to data from IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics). About 95% of national production is concentrated in the state of Bahia, where culture is one of the main sources of income from the so -called Sisal territory. Paraíba occupies the 2nd place in the national production ranking of Sisal fiber in an area of approximately five thousand hectares, according to IBGE.
The genre Agave It has been attracting the attention of energy companies as a potential raw material for bioenergy production, such as ethanol and net compensation of greenhouse gases due to the characteristics of climate adaptation of the semiarid.
In addition to the economic and environmental aspects, Embrapa Cotton Tarcísio Gondim researcher stated that research has an important social contribution. “This technological innovation can contribute to mitigating regional inequalities and facing the precariousness of the south -Brazilian sisterus areas. For this, we will use xerophilic plants – adapted to dry environments – with multiple purpose: ethanol production, ruminant food and CO2 capture in low human development regions.”these.
Seedlings arrive in the field
In March, researchers from Embrapa Cotton performed a mission to Mexico, where they visited the National Institute for Forest, Agricultural and Livestock Investigations, an EMBRAPA organ in that country, as well as several institutions related to Tequila’s production chain, in order to identify opportunities for collaboration in biomass production to obtain biofuels, carbon sequestration and use of the plant’s waste to the plant animal feed.
The first 500 seedlings of Agave tequilanafrom Mexico and brought by Santa Anna Bioenergia, have already gone through the quarantine process and currently the team of Brazilian researchers are starting the studies of evaluation of the species in the municipality of Jacobina, Bahia, where the 1st URT (Technological Reference Unit) of Agave tequilana. Two other Urts will be implemented in the municipalities of Alagoinha and Monteiro, Paraíba, totaling 1,800 seedlings of Agave tequilana in the 1st stage of the project.
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