Sugar cane-ethanol production feasibility in Costa Rica.

Vargas, Alejandra.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

2010

CIENA DIGITAL
5458

Costa Rica is completely dependent on foreign petroleum in spite of having abundant natural resources for the production of renewable biofuels. One potential pathway for reducing foreign oil dependence and green house gas emissions is to produce ethanol from domestic sugar cane. This study analyzed the economic and resource feasibility of producing sugar cane-ethanol in Costa Rica. Government, industry and field expert interviews were conducted to collect data, which was analyzed with parity price and cost of production methods. Additionally, the Brazilian ethanol industry was examined for technical and political mechanisms that could be leveraged in Costa Rica. The economic analysis showed that ethanol production is Costa Rica is not economically attractive. The cost of producing ethanol is more expensive in Costa Rica compared to Brazil; 0.479 and 0.313 US$/L respectively, nonetheless it is still profitable to produce ethanol given the ethanol's international price of $US 0.55/L. However, selling bulk sugar, ethanol's opportunity cost, results in higher revenues compared to ethanol production. Substantial government intervention would be necessary to offset the 0.42 $US/L price difference to make Costa Rican ethanol attractive over sugar..

Reporte preparado para: Dr. James Hileman and Matthew Pearlson

COSTA RICA; BIOCOMBUSTIBLES; BRASIL; ETANOL; AZUCAR DE CAÑA; PRODUCCION DE ETANOL; ESTUDIOS DE FACTIBILIDAD; ESTUDIOS ECONOMICOS; COSTOS DE PRODUCCION; FORMATO DIGITAL;