Conjunto de dados de veículos utilizados na colheita e transporte da cana-de-açúcar para inventário de ciclo de vida: estudo de caso

Abstract

Ethanol extracted from sugar cane has been utilized as fuel all over Brazilian territory, especially in passenger’s vehicles as a way to replaced fuels derivate from petroleum that, by law, have also few quantities of this alcohol in its composition. Producing enough quantity of this fuel to supply all the Brazilian fleets that use this kind of fuel is not an easy task: tons of sugarcane must be processed in order to obtain such product. Known as sugarcane mill, this kind of mill needs a big transportation infrastructure which is responsible for the harvest and transportation from the sugar cane crop to the mill. For this transportation logistics, special trucks, harvesters and tractors are designed to support severe conditions on the canebrake. These vehicles are produced in large scale and can promote several impacts over the environment due to its manufacturing, utilization on the field (fuel consumption, operation and maintenance) and discard. For measuring impact over the environment, studies about inventory life cycle over these vehicles are needed. This kind of measuring is useful to compare the ethanol efficiency with other alternative fuels that are used for the same purpose. Furthermore, this data compilation opens a new variable to calculate the balance of energy involving the sugarcane mills; whereas, the energy spend on the canebrake also needs to be count in the balance. Obtaining dada from the canebrake transportation logistics and switching it to the reference unit may lead to a proper comparison between what exists in Brazil and what is being done internationally. Furthermore, emission calculations can be performed when good amount of data relative to the process being analyzed is available.