Avaliação de impactos ambientais do cultivo do milho para a produção de etanol

Abstract

Approximately 80.3% of the world's energy matrix comes from non-renewable fossil fuels. This demand, coupled with concerns about global warming and the high cost of oil, has encouraged the search for alternative renewable sources, such as biofuels produced from biomass. In Brazil, corn ethanol production has grown in recent years. The use of corn as a raw material reduces the idleness of distilleries during the sugarcane off-season, increases the national supply of biofuel and generates co-products such as corn oil and animal feed, which is why the production of this crop requires an environmental impact assessment. The aim of this study was to assess the environmental impact of growing corn for ethanol production qualitatively and quantitatively. In order to identify the possible interactions between the components of the production process, an environmental impact significance matrix was used. The purpose of this matrix is to qualify and quantify environmental impacts. The purpose of this matrix is to qualify and quantify environmental impacts. In the qualitative matrix, letters are assigned for value, order, space, time, dynamics and plasticity. The quantitative matrix was given a score from 0 to 5 to indicate the degree of impact. Sixteen environmental impacts were observed, affecting the physical, biotic and anthropic environments. Growing corn for ethanol production results in significant environmental impacts, with negative impacts being the most significant: deterioration in air quality, loss of water quality and inconvenience and discomfort. The positive impacts are due to the training of the workforce and the increase in workers' incomes.