Brazil leading way in alternative fuels

GIANT mechanical claws grab tonnes of sugar cane from huge, open-topped trailer trucks and place them on conveyor belts where they are crushed into juice. Here at the Costa Pinto refining plant, an hour’s drive from Sao Paulo, begins the process which now powers half of Brazil’s cars.

It is big business. Cosan, which owns the plant, is Brazil’s biggest sugar refiner, publicly quoted and soon to list on Wall Street. It has 16 other facilities like Costa Pinto, producing a billion litres of ethanol and generating $200 million. It is planning to accelerate production.
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