Vinasse: current concepts, challenges and opportunities for the sustainability

Abstract

The objective was to highlight the historical documents that foresee the use and abuse of ethanol production (vinasse) in Brazil according to literature published in the period 1934-2020. The methodology used was documentary, the review and analysis of which brought with it the synthesis and perspectives of vinasse as well as its uses and abuses. Results: a) there are legal instruments in Brzil since 1934 whose goal is to care for the environment; b) about in 1978 was prohibited the direct dumping of stillage into bodies of water and c) in 2011 environmental guidelines were provided on this topic to achieve sustainability in the Brazilian space. Conclusions: 1) as can be seen in the cited literature, vinasse is one of the most impressive respurces for ethanol production; 2) Brazil is the second largest ethanol producer worldwide; 3) the use of stillage for cooling sugarcane fiekds, its organic content, chemical and biochemical oxygen demand rates are high and 4) the synergy between academics from universities, the government sector, civil society, companies in the productive chain of the sugar energy sector, among others, is important.