Case IH, a brand of world-class equipment, technology and services company CNH, has developed the world’s first ethanol-fueled sugarcane harvester, which it is currently testing. Farming doesn’t get much more sustainable than a harvester that runs on the very crop it reaps.
Ethanol fuel made from fermented and distilled sugarcane juice is a major boon for agribusiness. By taking advantage of an abundant and renewable resource, ethanol offers a viable alternative to fossil fuels. This is not only true in Brazil — the world’s second-largest producer of ethanol — because numerous biofuel producers around the world, including the United States, India and others, stand to gain.
Ethanol produces at least 90% less nitrogen oxide (NOx) than diesel and greatly reduces the dependency on direct fossil fuel use for farmers. It is also much cheaper than diesel due to lower production and transportation costs.
Many Case IH customers in Brazil grow sugarcane, making it widely available even in remote rural areas. New equipment can be integrated into ongoing farm operations without the need to invest in adapting infrastructure. By growing sugarcane and using machinery run on ethanol, farmers can become more self-sufficient and save costs, creating a virtuous cycle inside their operations.
The Austoft 9990
The Austoft 9990 boasts a host of technological innovations and went through over 300 hours of field-testing. Intelligent Feed Rate Control, which automatically adjusts the harvesting speed according to the density of the sugarcane, allows gains of up to 10% in productivity. It is also equipped with the FieldOps™ telemetry system, which allows the operator and management team to monitor machine performance in real time, increasing operational efficiency. To date, nearly ten thousand of these machines have been produced at CNH’s plant in Piracicaba in the southeast of Brazil.
Developing the Austoft 9990 into an ethanol-fueled harvester required more than simply swapping one engine for another. It involved countless hours of engineering, adaptation and testing, and installing new software, fuel injectors and additional fuel and exhaust sensors. Larger radiators were added to cool the engine, which was running hotter.
Find out more about how ethanol is being used to power a Case IH sugarcane harvester here.
