Engineers from Case IH and one of Brazil’s largest agro-industrial companies are collaborating closely to field-test ethanol-fueled machines that could further advance the farming industry.

Agricultural company São Martinho operates four industrial complexes with a crushing capacity of 24.5 million tonnes (~26 million tons) of sugarcane and 1.2 million tonnes (~1.32 million tons) of corn, featuring 100% mechanized harvesting and a fleet of 150 cane harvesters. The Boa Vista Unit, in the Brazilian state of Goiás, is the only facility dedicated to producing corn-based derivatives such as ethanol, dried distillers’ grains and corn oil, while also producing ethanol and bioenergy from sugarcane, and is recognized as the largest distillery in the world. The units in São Paulo focus on the sugarcane-based production of sugar, ethanol and bioenergy, with the São Martinho Unit in Pradópolis, in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, standing out as the largest sugarcane processing facility on the planet.

For nearly a year, São Martinho’s fleet has included a Case IH Austoft 9990 harvester fitted with a Cursor 13 engine that was designed to run on compressed natural gas (CNG), but has been adapted to run on ethanol. Test results are very encouraging and herald a new era for farm machines and for agriculture more broadly.

“It’s a paradigm shift for us at São Martinho and for the industry,” says Luís Gustavo Teixeira, Director of Agroindustrial Technology and Innovation at Mill São Martinho. “This new technology is good for the environment and good for the bottom line — it opens new horizons for the business.”

But before the new machine is ready for market, it is undergoing rigorous testing to ensure outstanding performance and endurance. There is no better place to do that than at São Martinho, not only because of the scale of the operation and the rigor of testing, but also because of its close partnership with Case IH that continuously pioneers the next generation of farm machines.

Tough routine Field-testing involves more than running the machine around the field a few times. The Austoft 9990 prototype undergoes a grueling 24/7 shift with temperatures in the field that can easily reach 40 degrees Celsius (104° F). It does the same ‘real-life’ routine as other harvesters, experiencing the most diverse conditions possible and its performance details are carefully compared against its diesel counterpart.

“We submit the machinery to much higher stresses than the market average,” says Teixeira, who is a trained agronomist with a PhD in soil science.

So far, the trial has been promising. There have been adjustments to the software and the engine’s power curve, but that is a normal part of the development phase in such a groundbreaking project.

“At first sight, you can’t tell any difference from the other harvesters and even up close, the differences are nuanced,” he says. “In the development phase there are always things to be adjusted and improved, but it’s going very well — better than we had expected.”

The rest of the trial phase will focus on further improving the power and efficiency of the engine and perhaps tweaking specs.

“These are all details — part of any development process — but as a whole they are important because they add up to make a good product great,” Teixeira explains.