Day 12

Day 12. Nobody told me it was going to fly by this quickly. It has been an unforgettable trip to say the least. After our trip to the Buddhist temple it was time for our farewell dinner. All of the students, professors, Ihor, and of course the drivers took our final evening to have a great meal and share a few drinks. Looking back I learned so more than I could have hoped in such a short trip, and more importantly made some great friends in Pittsburgh and now, Brazil. The program was the perfect balance between work and play, and the only thing I would change is my return date.

Actually, that’s exactly what I did. We stayed up late to wish Elijah a final farewell to get to his 6 AM flight, and then for the remainder of the morning sent the group off in groups of three and four. My flight, however, was the following day. As a result, by 11 AM I was the only one without passport in hand. I had the chance to check into the very cool Bambu hostel for the evening and roam the shopping district of Foz do Iguacu for the day. In true tourist form, I returned to the States with a shot glass, sandals, and a Brazilian flag as tokens of my travels.

Some of you may well know how cool the people you meet in hostels are. In a tourism heavy city like Iguazu, the visitors come from far and wide. My room alone had Brazilians, Australians, Irish, and British natives. I relaxed for the evening and got an early start in transit to the airport.

At this point things got a bit more interesting. I knew I was looking at least a five hour layover for my flight back to the States, but when I had an opportunity to move up my flight two hours, it left me with a full seven hours in Rio. I had no game plan, but wanted to make the most of the time and quickly asked information how to go see the famous Christ the Redeemer statue. I found a way to store my bag and hopped on a bus. Now the public transportation in Rio is great, but I wouldn’t call it direct by any means. I had my plans to take a three step journey to the statue in time to make it back to the airport. First by bus to the subway, then after the subway to either a train or shuttle (my Portuguese isn’t fantastic). After two hours in one direction without making it to the mystery 3^rd leg of the journey, I got cold feet. In retrospect I could have pushed it for another hour, but something about international travel told me I was going to need a lot of time at the airport. I had a chance to see a great deal of Rio, but my trip to the famous statue would have to wait until another time. 

Thanks for reading everyone. I’ll see you stateside. 

Day 11

Day 11, let’s go learn about power. First we’re off to Sao Miguel do Iguacu. The Fazenda Colombari plant is a massive milk producer for Southern Brazil and home to hundreds of cows. Now the employees at Fazenda Colombari were very clever and put the infrastructure in place to collect all of the waste from these cows, create a mixture that would be easy to pump a few hundred yards, construct a bio-digester to produce methane gas, and use it to drive a gas engine and generator. We were able to tour the facilities supporting the main functions of the plant and get a full grasp of the day to day work of the employees aside from bio-energy. Fun fact: they play music for the cows while milking to reduce stress.

In the shelters to keep the cows when not milking, two massive automatic pulleys will drag a makeshift rake to collect cow waste. All of the waste is collected underground and mixed with water then pumped to the bio-digesters without being even slightly detectable. The digester can be seen below and is a massive structure. While there is currently more waste than the two bio-digesters can support, a third is too expensive to install. This is likely the next step for the facility as waste increases, however.

 

As mentioned, the gas inside that balloon is used to drive a gas engine and generator to produce power for the plant. Now I had a very difficult time attempting to understand exactly how much power can be produced relative to what the facility consumes, but I do believe it was significant. Now in the rare event that the plant was able to produce more than it needed, unfortunately they are so isolated that it is very unlikely they would have a customer to sell power to.

Have you ever seen 14 GW of power generation? I’m not sure if I want to even make an effort to describe what the Itaipu is like. Everything about this thirty year old dam is simply astonishing to look at. We left our cows at Fazenda and went to Itaipu for lunch. It doesn’t seem like a hydroelectric plant should be a tourist attraction, but when you have the largest electricity producing plant in the world, you show it off. We were lucky enough to have a guided tour around the plant on a bus and saw the plant at a tremendous level of detail. First an overview of the output canal and spillway put into perspective how bad Brazil’s current drought is. In comparison to the pictures, the water level was very low on the post-generation side. Next, we were able to view the unbelievably vast reservoir. You’ll assume it’s a great lake if you walk up to it. Moving on, we went down to the face of the retaining wall. The structure is simply gargantuan, with each pipe feeding a turbine coming in at 30 meters wide. You could hide a skyscraper in this place if you wanted to. Vertically or horizontally.

 

Let’s go see where they put the EE guys like myself. Now the name of the room escapes me, but to manage the grid for this kind of power generation a great deal of monitoring and coordination. Because the dam is shared between two nations, both have a representative for each control room. Here specifically, we discussed how Paraguay and Brazil have grids that operate on different frequencies (50 Hz and 60 Hz, respectively) and as a result, the power sold from Paraguay to Brazil is sent as DC all the way to Sao Paulo rather than inverting in Iguazu. Fascinating, isn’t it? I’m glad you’re as excited as I am about frequency.

We weren’t finished however. We took a quick break in the lobby then went to the control room. The control room, which just happens to be the border of the two nations, is huge to accommodate both sides. They have both analog and digital control systems available, as they intend to use digital, but keep the analog system as a backup. Last, but not least, we make it to one of the 18 turbines in operation. Imagine a circular elevator rotating at a few thousand rpm. The scale, like everything else, is startling. We only had a few more minutes to stand in awe at this one of a kind plant before heading out so I made sure to get a few more pictures for you. I hope you’ll enjoy them.

Following the visit, there was only one thing to do: visit a Buddhist temple. We spent the last hour before sunset in the most peaceful environment in Iguazu. From the temple we had great views of Iguazu, and Ciudad del Este across the river. A very cool way to wrap up the evening and begin bringing the trip to a close. 

Day 10

Day 10 everyone. I told you all that dominoes was going to be a hit. A large portion of yesterday’s drive consisted of playing dominoes and UNO because our man Joe found a toy store in Sao Pedro do Ivai. You should expect the rest of our time on the bus to be dedicated to these two. We moved into our beautiful hotel in Foz do Iguacu and had an eventful dinner to say the least. The hotel restaurant was not built for a group of twelve and we had three hours of laughs at their expense. With that said I had a great beef parmesan meal and good times with Ihor, Dr. Abad, JD, and Kon

Today, however, we have much bigger things to do. Get excited for pictures. Today is the ideal day for a tourist in Southern Brazil. First, birds. Parque Das Aves is a bird park very near Iguazu Falls and we enjoyed a couple hours getting to know the Brazilian wildlife. Aside from birds of all shapes and sizes, however, the bird park had plenty of critters and could probably call itself a mini-zoo. Mini monkeys, crocodiles, pythons, anacondas, turtles, iguanas, and fish all made an appearance. At the end of the tour the path opened up into a gift shop, restaurant, and patio area where there was an opportunity to pet a snake and get pictures holding a parrot. I scrambled to look around the gift shop for a few souvenirs for the family, but came up relatively empty. I was excited, however, because before getting in line to grab lunch I had a conversation strictly in Spanish with a native Portuguese speaker for about fifteen minutes. I suppose when you’re both butchering the language it takes a little pressure off of you. I finished lunch while listening to a jack-of-all-trades one man band that could put any street performer to shame and then we were off to the falls.

It probably wouldn’t shock you to hear that these were the best pictures of the trip. Iguazu Falls is a one of a kind tourist attraction named one of the seven natural wonders of the world. My words and all of the pictures will never do it justice. I actually cut the trip a bit short by signing up for a boat ride into the falls. We took a speed boat up the Iguazu River directly into the falls on the Argentinian side and from the front of the boat were even able to stand right under the water. While you couldn’t open your eyes more than a squint at some times, the rainbows on the water were the best you’ll ever see. Despite being soaked to walk around the rest of the day, we had a really unique experience and a great ride.

Now, back at the top we had to quickly do our tour of La Garganta Del Diablo, or the devil’s throat. These are the pictures that you look at 20 years from now. Because the falls are a bit staggered, you get the unreal opportunity to walk out in front of one fall while overlooking a second. Did I mention the Argentinian side is right there as well and an unbelievable sight in its own right? Check out the pictures. The description will never compare.

You might think our day is winding down, but I’m happy to say we’re just getting started. Quickly from the falls we went to the very corner of Southwestern Brazil. Why? Because at this point you can see the intersection of the Parana and Iguazu rivers, but more importantly, the point where Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina all meet. In a very cool gesture from the three nations, there are small parks right near the river where each nation has made a pillar bearing its colors. I personally enjoyed a small pyramid monument with the Portuguese words of light, life, and love on each side.

So that pretty well wraps up Da……. Wait what? There’s more? Well we have to go get dinner. We could do something modest, or we could go for the best show in town. High octane South America coming at you left and right with all of the bells and whistles. We quickly got cleaned up and the hotel and took off for the show and buffet. While the buffet would have easily been the highlight of the trip, it was put to shame by the performance. Each nation of South America, and actually part of central America too, performed a song, dance, or acrobatics act (you name it, they had it) of their choice and each was better than the last. Foz do Iguacu is an absolute blast.

That, I believe, puts a bow on the day. Thanks for reading and buenas noches. 

Day 9

 Is it actually day 9 already? Bittersweet to say the least. By the end of this post we will be in our final destination of the trip believe it or not. First, however, we must discuss last night. Following our lovely visit to UFPR we made it to our hotel and the fun began. Upon arrival we were excited to learn that most of us had single rooms, but that may have been the final positive aspect. I can’t say cumulatively how much sleep the group, but if you guessed far less than average for the trip you are exactly right. I shouldn’t tear it apart too much, but we did a lot of tip-toeing around the rooms and sitting on the edge of the beds in an effort to touch as little as possible.

Anyways, onto the next one. The next one being RENUKA Vale do Ivai. What’s that you ask? Well it’s a really cool plant that makes sugars, ethanol, and of course power. It looks like this: (Insert picture here). I have to apologize guys. Yet another day where I managed to forget all about picture taking. We’ll say it’s because I was so focused on the intricacies of sugar cane. Luckily you can count on my classmates to pick up the slack and give you all a visual, so be sure to check out day 9 of their blogs. I promise I’ll add a map instead though.

RENUKA has mills in Brazil and India and at just the plant here at Ivai produces 750,000 liters of ethanol daily. Majority is hydrous, but roughly 300,000 liters are anhydrous. What is wonderful is the waste products are used to power the plant, which consumed roughly 7MW. A fact I loved from the presentation is that from the sugar cane crop, the percentage of raw materials being dedicated to sugar production and to ethanol production fluctuates regularly depending on market prices.

Because the plant is so dependent on their sugar cane crop, it should not be surprising that they go through seasons. At least 25% of the year is dedicated strictly to maintenance while the plant is shut down for planting and harvesting season. Unlike many plants then, this one is stripped down piece by piece every year to maintain safety standards and efficiency.

Along our tour we are able to see the trucks initially bring the sugar cane, the grinding and cutting, the extraction of sugars and liquids, the mixing, the boiling, and finally the testing of the finished product. It is a fascinating operation at RENUKA and a great model for sustainable manufacturing.

Following the visit we get the chance to eat lunch with our hosts before heading out to the long drive West. Stay Tuned

Day 8

Day 8 and everyone is sick. I don’t fully understand how, but don’t worry – we’ll persevere. The blog stops for nothing. Today is a wonderful day because today’s visit is the one that my group previewed for the class a few weeks ago back in Pittsburgh. Summer, Elijah, and I were unsure of just how valid our sources were for the presentation, so confirming certain aspects and weeding out the others was a good feeling.

Our destination is UFPR, the Federal University of Parana. They’re of so much interest to us because of some very cool projects within hydroelectricity and biofuels – Brasil’s two most advanced forms of renewable energy. First, let’s talk hydrology. The hydrology research group at UFPR is unbelievable. They were contracted many years ago to perform a scaled flow of and analysis of the Itaipu Dam, so it should be no surprise that they are currently studying Belo Monte. Belo Monte will become the third largest hydroelectric plant in the world upon completion and it is easy to understand how after seeing the model at the smallest fraction of the size.

Some interesting notes from our tour include: 1) Environmental concerns are taken seriously. The reservoir size of Belo Monte was capped by the Brazilian environmental agency. As a result the plant will depend heavily on flow and will be a great engineering challenge. 2) There is often poor communication between the group and the builders. Many projects are built simultaneously with the model being tested back at UFPR and as a result there are often mistakes made.

The second half of our visit was a tour with the microalgae research team. We learned of the tremendous potential that microalgae has in comparison to many energy crops currently being grown. It is a very slow growth, but team has designed massive racks for microalgae growth that can ultimately produce dry algae with great energy density. Merely 5% of the US crop land would be needed to supply over half of the oil demand in the States using microalgae farms.

At $100,000 a piece, the racks at UFPR are unbelievably expensive. We can safely assume that as an energy crop microalgae would be very expensive, but the potential for cost reduction strategies and energy efficiency improvements make this a very promising industry.