B 2.5. Is there any regulation to control the use of vinasse as a fertilizer?
Vinasse is a product of distillation of the wine (fermented sugar-cane juice) for ethanol production. It has been acknowledged for several years that the vinasse can be a valuable organic fertilizer (replacing potassium), as well as an important source of water replacement on the soil. Accordingly, it has been used by the sugar-cane industry for fertigation, giving back to the soil the salts and other nutrients that sugar-cane extracts from it as it grows and matures. While providing major benefits by reducing the need for water and chemical fertilizers, fertigation is an economic, sustainable way of recycling and disposing of such byproduct. In the State of So Paulo, the application of vinasse to farm soils is regulated by Technical Standard P4.231, issued by the CETESB (Companhia de Tecnologia de Saneamento Ambiental), the environmental agency of the State Department of the Environment. The Technical Standard improves the common practice for setting limits on the application of vinas
