**3.5 Recent innovations and technological advances in ethanol production**

The theory of trajectory and technology paradigm that we use these days were laid out and drafted by Dosi [1]. In his study, the researcher adopted similarities in the process of innovation to incremental innovation and disruptive innovation, to the assessment of process of diffusion between science and technology, taking into account heuristics methodology, well-structured in the form of a strategy of search that directed toward the solution of problems under the existing paradigms. The heuristics sustained by the author, in thesis, boosts incremental innovation in the context of a given technology trajectory, like a driving force that unleashes changes for new trajectories or technology paradigms through the disruptive or radical innovation [1, 26]. Therefore, the heuristics seems to be essential for a better comprehension of the dynamics of the technology involved in ethanol production.

In this analytical context, a new heuristic context was created for the final part of this study, which enable the making of data profiling, on various levels: (i) geographical; (ii) temporal; and, (iii) technological; employing the same data on the family documents of the "forward citation" in a scenario of recent deposits—between 2017 and 2018. This led to **Figure 9** and **Table 8** as shown in sequence.

**29**

*Technological Trajectories Studies of Sugarcane Ethanol Production Using Patent Citation*

**IPC main Sugarcane Pretreatment Fermentation Post-treatment**

C11C 1

Total Geral 2 7 9 1

By analyzing the data set in **Figure 8** and **Table 8**, it is possible to infer that the technology trajectory from the data mined points to China as the country with the biggest technology power to rise in the future and replace the United States as the leader of ethanol-producing technologies, mainly in technologies related to the enzymatic pre-treatment and the fermentation stage. It is worth highlighting the presence of patent documents on the technologies that use modified bacteria and/or yeast-free fungus, which process the raw cellulosic material, and alternately absorb the stages of pre-treatment and fermentation of sugars resulting from the saccharification of lignocellulosic matter in one stage only (see: CN105154416-B, 2018; CN108603186-A, 2018; CN106755011-A, 2017; IN201741014528-A, 2018; IN201831041905-A, 2018; US2018230420-A1, 2018;

The study highlights some considerations to be taken up in a broader research

The first point is that the strategy of patent data retrieval used by the authors in this and other works and for a smaller spatial dimension proved totally valid to characterize technological advances in the aforementioned production chain at the global level. This reveals that the methodology experimented by the authors involving the use of the technological information contained in the patent documents consorted to the specific study of patent citations are very adequate to identify and understand the technology trajectories resulting from investment decisions,

A second point to be considered concerns the dynamism of research on second generation technologies for ethanol production from sugarcane in the early years of the twenty-first century. However, what stands out is the prominence of the Chinese research system and its articulation with companies in areas of extremely high complexity, such as biotechnology, especially in the areas of fermentation and

Finally, looking at the Brazilian ethanol research and production system, the study indicates routes to be followed and bridges to be built in case the country should want to retake the leading role it has played in this sector in the twentieth century. And this is an important feature of the methodology used in this study that, in prospecting and extracting data and information from the patent system,

research and public policies related to the study of industrial sectors.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88428*

C08L 2

D21B 1 1

*Source: Compiled by the authors, PatSeer®.*

*Main IPC related to categories.*

**Table 8.**

C10L 1 C12N 1 4 C12P 1 2 3

D21C 1 1

BR102016030305-A2, 2018).

agenda in sugarcane ethanol's production chain.

**4. Final remarks**

enzymatic processes.

*Technological Trajectories Studies of Sugarcane Ethanol Production Using Patent Citation DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88428*


#### **Table 8.**

*Intellectual Property Rights - Patent*

through enzymatic hydrolysis.

This information can be inferred by the sequenced information of the main classifications, as follows: (i) C12P7/10: Substrate containing cellulosic material; (ii) C12P7/06: Ethanol; (iii) C12P19/14: Produced by the action of a carbohydrase (set of enzymes that catalyzes 5 types of breakdown during carbohydrates into simple sugars); (iv) C12M1/00: Apparatus for enzymology or microbiology; (v) C12P19/02: Monosaccharides; (vi) C12R1/865: Saccharomyces cerevisiae; (vii) C13K1/02: By saccharification of cellulosic materials; (viii) C12P7/08: Produced as by-product or from waste or cellulosic material substrate. Besides, there is emphasis on the use of enzymes during the initial stage of pre-treatment of raw materials

This way, it is clear that the stages of pre-treatment and fermentation are the strongest and most relevant technology nuclei for the sector in the near future.

The theory of trajectory and technology paradigm that we use these days were laid out and drafted by Dosi [1]. In his study, the researcher adopted similarities in the process of innovation to incremental innovation and disruptive innovation, to the assessment of process of diffusion between science and technology, taking into account heuristics methodology, well-structured in the form of a strategy of search that directed toward the solution of problems under the existing paradigms. The heuristics sustained by the author, in thesis, boosts incremental innovation in the context of a given technology trajectory, like a driving force that unleashes changes for new trajectories or technology paradigms through the disruptive or radical innovation [1, 26]. Therefore, the heuristics seems to be essential for a better comprehension of the dynamics of the technology involved in ethanol production. In this analytical context, a new heuristic context was created for the final part of this study, which enable the making of data profiling, on various levels: (i) geographical; (ii) temporal; and, (iii) technological; employing the same data on the family documents of the "forward citation" in a scenario of recent deposits—between 2017

**3.5 Recent innovations and technological advances in ethanol production**

and 2018. This led to **Figure 9** and **Table 8** as shown in sequence.

*Country of origin of "forward citations" for 2017 and 2018. Source: Compiled by the authors, PatSeer®.*

**28**

**Figure 9.**

*Main IPC related to categories.*

By analyzing the data set in **Figure 8** and **Table 8**, it is possible to infer that the technology trajectory from the data mined points to China as the country with the biggest technology power to rise in the future and replace the United States as the leader of ethanol-producing technologies, mainly in technologies related to the enzymatic pre-treatment and the fermentation stage. It is worth highlighting the presence of patent documents on the technologies that use modified bacteria and/or yeast-free fungus, which process the raw cellulosic material, and alternately absorb the stages of pre-treatment and fermentation of sugars resulting from the saccharification of lignocellulosic matter in one stage only (see: CN105154416-B, 2018; CN108603186-A, 2018; CN106755011-A, 2017; IN201741014528-A, 2018; IN201831041905-A, 2018; US2018230420-A1, 2018; BR102016030305-A2, 2018).

## **4. Final remarks**

The study highlights some considerations to be taken up in a broader research agenda in sugarcane ethanol's production chain.

The first point is that the strategy of patent data retrieval used by the authors in this and other works and for a smaller spatial dimension proved totally valid to characterize technological advances in the aforementioned production chain at the global level. This reveals that the methodology experimented by the authors involving the use of the technological information contained in the patent documents consorted to the specific study of patent citations are very adequate to identify and understand the technology trajectories resulting from investment decisions, research and public policies related to the study of industrial sectors.

A second point to be considered concerns the dynamism of research on second generation technologies for ethanol production from sugarcane in the early years of the twenty-first century. However, what stands out is the prominence of the Chinese research system and its articulation with companies in areas of extremely high complexity, such as biotechnology, especially in the areas of fermentation and enzymatic processes.

Finally, looking at the Brazilian ethanol research and production system, the study indicates routes to be followed and bridges to be built in case the country should want to retake the leading role it has played in this sector in the twentieth century. And this is an important feature of the methodology used in this study that, in prospecting and extracting data and information from the patent system, stripped relevant sources of technological knowledge and research and development networks with which it will be essential to establish partnerships for the development of a collaborative work.
