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----- Original Message -----
From: Keith
Addison
Sent: Friday, October 13, 2000 12:14 PM
Subject: [biofuel] FYI - Sugar Cane-Soy Biofuel Planned to Cut
Pollution Keith Addison Journey to Forever Handmade Projects Tokyo http://journeytoforever.org/ http://news.excite.com/news/r/000925/16/science-biofuel-pollution-dc Sugar Cane-Soy Biofuel Planned to Cut Pollution Updated 4:33 PM ET September 25, 2000By Reese Ewing SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil may soon refine a diesel fuel from soyoil and sugarcane to cut pollution from its urban fleets and power farm machinery in rural areas, industry experts said on Monday. The special fuel, known as biodiesel, is compatible with conventional diesel engines and requires no modification to the motor. The fuel has the capacity to cut air toxins by some 90 percent, posing less of a health threat, they said. "Biodiesel ... has virtually all the chemical-combustive behaviors of normal diesel oil," said engineer Jose Carlos Laurindo at the Parana State Institute of Technology. As the world's top sugarcane growers, Brazil's cane millers make a large variety of sugars from their crush, but also distill the resulting liquor to make two types of fuel ethanol -- hydrous and anhydrous alcohol. The boost in demand to Brazil's idle soyoil market would be a welcome side effect of developing the biofuel as the domestic crushing industry is faced with diving world prices and high supply. Brazil is the second largest soybean producer after the U.S. According to Oil and Gas Journal, the 98-year-old weekly trade magazine based in Houston, biodiesel has become the first alternative fuel to complete health effects testing as required by the 1990 U.S. Clean Air Act. While the biodiesel produced in the U.S. and Europe is made with a petroleum-based methanol, Brazil would prefer to use ethanol, which it makes from distilling sugar cane liquor. Brazil also considers the burning of methanol an environmental hazard. "We are looking to break with European production of biodiesel which involves methanol. We will use ethanol made from sugarcane," said Germano Ottmann, production director at COAMO, a large co-operative whose laboratories are testing a biodiesel made from soyoil and ethanol. Hydrous alcohol is used in vehicles requiring special engines while anhydrous alcohol, its chemical counterpart, is added to all gasoline sold in the country to form a mix known as "gasohol." "We have an abundant supply (of ethanol) in Brazil and it pollutes less than the petroleum-based alcohol (methanol)," Ottmann told Reuters. COAMO is based in Parana, Brazil's second largest soy-producing state. But the fuels are not suitable for normal diesel engines. There has been talk, however, of mixing such alcohols with diesel oil for use in modified "green" bus fleets in some cities. IN SEARCH OF A MARKET Soon after OPEC hiked world oil prices 70 percent in 1973, Brazil came up with a "pro-alcohol" fuel program to help reduce its dependency on oil imports and cushion its massive cane industry against volatility in world sugar prices. While the fuel may become an attractive alternative overseas, it remains to be decided where biodiesel could best enter the domestic market in Brazil. "To transport diesel into northern Mato Grosso is very costly. The state is a top soybean grower. In places such as these, (soy) biodiesel should be viable," Laurindo said. Mato Grosso, Brazil's leading soybean growing state, lies within a vast fertile plain in the country's center-west region. In terms of infrastructure, the state has relatively little freight rail or river transport available and almost all goods must be moved by truck at a high cost. However, Ottmann said the soyoil-based fuel would usually cost more than conventional diesel and would find a better consumer market in the country's major cities because of tightening regulations on air pollution. "Biodiesel will never compete with the price of diesel. It will exist because of government regulations on pollution in cities such as Curitiba, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre," said Ottmann, noting a handful of state capitals which also represent Brazil's largest metropolitan areas. "A mixture of about 20 to 30 percent in conventional diesel will greatly diminish the pollution problems of the major urban centers," said Ottmann. "I imagine production in Brazil will start because of environmental, not commercial, reasons." Brazil may take its lead from the United States where states such as Arizona, Ohio, Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware have already approved the use of biodiesel as an alternative fuel and have allowed fleet operators to convert to biodiesel fuels rather than buying new vehicles to comply with clean air mandates. "If biodiesel goes into production in the major cities, it will create demand that will enliven the soyoil market, which is dead at the moment," said Ottmann.
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