Originally published November 29 2005
Brazilian oil giant moves into biodiesel industry with large investments
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Petrobras announced that in five years, it will spend $145 million on clean fuel projects at the Guamaré mill and one additional site, both located in the northeastern corner of Brazil.
São Paulo - When German engineer Rudolf Diesel took the first diesel engine to the world fair in Paris, France, at the beginning of the 1920's, he used peanut oil as a fuel.
With studies showing that the world proven oil reserves total 1.137 trillion barrels and permit the supply of the world demand for another 40 years, and the advancement of the greenhouse effect, countries have intensified the speed of investment in production of biodiesel.
The money will be invested in the Guamaré mill, in the northeastern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte, which is in operation and has a capacity for production of 6,000 tonnes of biodiesel a year, and in another plant, also in the Northeast of Brazil.
Apart from them, another four biodiesel mills are operating in the country.
"A total of 800,000 tonnes of clean fuel will be necessary to supply the Brazilian demand when the law goes into operation," stated Nivaldo Trama, the president of the Brazilian Association of Biodiesel Industries (Abiodiesel).
According to the federal government, the commercial use of B2 will represent an annual economy of around US$ 160 million in the import of diesel.
Despite being the topic of the moment when the matter is agri-energy, biodiesel has been under research in the country since the 1970's.
The fuel is made after a chemical reaction between vegetable oils or fats and ethanol or methanol.
Initially the government released a biodiesel program that provided incentives to those interested in producing the fuel from castor seeds and oil palm in the poorest regions of the country, the North and Northeast.
The program, however, has generated the interest of other sectors that had already been working on research for the production of biodiesel, like soy farmers.
Another factor in favour of soy: the cost.
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