Biodiesel Available in Brazilian Gas Stations
by Paula Alvarado, Buenos Aires on 01.23.06
The Brazilian network ALE (part of the Asamar Group), is the first gas station manager to offer biodiesel in the biggest of South American countries. Brazilians have been experimenting with biodiesel since the 1920s, and the production of this clean combustion fuel obtained from vegetables oil is part of a big government project announced at the end of December, 2004.
The project aims to develop methods, processes and technology to produce ethylic and methyl biodiesel, and to promote its use in vehicle, agriculture and stationary engines. At the same time, it involves designating lands that are inadequate for food production (mainly in the northern area of the country), to the cultivation -by poor or excluded communities- of vegetables from which biodiesel can be obtained.
The team working on the project is located in the Clean Energies Development Laboratory, at the Chemistry Faculty of the São Paulo University, and coordinated by Professor Dr. Miguel Dabdoub, who is also the president of the São Paulo Bio fuels Association. Biodiesel Brasil Project (in Portuguese).
