From the Newsroom
São Paulo – With the objective of preparing studies and research to make economic exploration of biofuels possible, president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva opened the National Biofuel Pole, in Piracicaba (SP), on Friday. The idea is to maintain and increase Brazilian competitive capacity in the production of renewable energy, by means of public and private efforts for the development and announcement of sugar cane results, as well as other products of agricultural origin over the next 10 years.
Piracicaba was chosen to house the pole, among other reasons, as it is the hometown of the University of São Paulo (USP) College of Agriculture (Esalq). The place has been one of the main research biofuel centers since the 1950s.
According to agriculture, livestock, and food supply minister Roberto Rodrigues, one of the targets of the pole, coordinated by Esalq, is to prepare an action plan for projects in the interest of the productive sector, with efforts in the fields of research and development, with physical-financial and human schedules for a ten year period.
Multi year program
Apart from this, he adds, the Biofuel Pole will attempt to establish public-private operations, through companies in the sector and universities, to fund a multi year project, with human resources allocated to by organizations associated to the program.
"The Biofuel Pole, which will have sugarcane alcohol as its main source, will be of great importance to the Piracicaba region, both in the scientific and in the research point of view, as regarding job and income generation," points out the minister, who was also scheduled to participate in the event for release of the pole.
Rodrigues also stated that alcohol is considered a renewable fuel source and is less polluting than fossil fuels.
Brazil, points out the minister, is the largest producer of alcohol and sugar, and the State of São Paulo answers to around 60% of country production. In the period between 2002/03, Piracicaba produced 15.5% of all sugarcane harvested in the state.
The Biofuel Pole will also be responsible for the creation and operation of infrastructure necessary for support and development of basic and applied research in the field of energetic agriculture, placing emphasis on sugarcane, and its derivatives, both in the agricultural phase and in the product and sub product processing phase.
Raw material
According to Miguel Dabdoub, researcher at USP in Ribeirão Preto, also in the interior of São Paulo state, there is raw material for new fuels all around the country. "In the Northeast it is possible to use oils such as dende and babaçu. In the region of the savannahs, in Minas Gerais (SE), Tocantins (N), Goiás, and Mato Grosso (both in the Center-West), it is possible to use alternative oils such as pequi," he said.
In the opinion of Esalq director José Roberto Parra, the federal government initiative is important, but cannot be just political.
"Government financial support is essential for implementation of the pole," he said.
Bets on biofuel are so great that the state government has also decided to create its own sector chamber. The idea is to consolidate the use of fuel in the state agribusiness. The creation of the chamber was published in the official state press on Thursday (15).
Agriculture and supply secretary Antônio Duarte Nogueira said that they may even finance biofuel development.
The president of the chamber will be Miguel Dabdoub, from the USP Ribeirão Preto Clean Technology Development Laboratory. It was from this laboratory that the process for production of biodiesel was patented, a fuel also made from sugarcane.
