Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Eco-Fuel for Urban Transport

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

SAO PAULO, Oct 28 2006 (IPS) - Some 1,800 buses of a public transportation system in Sao Paulo will be on the streets in an experiment involving the fuel B30, which is less polluting. The new fuel mix, composed of 30 percent biodiesel, eight percent alcohol and 62 percent diesel, was developed by the National Technology Institute along with B100 Participacoes and BR Distribuidora.

“Although in the United States there are biofuel experiments in permanent fleets, of private businesses and military organizations, there doesn't appear to be an addition of alcohol, as in our case,” Mauricio Henriques, director of the institute's energy division, told Tierramérica.

Tests in the laboratory and of the vehicles themselves will be conducted periodically, to study fuel consumption, emissions, and durability, as well as fuel quality.