In Congress, sector of biodiesel tries to increase diversity of raw materials

Check the article published by the Rural Channel Conferência Biodieselbr 2010 by clicking here, or read below.

The use of soybean for the production of biodiesel in Brazil has increased over the past three years. Nowadays, more than 80% of oil is extracted from this vegetable oil crop. Therefore, some plants are investing in research and are searching for other alternatives. While they are feasible, the sector believes that it has already have capacity to provide the market if the B10 were approved.

In Brazil, 2.4 billion liters biodiesel per year are produced. The number, according to the producer of oil is already enough to provide the market, if there is an increase of the percentage of biodiesel addition to diesel.

- The anticipation of the goal is a result of the structure of the program. Nowadays, we have industrial availability offered to the program, we have raw material, why not use all benefits? Do not forget that the country is a great importer of diesel. If we had the B10 we would be not importing diesel, sending dollar abroad and producing all benefits of income aggregation and employment generation - defends the president of the União Brasileira do Biodiesel (Ubrabio), Juan Diego Ferres.

Another challenge of the sector is to reduce the use of soybean in the production of the oil. Currently, 83% of the Brazilian production has its origin in the grain. In the industry directed by Haroldo Barros, 70% of biodiesel has its origin in soybean. Other 10 raw materials like animal fat and other vegetable oil crops have already been tested. All this raw materials have yielded good results. Therefore, the volume available was not sufficient for a large scale production.

The director of the factory continues to test different materials, but he is not concerned with the dependence of soybean. According to him the market is ready to meet new challenges.

- I think that for this market to be healthier in terms of supply and demand there would be, at least, a projection of a B10, B20, but increasing the its percentage index. To the B10, any other investment would be necessary - says Barros. In a congress accomplished in Guarulhos, a metropolitan area of São Paulo, the sector discussed alternatives to advance even more with the production of biodiesel in the country - with soybean and other crops that are coming, there will not be lack of raw material for production of biodiesel, and yet it will not affect the value of our food basket - says the chairman of Biodiesel BR, Nivaldo Vedana.

When trying to find alternatives, other raw materials have been tested. In the South of the country, there was an increase of 30% in the area used for canola. The goal of this company is to reach 200 thousand hectares until 2020.

- To the South region we believe that canola is a great crop that must be developed, as it is the case of palma in the North region - explains the Chief Executive Officer of BSBIOS, Erasmo Carlos Battistella.