Apart from Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen, Teixeira also has Scania trucks. The company has already trained 10,000 drivers regarding lower consumption of diesel and, thus, of emissions.

The work of Brazilians like Leal and Teixeira feeds the sector responsible for taking to its destination 61% of the cargo in the country. trucks and highways are responsible for the majority of the transportation of products and are also considered the great villains of environmental pollution.

In the metropolitan region of São Paulo alone, last year, diesel, the fuel used by trucks, left 398,800 tons of carbon monoxide, 61,400 tons of hydrocarbons, 291,200 tons of nitrogen, 4,100 tons of sulphur and 14,300 tons of particles as traces in the air, according to a study by the Environmental Company of the State of São Paulo (Cetesb).

The transport sector as a whole is the second issuer of carbon in Brazil, losing only to forest fires, according to information supplied by the Ministry of Environment. For this reason, among those who somehow depend on roads to live, there is now a movement to make coexistence between the environment and trucks more peaceful.

“The vehicles have had significant improvement in emissions, which may be considered an advance,” said the technician and analyst at the Ministry of Environment, Marcelo Castro Pereira, regarding initiatives of truck makers to produce vehicles with lower fuel consumption.

The addition of biodiesel to diesel has already shown itself as an alternative to pollute less. In the pumps of fuel stations in Brazil there is already a mixture of 4% biodiesel into regular diesel. The use of 4% has been compulsory since July this year. And truck makers have been trying to run ahead of the market.

Mercedes-Benz, for example, has already informed the market that, since March, its trucks have been tested and prepared to use addition of up to 5%. According to information supplied by Gilberto Leal, the Engine Development Manager at Mercedes-Benz, the company has already also tested the B20, diesel with 20% biodiesel, but has not yet approved it for use. The organization is also working on B100, the use of pure biodiesel.

Tests at Mercedes also show that the addition of 5% biodiesel causes a 10% reduction in emissions of dark particles, which land on surfaces and, when very thin, may be inhaled and affect the health of humans and animals. B20 reduces emissions by 22%, according to Mercedes-Benz, B50 by 36% and B100 by 39%.

Leal believes that the ideal volume of biodiesel added to diesel should be around 30%, as expressive reduction of emissions are not identified in B50 and B100.

The use of biodiesel in Brazil, however, is not progressing as fast as in vehicle makers and is moving alongside the availability of the product, as formation of the productive chain is recent. According to figures disclosed by the National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuel Agency (ANP), between January and July this year, 808,900 cubic meters of biodiesel were produced.

Soy is the base for 81% of the biodiesel produced in the country. Consumption in the first half of the year reached 621,000 cubic meters. There was growth of 42.7% over the same period in 2008. The consumption of diesel, in turn, dropped 4.8%, from 21.7 million cubic meters to 20.7 million cubic meters.

Actions marrying diesel and environmental conservation are strategic for the country, as all trucks produced in Brazil, according to figures for 2007 disclosed by the Ministry of Environment, are diesel-powered. In the late 1950s, oil-fueled trucks were almost double the fleet of diesel-fueled vehicles, which changed as time went by.

Between the late 1970s and the 1980s, the country even produced ethanol-fueled trucks, but the initiative did not prevail. Today, there are in Brazil, according to figures supplied by the Brazilian Union of truck Drivers, around 2 million trucks and 3.2 million truck drivers.

And in the universe of part of these men of the roads, environmental matters have also become a concern. Some, like Marcos Antônio Teixeira, raised the green flag to save nature. “Due to global warming,” says Teixeira, justifying why he finds the use of biodiesel important and reporting why he became concerned with the reduction of pollution in his trucks over the last two years.

The driver explains that in his region, the Minas Gerais truck Driver Union is developing an action for environmental orientation at fuel stations together with drivers. Teixeira has ten trucks and works in the Mucuri Valley region, transporting from wood to cement and sugar.

Truck driver José Natan Emídio Neto, who also operates in the transportation of products in the state of Minas Gerais and presides the Brazilian Union of truck Drivers, believes that lower emissions of pollutants may favor the health of truck drivers.

He pointed out that at the burials of colleagues it is common to hear the family say that “such-and-such died due to breathing so much smoke”. And he adds that, every day, on the highway, he sees drivers of light vehicles making faces when they come close to a truck, due to the emissions.

Neto, like Teixeira, is also concerned with the environment, but he is critical of biofuel. “It blocks filters,” he said. The problem is explained by specialists in the matter. This takes place, according to the Engine Development Manager at Mercedes-Benz, when the fuel is of dubious origin.

There is also the fact, he clarifies, that biodiesel has a “detergent effect”, cleaning the engine. In this case, when the vehicle does not have adequate maintenance, the fuel may transport dirt into the filters, causing problems. Neto has five Scania and Mercedes-Benz trucks.

Drivers like Neto and Teixeira have around them a series of initiatives on which to find support to reduce the pollution generated by their work. Two years ago, the National Confederation of Transport (CNT) launched a program of environmental preservation for the sector that focuses on trucks.

Among the actions is inspection of vehicle emissions, the fostering of environmental management within transportation organizations and the engagement of sector professionals, like truck drivers, in environmental protection.

The vehicle producers also have actions in this sense. Scania has a program called Master Driver, which guides drivers regarding optimized operation of the vehicle and spending less diesel. A course for the training of drivers was established in 1998 and has already reached 10,000 people since then.

Companies that depend greatly on cargo transport also have their own programs. This is the case with Tetra Pak, a package industry that is working on reduction of the use of fuel. At its factory, in Ponta Grossa, Paraná, the raw materials arrive by train to reduce transportation pollutant emissions.

The conservation of highways also plays a great part in fuel consumption and, thus, in the quality of pollutants released by trucks. “The worse the conditions of the highway, the more fuel is consumed,” said Pereira, at the Ministry of Environment.

The movement of shifting down, and accelerating again, for example, when crossing stretches with holes in them or to go around problems in highways, greatly expands the consumption of trucks. The same takes place in traffic jams. They also cause the vehicle to consume more than necessary.

The technician and specialist at the Ministry of Environment said that one of the alternatives for reduction of pollution in Brazil is investment in other cargo transport means, like railways and waterways, which are cheaper.

Railway transportation answers to around 20% of the cargo transport in the country and waterway transportation, to 13.6%, according to CNT figures.

The investment in highways, he recalled, was the system Brazil found to develop and generate jobs, with the opening of truck producers. Recently ,the Minister of Environment, Carlos Minc, defended that the transport grid in Brazil be rethought for reduction of pollution.

Anba

Investment in the ethanol plants has reached 12 billion reais (US$ 5 billion). According to information supplied by the Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy, ethanol production has exceeded 22 billion liters (5.8 billion gallons) per year, which makes Brazil into the world's second largest producer country after the first place, the United States. The figures were disclosed by the Communication Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic.

As a result of the success of the Brazilian flex-fuel technology (which allows for the mixing of ethanol and gasoline at any proportion), presently, nearly 90% of Brazilian light vehicle production uses the technology.

In 2008, the Brazilian market reached the mark of seven million flex vehicles in circulation. Currently, more than 25% of the national light vehicle fleet counts on the technology. The ethanol market in Brazil has the same size as the gasoline market, be it concerning production, consumption or exports.

The year of 2008 saw the entry into force, in January, of the mandatory addition of 2% biodiesel to all diesel sold to end consumers. In July, the rate of the mix was increased to 3%, the equivalent to an annual volume of 1.3 billion liters (343.4 million gallons). In November, the installed capacity for biodiesel production reached 2.993 billion liters (791 million gallons) a year, and the number of plants operating in Brazil totaled 46.

From November 2007 to November 2008, seven biodiesel auctions were held, and the delivery of over 1.33 billion liters was negotiated for the period ranging from January 2008 until the first quarter of 2009.

Estimated investment in order to manufacture that volume is around 3 billion reais (US$ 1.2 billion). In these auctions, approximately 80% of the purchased amount will be produced at plants bearing the Social Fuel Stamp, meaning that they purchase raw material from family farmers.

The consolidation of the biodiesel production chain in Brazil was encouraged by a public policy launched by the federal government in 2004. The policy is the National Biofuel Production and Use Program (PNPB), based on three pillars: economic (creation of a new industry), social (insertion of family agriculture) and environmental (reduction of pollutant emissions).

By means of a stable regulatory environment and a series of auctions for purchase, the production chain has been structured out and the market supply, guaranteed. Now, one year after the entry into force of the mandatory addition of biodiesel to diesel, Brazil already stands out as the world's third largest buyer and consumer of the fuel.

Anba

"The plant, installed in the state of São Paulo, is located within an area of 18,000 square meters (193,750 square feet), and its operation has been authorized by organizations such as the São Paulo State Company for Sanitation and Technology (Cetesb) and the National Petroleum Agency (ANP)," says lawyer José Roberto Belardo, who is also one of the majority partners at the consultancy firm.

"The plant is very profitable, has no liabilities and no supply contracts in effect. Given the current sales volume, it should have return on investment within the first ten months," he claims.

According to Belardo, there is also the possibility of establishing a partnership with the owner, in case the buyer has enough capital. "It is a highly interesting business to foreign groups, especially for exporting to countries that offer incentives to investment in production of renewable energy, which is of global interest nowadays," he explains.

Based in the city of Campinas and with branches in the cities of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte, as well as in Monza, Italy, JRBellardo is the sole representative of Italian and German companies to Brazil and the Mercosur countries.

In addition to selling the plant, the consultancy company, which currently represents approximately 15 Brazilian companies, is also seeking to enter the Arab coffee and raw fruit markets. "These products have quality and competitive pricing, and they have a huge international market potential," says Belardo.

The consultancy firm, established in 1997 to provide legal and entrepreneurial advisory, sells various consumer goods turned to identification, business structuring, market expansion and opening, and customer loyalty strategies.

"Our negotiation processes place an emphasis on the direct relation between manufacturers, importers, exporters and distributors," explains the consultant.

JRBellardo also provides financial consultancy, with eleven years' experience in the field. "We work with the leading financial institutions in Brazil and abroad. All investment must be made by the interested party himself, and we provide legal consultancy for remittances of money and statements with the regulating agencies," explains Belardo. According to him, guidance is supplied after a study is conducted on the client's wealth and needs.

Service

JRBelardo Consultancy
Website: www.belardo.com.br
E-mail: jr@belardo.com.br
Telephone: (+55 19) 3233.4734

Anba

The new delivery is part of the production sold in biodiesel auctions promoted by the National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuel Agency (ANP). In all, sales totaled 8 million liters (2.1 million gallons) of biodiesel.

Candeias mill has a capacity for production of 57 million liters (15.1 million gallons) of biodiesel per year.

Petrobras Biofuel also has another biodiesel mill in the city of Quixadá, in Ceará, and a third mill in Montes Claros, in Minas Gerais. The third is still in the final assembly stages.

Total production capacity of the three mills should be 170 million liters a year.

Apart from confirming the company environmental engagements through greater production of biofuels, the creation of Petrobras Biofuels has strengthened the company's operation in the sector.

By 2012, Petrobras should invest US$ 1.5 billion in the sector. "This should bring the company to national leadership in biodiesel production and expand the participation in the ethanol business, focusing on the international market," according to the company.

In the installation of the Candeias, Montes Claros and Quixadá biodiesel mills, the company should invest 295 million Brazilian reais (US$ 187 million).

Petrobras Biofuels also includes the Bioenergy Complexes (CBios), which are enterprises set up in partnership with Brazilian producers and international conglomerates for the production of ethanol for export. In this case, the target is to produce 4.75 billion liters by 2012.

"With the subsidiary, Petrobras strengthens its position with regard to the environment and with social development. Apart from contributing to the reduction of global warming, biofuels allow for generation of jobs and income in the country, with the use of family farming for production of raw materials," informs Petrobras.

According to the state-owned company, Petrobras Biofuels is engaged in obtaining the Social Fuel Stamp within the premises of the National Program for Production and Use of Biodiesel. "The company takes on the challenge of expanding the presence of family farming, always observing business, social and environmental sustainability."

The Candeias subsidiary, is studying the possibility of acquiring existing mills for production of biodiesel. The idea is to strengthen production, causing the Brazilian state-owned company to reach the target of producing 940 million liters of biofuel a year after 2012.

Company information shows that Petrobras Biofuels is born with "a robust project portfolio" and, apart form the investment scheduled to reach around US$ 1.5 billion by 2012, should have 250 employees and be based in the Maracanã, in Rio de Janeiro, where Petrobras Distribuidora (BR) is also located.

The establishment of Petrobras Biofuels is due to the state-owned company's intention of integrating activities in the biofuel area – as they are currently spread throughout several of the group's subsidiaries.

In an interview, Alan Kardec sought to appease sector businessmen concerned about the "possible" federalization of the ethanol sector. "We are not aiming at federalization," he said.

ABr

For a long time, the so-called Canal of the Savannah has been but a dream to the population of the northeast. But an agreement signed between the Japanese trading company Itochu and the Brazilian state-owned oil company Petrobras was the first step for making the project come true.

The agreement provides that the 150,000 hectares will be turned to the planting of sugarcane for production of alcohol fuel, and of other cultures for production of biodiesel. The production of ethanol and biodiesel will cater to the expanding Japanese market.

Annually, Japan consumes 400 million liters (106 million gallons) of ethanol, with a 3% rate of addition of the fuel to gasoline. The Japanese law forecasts that the rate should increase up to 15%, due to international commitments for reducing emission of pollutant gases into the atmosphere. Thus, alcohol consumption will rise to 1.5 billion liters (400 million gallons). Itochu, also in the field of fuel supply, currently operates 2,200 stations in Japan.

The memorandum of understanding that was signed analyzes the best way for catering to the Japanese market. The executive project for the Canal of the Savannah, at an estimated cost of 56 million Brazilian reais (US$ 29.3 million), will have an initial investment, by Itochu and Petrobras, of 20 million reais (US$ 10.4 million).

The public-private partnership also counts on the participation of the São Francisco and Parnaí­ba Valley Development Company (Codevasf), which collaborated with 16 million reais (US$ 8.3 million), and from the state and federal governments, which will contribute another 20 million reais from the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC) of the Brazilian government.

Last Friday, June 15, in a meeting with the governor of the state of Pernambuco, Eduardo Campos, the minister of Regional Development, Geddel Vieira Lima, warranted funding for the construction work of the Canal of the Savannah, estimated in US$ 1.2 billion.

According to the president of the Union of the Sugar and Alcohol Industry of the Pernambuco State (Sindaçúcar-PE), Renato Cunha, after the implementation of the irrigation project, the state will have an additional production of 10 million tons of cane. Presently, all of the 16 million tons produced come only from coastal areas.

To Cunha, agroenergy is a promising field, and the state is now witnessing a new phase. "Being able to use cane bagasse to produce ethanol and biodiesel is a great opportunity, because this way we are managing to attract foreign capital," he said.

According to him, Itochu is interested in the project because Japan intends to increase the share of clean fuels in its energy matrix. "Bio-fuels are renewable and less pollutant than fossil fuels," he claims.

To the engineering director at the Codevasf, Clementino Coelho, the aim is to also benefit the families of small farmers. In the region, 50,000 direct jobs will be created.

"We will map the appropriate areas for each type of specific culture. There is lots of fertile land in conditions of serving the agricultural sector, but it is not explored due to lack of water," he explains.

At last, the interior of the state of Pernambuco will become viable for expansion projects, and capable of receiving investment from the public and private sectors. The Canal is going to benefit 16 municipalities in the state of Pernambuco, reaching the margins of Lake Sobradinho, in Bahia.

Anba – www.anba.com.br

Contrary to bioethanol and biodiesel already established in road transportation worldwide, biojet fuel is a vegetable product which has still not been in commercial use.

For a long time, Expedito Parente was a professor at Ceará Federal University in Fortaleza, a large city in Brazil’s Nordeste region. When he retired, this hyperactive academic needed something essential to do. In 2001, he thus founded Tecbio, a small engineering firm conceiving biodiesel refineries.

It was nicely timed. Tecbio has now a staff of 80 and is growing exponentially. But Dr. Parente nourishes a double obsession really: to be the first to make airlines adopt biojet fuel, an important technological step ahead of ordinary biodiesel, and to have this biofuel produced in a socially correct way.

In 2005, professor Parente won the Blue Sky Award for his aircraft fuel project, “a kind of Nobel prize given by the UN for innovations in the field of renewable energies”, he comments.

Interest for the invention was confirmed in the beginning of this year at a Washington D.C. seminar organized by the Transportation Research Board, a government agency. In the very long run, algae and cell fuels are thought to stand for permanent solutions. But participants were confronted with an apparently absurd question: “May babassu already be a renewable source to serve as substitute for jet fuel?”

This totally unknown palm tree (outside Brazil) grows in the wild on forty-five million acres. Such huge area corresponds to six Marylands. It was Expedito Parente who discovered that the nuts of the babassu – or more precisely the kernels within – possess energetic proprieties which are ideal for conceiving biojet fuel.

There are certainly social and ecological arguments in favor of the babassu: its use does not contribute to food shortages, nor does it imply deforestation.

Spectacular Comeback

In reality the discovery is not recent. To some extent Professor Parente is performing a spectacular comeback. In the 80s he was the first in the world to patent biodiesel as an industrial process. He was acclaimed as the “Father of Biodiesel”.

This brilliant academic was then asked to find a vegetable substitute for aircraft fuel. The product resulting from this research made a turboprop transportation airplane fly a distance of some 600 miles in 1984. So why did not aviation worldwide adopt his biokerosene?

– At the time, petroleum prices went down dramatically. And we must understand that a fuel to be acceptable for modern jetliners has to be extremely reliable and resistant at very low temperatures, it is a complex product, he explains.

There is a new dimension to what is at stake. To fly from London to Rio, and back, provokes individually as much CO² emissions as those generated during fifteen months of sedentary life in a European capital, heating and local transportation included, if we are to believe comparative studies of environmental impacts. Already, air transportation operators supply travelers with different service contributions to buy, in compensation for greenhouse effect emissions.

Globally, airlines gulp down 26 billion gallons of fuel per year, and this figure may double in twenty years. 20% of their operational costs correspond to fuel. For the first time in 2006, the fuel bill exceeded costs for staff in the sector. Sir Richard Branson, British business mogul, scorching supporter of many environmental causes, but mainly founder and president of the Virgin group which counts several air transportation carriers, said in a recent interview that “immediate solutions” should be found.

Could the babassu make the difference ? A Brazilian law grants the local population the right to collect babassu nuts freely, independently of who owns the land. A situation of ecological balance totally opposed to the one to be observed in Malaysia or Indonesia, known to shelter the largest palm tree plantations in the world, but also to encourage deforestation and boost the greenhouse effect indirectly, as the original jungle is frequently left to be burnt down.

Today, biojet fuel does not seem to be entirely competitive though, as jet fuel derived from petroleum is sold free from taxes at 1.5 USD per gallon, which is still very cheap.

“Soon there will be eco-taxes on aviation fuel. And I am pretty sure that authorities will make it mandatory to blend conventional fuel with biojet when available. Costs will also shrink significantly when industrial production is started,” underlines Dr. Parente.

But would not land areas needed be gigantic? Doutor Expedito has a ready answer:

“If 20% of aviation fuel were to be produced in form of green fuel for blending, such volumes would correspond to some 30 million acres land. It’s a huge territory, I agree, but it is less than the existing babassu forests.

Tecbio and its involuntarily hype boss have furthermore a very clear social vision. This is important to emphasize, as bioethanol mills using sugar cane as raw material has not reduced poverty in the Brazilian countryside. Seasonal plantation workers called bóias frias (“cold billies”) have a hard time. Because of piece-work, a Brazilian cane cutter will only ‘last’ 12 years, less than a slave in ancient times, according to a recent study.

Professor Parente gets upset:

“Such conditions are intolerable. We have our own model which pretends to reconcile social development and industrial dynamics. At present date, Tecbio is leading two pilot projects in collaboration with federal authorities. The idea is to create cooperative units, in association with the local population, for a socially correct production of biodiesel derived from babassu kernel oil. Respecting the environment, this model should be replicated in other regions, for examples in deforested areas of the Amazon and in Africa.”

But it is not utopian wanting to assemble two operational methods which are normally dissociated: the small-scale traditional way with output through high-tech plants? Expedito Parente holds out his arms. He makes one think of a talented film maker who, after years of prospecting, has just received unlimited funds to shoot an ambitious picture based on an art script:

“One has to be pragmatic. We work with feasibility from an economic point of view. Running a cooperative does not mean that it should not be profitable. In a basic scheme, each cooperative shall produce three million liters (800,000 gallons) of biodiesel/biojet fuel per year, together with several other products originated from the nuts.

There will be some agriculture. All the electricity consumed in the cooperative shall be generated organically on the spot. Each cooperative is giving part-time jobs to 3,000 peasants. On the other hand we study also ecologically run babassu plantations.”

To produce one billion liters of biojet fuel, (270 million gallons) at least 300 such cooperatives are needed. This is certainly a time-consuming project. Plans are allowed to be extensive though, changeover seems to be secured. Of four children, Doutor Expedito has one son working at Tecbio. At age 26 and a chemical engineer as his father, he already takes part in management. His name is premonitory: Expedito Parente Junior…

Richard Beer is a Swedish-French business journalist who resides in Rio since 2004, married to an Amazonian and working mainly with consulting activities in publishing.

It is clear though, that as global demand rises, biofuels are here to stay and accordingly practical debate should not center on its pros and cons but more importantly on how it can be developed in the most sustainable manner possible.

Biofuels in Brazil are not solely restricted to the much publicized ethanol but biodiesel is also an emerging energy resource growing rapidly in stature.

Vast agricultural regions in this South American giant are being turned over to rapeseed, castor oil plants and sunflower, rather than sugar cane, in pursuit of the production of this environmentally friendly diesel and the government is shaping the process through various incentives. It appears though that, through his policy making, Lula has been caught in two minds.

The President himself and members of his left wing workers party are regularly heard singling biodiesel out as important for the future of Brazil both in terms of a clean energy fuel source and economic significance for this developing nation.

In 2005 the Brazilian Mines and Energy Department established an obligatory 5% biodiesel mix in all diesel used in the country to be achieved within eight years. In a similar way to its alcohol brother, biodiesel is also viewed as an attractive trade product with the country seen as a global supplier with potential for significant exportation.

Lula has presented biodiesel as the savior of the rural poor and has attempted to shape the market accordingly. The "Selo de combustível social" (Social fuel stamp) is awarded to fuel producers who gather a significant percentage of their raw product from non-mechanized family farm sources. Producers with a 50% intake from these small-scale production units receive significant tax breaks.

Government figures suggest the market is developing well and the expectation of the Ministry of Agricultural development is that before December of 2007 Brazil will be in a position to produce 1 billion liters per year. This, according to coordinators of the biodiesel programme, will reach the government aim of involving 200,000 small rural family producers in the process.

These statistics are significant and the incentives created have undoubtedly succeeded in enhancing the Brazilian drive towards biodiesel production. The question is whether these figures represent the true capacity of a country the size of Brazil.

Significant investors have been turned away from the market by the limitations generated through the new social fuel stamp ruling. This legislation coupled with the fact that the Brazilian National Petroleum Agency (ANP) has legally bought biodiesel back under its full control (all processed fuel must pass through Petrobras), means that in some capacities the market has been restricted.

The result is that fuel produced from small-scale units working within the government incentives is available at a much lower price for Petrobras and it is not feasible for large scale projects to profitably compete with this.

The restrictive laws have turned Brazilian investment eyes towards potential export markets and the EU with its 5.75% biofuel target is an obvious first port of call.

Many projects are now focused on producing raw vegetable oil in Brazil from a variety of sources and transporting the product to Europe for processing therefore negating the Petrobras ruling and in the process taking potential jobs, infrastructure and investment for Brazil with it.

It is easy to understand Lula’s attempts to protect the rural poor but it is also clear that his party must work hard to strike a balance between this aim whilst not to losing out on the significant employment and direct investment opportunities available through this market.

Through the biodiesel industry Brazil faces the old age question of how best to take advantage of its resources whilst leading itself on the correct path of development.

Tim Cowman is a founding member of the Brazilian Environmental Project Consultancy – Biostudio Environmental Services (www.biostudio.com.br/ambiental) which offers services for gringos looking to enter into the Brazilian biofuel and Carbon credits market. E-mail: ambiental@biostudio.com.br.

The memorandum defined as "a strategic alliance for international markets" was signed before Italian Primer Minister Romano Prodi and Brazil's president Lula da Silva.

Both companies will also study the possibility of using other commodities for refining into biofuels and will assess the expansion of Brazil's current capacity for refining heavy fuels.

The four biodiesel plants are likely to cost about US$ 480 million and are in line with the EU target of producing 20% of its energy from renewable sources such as bio-diesel and ethanol by 2020.

Brazil is the world's second-biggest ethanol producer (behind the US) and the top exporter. Brazil recently signed a similar agreement with the United States during the visit of US President George Bush. (US ethanol is made out of corn, Brazilian from the remains of sugar cane refining).

Brazilian cars have been running on biofuels for decades and the country's expertise is in great demand.

"The Italian market is interested in the import of biofuels because Italy is not self sufficient," said Mr. Prodi following his meeting with the all powerful São Paulo Federation of Industries.

Prodi also announced that the new strategic alliance represents "a bilateral association logic" between both countries and targeted to third parties.

The strategy could mean undertaking joint projects for the production of ethanol in African countries and "could begin in Angola", but other countries have also been considered.

Eni is 30% owned by the Italian government and Petrobras is 60% state-owned.

Mercopress

According to Bragantini the partnership should be concentrated mainly in the production of biodiesel, which may be obtained from castor seeds and pine seeds, plants of the region that are resistant to lack of rain.

"The Moroccans are very interested in participating in training in the area of biotechnology and also in the development of agricultural projects with the private sector," stated Bragantini.

According to him, the Brazilian embassy in Morocco is already articulating a meeting with private and government organizations. "I believe that in the near future we will be developing this kind of project," said the researcher.

Libya is another Arab country that may make use of the Embrapa office in Africa. According to the researcher, the Libyan embassy in Ghana has already shown interest in a partnership in the area of irrigated agriculture. "Libya finances many projects in the agricultural area in Ghana and in other countries in the region," he said.

According to Bragantini, the idea behind this specific project is to pipe a large volume of water discovered when drilling in the search of oil and use the product in irrigated agriculture.

"There (in Libya) we have a great advantage. The government has financial assets and great interest in the project and Embrapa has the necessary technology," he guaranteed.

"This is an opportunity that may generate a fabulous partnership. We promised to move ahead with this project and to send a letter of intention to the Libyan embassy in Ghana," he explained.

With regard to Tunisia, Bragantini says that he has not yet received any direct contact but has already received information from the Brazilian embassy in Ghana about the interest in Brazilian technologies.

Last year a delegation of four Embrapa Forestry representatives, from the southern Brazilian state of Paraná, travelled to the Arab country to develop a project in the area of management of eucalyptus for the extraction of wood.

The Embrapa Africa office is a political initiative of the government of Brazil to transfer technology to the African countries. Since its installation, a group of researchers from the Embrapa International Cooperation Advisory has been discussing routes for the promotion of the use of Brazilian technology to generate growth, reduce social inequality, fight against hunger and poverty, and work with small farmers for a sustainable cycle.

"It is worth pointing out that the office does not only represent Embrapa, but Brazil as a whole. The office works as an agent to facilitate the link between financial organizations and governments and we will have our doors opened to private companies in agribusiness that may be interested in participating in this revolution," stated Bragantini.

"We have a work agenda that is geared at transferring technology that worked in Brazil. We offer them our work and, if necessary, will work based on the demand of each country," pointed out Bragantini. The requests reach the office through the Foreign Relations Department at the Embrapa, through the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC), directly to the office or even through international organizations interested in partnerships.

According to Bragantini, the greatest demand from governments is related to small farmers. "We have large volumes of technology developed in the northeast of Brazil and in the semi-arid regions of the country that may adapt well to the climate and soil in Africa," stated Bragantini.

According to him, the great demand is for direct planting and minimum cultivation (a system that requires some superficial soil work), for projects that promote integration between crops and livestock farming. "In savannas a large part of the soil is degraded and needs recovery," he said.

Up to now, the researchers based in the office in Ghana have already visited Angola, Kenya, Benin, Togo and Mozambique. In Angola, for example, the demand is for commercial agriculture, interested in the planting of soy for biofuels.

Mozambique, in turn, wants to strengthen the Institute for Agrarian Research of Mozambique (Iiam).  "We have a project in progress that is prior to the creation of the office in Ghana, which includes improvement in the Iiam research processes," he explained.

There is also great demand for the processing of cassava after harvesting. "We have already even trained technicians in Ghana for this activity," explained the researcher. The demand for bioenergy was also identified by the researcher. "All countries are seeking the development of this technology," he said.

Anba – www.anba.com.br

The projects use as raw material the oil from cotton, dendê and castor seeds, products cultivated by around 70,000 small family farmers. The company still uses as complementary inputs soy tallow and oil.

Company figures show that in the construction phase of the unit, 1,200 direct jobs and 400 indirect jobs will be generated, and the beginning of operations is forecasted for the 4th quarter of 2007. The production is turned to supplying the Petrobras Distributor demand for biodiesel in the northeast of the country.

In one of the projects, Petrobras is developing a pilot plant for the processing of biodiesel from grain, mainly castor seed, in the city of Guamaré, in the northeastern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte.

The production technology to be used was developed by the company. Using conventional technology, tests with different oils will increase the company's productive capacity to 42 cubic meters a day (42,000 liters/day).

The company is also analyzing another nine biodiesel production projects in the country: two in Rio Grande do Sul, in the south; two in Paraná (also south); one in Araraquara, in the interior of the southeastern state of São Paulo; one in Mato Grosso do Sul, in the midwest; two in Mato Grosso; and one in Amazonas, in the north.

Together, if approved, the projects will result in production of 1.2 cubic meters of biodiesel per year – equivalent to 1.2 billion liters (317 million gallons) of the product.

Biodiesel is also produced by private companies in the country, being Brasil Ecodiesel the main producer. Petrobras buys the fuel from these companies. Nowadays, the legislation authorizes the addition of 2% biodiesel to common diesel in the country. The mixture will become compulsory starting in 2008.

ABr