In 2010 Petrobras starts production of biodiesel in the state BRAZIL

19/11/2009 16:09:11

The announcement of the investments of Petrobras Biofuels in Marialva represents the final entry in March of Parana in the area of commercial exploitation of biodiesel. The plant goes into operation in the first quarter of 2010. Parana has been preparing for three years for the commercial exploitation of biodiesel is a major producer and supplier of oil potential that is the feedstock for the alternative fuel.

In addition, more than 90% of farmers in the state are giving the family one more condition to the purchase of raw material, since there is a presidential statement that grants tax breaks and tax incentives for plants to purchase more than 30% of production oilseeds for biofuel production of family farming.

The details of the join operation between Petrobras Biofuels and BSBios were given during a press conference on Thursday (19), which was attended by the president of Petrobras subsidiary, Miguel Rossetto, the superintendent of BSBios, Erasmo Carlos Battistella and Secretary of Agriculture and Supply, Valter Bianchini.

According to Rossetto, this is the first partnership that Petrobras Biofuels down with a firm of private enterprise. And this association was because of the line management of quality in production and strategic planning. The company resulting from this partnership will have a shared management and board composed of four members, two representatives of Petrobras and two of BSBios.

According to the secretary, Valter Bianchini, the Department of Agriculture and Supply has been organizing the farmers to be benefited with this new scenario that presents itself. In addition to soybean production, farmers are encouraged to plant seeds with other potential production in the state as castor beans, canola, sunflower, jatropha. The state government, through a combination of parts as Iapar, Emater Tecpar and Copel, provides the support necessary for the development of technology and public policy for biodiesel production in Parana.

There is a potential market for family farmers who produce oil for biodiesel production, primarily from January 2010 when the mixture will change from the current 4% to 5% biodiesel to diesel. Thus, the annual consumption of biodiesel in the country, which is 1.6 billion liters, is for 2.2 billion liters.

In Paraná, the current production is 22 million liters of biodiesel, which represents 1.4% of Brazil's total. In January, the forecast is to advance the consumer in Parana to 195 million liters of biodiesel, which will make the State self-contained. The production capacity of biodiesel in Brazil is 4.4 billion liters, and the Paraná has a production capacity of 68.4 million liters. With the installation of plant Marialva the estimated production is also going for almost 200 million gallons of biodiesel per year.

The state stands out as the third largest consumer of diesel in the country, with a consumption of 3.9 billion gallons a year, behind the states of Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais. In the country, are annually consumed 44.7 billion liters of diesel. The market for biodiesel is promising, which suggests expanding the participation of family farmers. In recent auctions held by Petrobras biodiesel price has ranged between $ 2.15 to $ 2.38 a gallon. In the last auction on Tuesday (17) the price achieved was $ 2.33 a gallon.

Currently there are 63 plants in operation for production of biodiesel in the country, of which three are in Paraná. The Biopar, a company based in Rolândia, Northern region produces 98% of the state. The raw material used to produce the alternative fuel is 81% comes from soybean oil, 14% of animal fat, 3% cottonseed oil and 2% from other sources.

Mayor Marialva, Edgar Sylvester, said the biodiesel plant in the city will double its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), from the current $ 400 million to nearly $ 800 million. "I'm proud because Petrobras Marialva chose to host its first biodiesel plant in southern Brazil." The other three biodiesel plants Petrobras work in the states of Ceará, Bahia and Minas Gerais.

Another project in the area of biodiesel will be realized in Paraná in early 2010. Will come into operation a plant for production of biodiesel on the farm family in the southwestern region of the state. The project is coordinated by the Department of Agriculture and Copel in partnership with the City of St. George West and cooperative farmers in the region that will also benefit from other products of the production of biodiesel as lecithin and pie for use in feed animal.

The climate is contributing to the expectations of success for these projects in the area of biodiesel. Paraná is the second largest soybean producer in the country and the climate is conducive to the development of the planting of soybeans that points to a record harvest of 13 million tonnes, an increase of 40% over last year's production. Soybean is the main raw material used to produce biodiesel.