Brazil to launch diesel fuel refining with vegetable oil mix

Brazil to launch diesel fuel refining with vegetable oil mix

Rio de Janeiro (Platts)--19Jun2006

Brazil's Petrobras will launch refining of a new diesel fuel that relies
on a mixture of soy oil at its Repar refinery in southern Parana State on
Tuesday, the government said Monday.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will kick off a plan to
implement Petrobras' new H-Bio technology at Repar, a technology Petrobras
seeks to implement at several of its 11 Brazilian refineries over the next few
years. H-Bio relies on soy oil, which can be mixed into the diesel refining
process in a proportion of 10% or more. Unlike most oilseed biodiesel, the
Petrobras technology allows Brazil to add soy oil to conventional refinery
cracking units, along with hydrogen, and produce a diesel fuel that is around
10 percent vegetable-origin. It wasn't immediately clear how much H-Bio fuel
would be produced at Repar, but the project is still in a testing phase and
isn't expected to go into widescale commercial use until 2007-2008.

Brazil, which is a net importer of diesel, hopes to use the plan to cut
its diesel imports by around 10%. The resulting diesel fuel is also
significantly lower in sulfur content. Petrobras said recently, and can be
produced without cost hikes from conventional diesel. The H-Bio program,
however, is not meant to replace Brazil's fledgling oilseed biodiesel industry
where biodiesel is made from vegetable oils. Brazilian diesel must contain a
mix of 2% biodiesel by 2008, according to Brazilian law.

For similar news, take a trial to Platts Oilgram News at
http://oilgramnews.platts.com.

Please visit: www.platts.com

Their coverage of energy matters is extensive!!.