São Luís, April 15, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - Like other states in Brazil, Maranhão is conducting experiments with alternative fuels to substitute diesel oil. According to the president of the Maranhão Foundation for the Support of Research and Scientific and Technological Development, Edson Nascimento, babaçu nuts and soybeans are the objects of interest.

The Biodiesel Program, which will be installed this year in Maranhão, has led state governments to develop projects based on oilseed plants in each region. In the state of Pará, the dendê palm; in Piauí, Ceará, and Rio Grande do Norte, castor beans; in the South and Southeast, soybeans.

Nascimento says that Maranhão possesses 80% of Brazil's babaçu groves, which can foster an agro-extractive production system capable of generating thousands of direct and indirect jobs and improving the quality of life for both urban and rural populations.

Also known as "green fuel," biodiesel is produced from renewable raw materials, such as vegetable oils, and can be used as an additive in diesel engines. Brazil's annual consumption of diesel oil amounts to 36 billion liters, 30% of which is imported (10% refined and 20% crude). Currently, 3.5 billion liters of vegetable oil are produced, for culinary use.

Babaçu provides 68 subproducts. The nut is used to manufacture oil, charcoal, milk, cattle feed, and handcrafts. In the rural zone the fronds are used to roof houses. They are also transformed into baskets and mats and to furnish cellulose for the paper industry. The babaçu also contains substances that are extracted to manufacture detergents, soap, margarine, cosmetics, and asphalt, among other products.

Translator: David Silberstein