Ana Paula Marra
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said today that few countries are as prepared as Brazil to confront one of the biggest challenges in recent times: to produce low-pollution fuels derived from renewable sources. Biodiesel is one of them, Lula underscored. He guaranteed that his Administration will fight to establish biofuel as one fo the chief components of the Brazilian energy matrix.

"The National Biodiesel Program, besides producing fuel, will produce a lot of social inclusion, most of all in the poorest regions," Lula remarked, during the inauguration of the first biodiesel factory in the North of Brazil. The factory, which belongs to the Agropalma group, is located in Belém, Pará. The first Brazilian biodiesel factory was inaugurated in March of this year in Cássia, Minas Gerais.

Biodiesel is a low-pollution fuel derived from renewable sources. It can be made from animal fats or vegetable oils, such as those derived from castor beans, dende nuts, sunflower seeds, babassu nuts, peanuts, and soybeans, and it replaces, in whole or in part, petroleum diesel oil in automotive engines or stationary motors (electricity and heat generators). It can be used in pure state or mixed with petroleum diesel oil in different proportions. Brazilian law allows a mixture containing a maximum of 2% of biodiesel, but in 2013, according to the Minister of Mines and Energy, Dilma Rousseff, this percentage should be increased to 5%.

President Lula also announced that, if petroleum prices continue to rise, it shouldn't be long before Brazil raises the percentage of biodiesel that can be added to diesel fuel.

Translation: David Silberstein