Vitor Abdala
Reporter Agência Brasil

Rio – Yesterday a pilot bus run on biodiesel, a mixture that is 95% diesel oil and a 5% additive of specially treated soy oil, was presented in Rio de Janeiro. The fuel was developed by the Engineering School at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro's Post Graduate and Research Institute (Coppe/UFRJ). According to Luciano Basto, of Coppe, biodiesel will mean savings on imports of fuel and a cleaner atmosphere because the new fuel is less aggressive to the environment and people.

The pilot bus is part of a program, RioBioDiesel, which is run by the state secretariat of Science and Technology and aims to have all the buses in Rio running on biodiesel by the 2007 Pan American games that will take place in the city.

Translation: Allen Bennett