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To produce, starting with a castor oil plant, a renewable
fuel, which is less pollutant than oil by-products and
saves money for the country; as well as provides jobs, income, land, food and dignified life conditions for more than 11,000 families who live in one of the most miserable regions in Brazil. This is the project that began to be defined on March 25, when its first center was inaugurated at the Santa Clara farm, in Canto do Buriti, a Piauí municipality located 500 kilometers from Teresina. After the center is completely established, the self-sustainability of the Canto do Buriti region, whose social indicators are among the lowest in Piauí and in Brazil, will have been fostered.
This undertaking is being implemented by the company Brasil Ecodiesel. At the opening, the governor of Piauí, Wellington Dias, and the ministers of Mining and Energy, Dilma Roussef, Agricultural Development, Miguel Rosseto, and Social Development and Battle Against Hunger, Patrus Ananias, were present, as well as the director of Brasil Ecodiesel, Nelson Silveira, and the chairman of the company’s Board of Directors, Daniel Birmann. At the event, the state government, the ministers and the company signed a cooperation agreement for the implementation of an agricultural integration model.
The installation of the center advanced the fulfillment of partnerships between the public and private sectors. The government of Piauí granted the land, with a total area of 18,000 hectares, and Ecodiesel made an initial investment of R$ 15 million, which includes seeds, machines, and infrastructure. The company also guarantees the purchase of the entire production and, after ten years, the agriculturists will be given the land on which they work. In the first phase, 3,000 direct jobs will be created. When the center reaches its full capacity, within four years, each family will have an average income of about R$ 700.
In the first phase, from March 25 to late April, 360 families were settled on the farm, occupying nine out of 16 cells. The cells consist of agricultural villages with 625 hectares each and 35 houses consisting of 36-square meters that include two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen and bathroom, as well as a free area with 18 square meters for future expansion. All houses have water piped in, electricity, and basic sanitation. Each cell has a water reservoir with a 10,000-liter capacity and leisure areas. The farm’s common area has a health care clinic (with a community agent qualification program), a school with 26 classrooms and a computer technology room, a community center, a restaurant with four lounges, a trade center (with a grocery store and 14 service stores), postal service stations and a Bradesco postal bank branch. Citizenship programs will also be developed. Within a year, another 200 families will be settled on the farm, totaling 560 families in the project’s first phase.
Each family received a 25-hectare agricultural lot, of which 15 will serve as castor oil plant crops, three for the crop chosen by the agriculturist, and seven consisting of a forest reserve. In the first phase, the castor oil plant will use 7.5 hectares, and each family will receive a harvest advance of R$ 250, to be discounted in the first payments. In order to qualify for the advance, the families will have to observe pre-established conditions, such as keeping children who are minors in school and participating in collectivity meetings and health, education, and training programs.
After the project is completely installed, with the cultivation of 15 hectares per family, income will be of about R$ 700, if castor oil plant production totals about 1,500 kilos/hectare/year. However, the average could exceed 2,000 kilos/hectare/year with the use of adequate plantation and cultivation techniques developed by the National Cotton Research Center (CNPA, Centro Nacional de Pesquisas do Algodão) of the Brazilian Agricultural and Cattle-Raising Research Company (Embrapa, Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária). Brasil Ecodiesel has invested in region productivity research and labor qualification. Intensive training was given, together with a systematic program of capacitation in agricultural and production techniques. The agriculturists will also have available advice from a team of experts and a wholesale trade unit.
The castor oil plant was chosen for the production of biodiesel because, in addition to the fact that the plant easily adapts to the conditions found in the Northeast, it’s a crop that doesn’t do well with mechanization. It’s labor-intensive – one employee for three hectares – making it highly attractive for a project that, in addition to economic and ecological purposes, aims at social inclusion. Soy beans, for instance, supply oil adequate for the production of biodiesel, but it’s not labor-intensive. In addition, the castor oil plant allows the joint cultivation of other crops – cowpea (vigna unguiculata), which can be consumed by the agriculturists or sold for increasing the family’s income.
It is estimated that between June and August 2005, a harvest of 30,000 tons of castor oil plant is expected. However, it won’t be transformed into fuel immediately. Until the biodiesel production process is fully implemented, it is intended that the castor oil will exported. The first crop, to be picked between June and August 2004, should supply 5,000 tons of seeds. The international market has potential for absorbing, annually, the production of 60,000 hectares (90,000 tons of castor oil plant, if considering a yield of 1,500 kilos/hectare/year.)
For the creation and effective operation of a national biodiesel program, a solid base of raw material quantity and quality needs to be formed, so as to assure a regular fuel flow and the good performance of machines and vehicles. A production volume that meets the needs of programs for adding biodiesel to petrodiesel also needs to be assured. The family agriculture organization will be the first step of the program, for it provides the certification of the production model, assuring the availability of raw material and promoting social inclusion. The biodiesel market development also depends on the creation, by the government, of rules for the sector.
The efficiency of biodiesel as an energy source for automotive and stationary engines has already been proven. From an ecological perspective, it’s much cleaner than the diesel obtained from oil. Studies performed by the National Biodiesel Board (NBB), an American entity, definitely show that Brazil could become a world leader in the production of this fuel. Biodiesel may be used alone or mixed with regular diesel.
Brasil Ecodiesel’s parent group owns 11 thermoelectric plants in the Northeastern Region and plans to install three additional castor oil plant production centers, one in Piauí and two in Ceará. The thermoelectric plants, as well as other generators of the Isolated Northern System, could consume part of the fuel produced.
Biodiesel production will certainly be improved with research in progress. In Ribeirão Preto, the Clean Technology Development Laboratory (Ladetel, Laboratório de Desenvolvimento de Tecnologias Limpas) has discovered a process for obtaining the biofuel by using catalysts that accelerate the chemical reaction of the mixture of ethyl alcohol with vegetable oil (obtained from soy beans, African oil palm, corn, or castor oil plant, for instance). The result is a new product: ethanol-based biodiesel. For now, ethanol biodiesel is produced only on a laboratory scale. European countries and the United States already widely use methyl alcohol or methanol-based biodiesel.
Plant with multiple uses
Some say the castor oil plant came from Southern Asia, while others affirm that it spread over the world from Ethiopia. We know for sure that it’s not a Brazilian native plant. It was brought by the settlers, in the 16th century, for supplying cheap oil for lanterns in slave quarters and had a perfect adaptation to local conditions. If you were a kid living on the outskirts of Rio during the 1960’s, when several vacant lots still existed, you’d be very familiar with the shrub, the berry of which served as ammunition for long battles. Apparently, the plant, with branches and a stem that break easily, wasn’t of much use, except for kid’s play.
However, the parents of these kids were familiar with one of the most unpleasant uses of the castor oil plant: the castor oil itself, an efficient laxative with a horrible taste. We should remember that the castor oil plant is highly toxic (ricine, a poisonous powder for which there’s no antidote that was used in terrorist attacks in the United States after September 11, is extracted from it.) However, there are methods for extracting the castor oil without contaminating it with hazardous substances.
Currently, about 700 castor oil applications are known, ranging from the aforementioned medicinal use to the manufacturing of anti-freezers for airplane fuels and lubricants, as well as the manufacturing of products used in the pharmaceuticals, electronics, and telecommunications industries, bulletproof glasses, fiber optics, paints and stickers, cosmetics, perfumes, plastics and rubber, food products, textiles, and papers. The cake (the result of oil extraction) is an excellent nitrogen-based fertilizer, and after the toxic components are removed, it serves as cattle food. The leaves serve as food for the silkworm and, mixed with other plants, as kibble for livestock, with positive results for producing milk from cows. Finally, the stem provides raw material for the manufacturing of cellulose and crude fabrics.
Biodiesel involves mixing castor oil with methanol or ethanol. This mixture is then subject to a process called transesterification. The first patent of castor oil biodiesel (that has already expired) was granted in the 1970’s to researcher Expedito Parente from the state of Ceará in Brazil. The fuel, however, was first used in 1895 by engineer Rudolf Diesel himself, who used peanuts as raw material. As for petrodiesel, the organic oil releases 46% less carbon monoxide and 26% less fuliginosity. Sulphur emission is zero. In terms of carbon dioxide, Parente says there’s a positive balance. The amount ofbiodiesel resulting from one hectare of castor oil plant results in one ton of atmospheric carbon; however, in the same area, eight tons of carbon are fixed by the plantation.
At the University of São Paulo´s (USP, Universidade de São Paulo) São Carlos Chemistry Institute, professor Gilberto Chierice started testing, in 1992, a remarkable application for the polymer produced from castor oil: the manufacturing of prostheses that have at least three advantages over traditional ones made of platinum or silicone. The material obtained from the castor oil plant is cheaper (providing savings of up to 40%), doesn’t require maintenance, and is not rejected by the organism. Such prostheses were approved for use in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The polymer, originally used for coating telephone wires and cables, was used to make prostheses for replacing testicles, jaws, larynx, and femur. From the oil, the professor created two other products. One is a type of bone cement that replaced the one normally used, manufactured from an oil by-product aggressive to the organism. The other one is a bactericide and fungicide that has proven to be efficient in the almost immediate extermination of bacteria often found in hospitals.
Still in the city of São Carlos, polyurethane obtained from castor oil is being sold for the impermeabilization of concrete, wood, and masonry. It replaced asphalt and PVC coats, among other oil by-products.
Another advantage of the castor oil plant is its good adaptation to the conditions observed in the Northeastern region, which are restrictive for a lot of farming. According to the cotton department of the Brazilian Agricultural and Cattle-Raising Research Company (Embrapa – Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária – Algodão), there are more than 400 northeastern municipalities in which the castor oil plant can be grown without any inconveniences. For several decades, Brazil was the biggest producer of castor berries, and also the main castor oil exporter. It has lost these positions to India and China. Embrapa Algodão recommends, in a family agriculture, a crop that mixes castor oil plants with beans. Another advantage of the Northeast, especially in the semi-arid region, is the low rate of diseases that occur in other regions with a hot and humid climate.
Biodiesel production gives origin to a useful by-product. It’s glycerin, obtained at the ratio of one part for ten parts of biodiesel. Glycerin can be used in the pharmaceutical, food (canned products, beverages, and soft drinks), cosmetics (medicinal soaps, toothpastes, and lotions), lubricant, explosives (nitroglycerin), textile, paint for stamps and copy machines, waterproof paper, and typographic mass and roll industries.
“family agribusiness
is a new concept”
Nelson Silveira, director of Brasil Ecodiesel, affirms that the biodiesel program could have been better planned from a long-term perspective. However, he said the social inclusion provided by the cultivation of the castor oil plant, as defined by the company, couldn’t wait. That’s its great impact, which makes the project significant, more than the fact that it provides raw material for a less pollutant, renewable fuel that brings savings by replacing petrodiesel imports. Nelson Silveira explains that the purpose is to create, in the place of the family agriculture notion, the family agribusiness concept.
Brazil Forever – How does Brasil Ecodiesel’s project fit into the Brazilian Biodiesel Technological Development Program (Probiodiesel, Programa Brasileiro de Desenvolvimento Tecnológico do Biodiesel), introduced by the federal government in 2002?
Nelson Silveira – Brasil Ecodiesel doesn’t fit into the government program because the program hasn’t been established on concrete foundations yet. Biodiesel is still an expectation, we know biodiesel could be adopted and we decided to take the first step by implementing the project’s agricultural aspect, which refers to the possibility of creating a family agribusiness organization, an unprecedented initiative in the country. Today, in some locations, Brazil has a family agriculture. We are trying to create the family agribusiness concept, where each family has an economic view of its own production process and of its own trading process. This is what our project is doing – the family is settled in an organized environment, planted with technology; when it gets there, the family makes a cultural exchange with an environment that’s ready. Thus we don’t need to transform the relationship this family has with the land, which is precarious in subsistence cultures. The family immediately gets in touch with a typical agribusiness environment, starts having cultural relationships in this environment, and even transforms it with its own relationships and cultural experience. What we did was to implement this part, which we plan to conclude by planting up to 60,000 hectares, and we still have the possibility to change course. If biodiesel is not adopted in Brazil – and we don’t believe this will happen – we would still have the option of using the production for exporting castor oil, continuing to generate income for these families. We believe that a national biodiesel project involving distribution and mixture, which is somewhat complex, could be planned in more detail over the long term... What makes biodiesel urgent and needed over a very short term is the fact that it can be a social inclusion instrument that generates income, health, education... If we consider this our main motive, as if it were a social specification of biodiesel – in addition to its technical specifications,the fuel would have a social specification – it becomes urgent. Not because it’s non-pollutant, or renewable, or because it brings savings... It has relatively little impact with regard to these aspects... It has great impact when it comes to social inclusion. Biodiesel B2 (2% in the mixture with petrodiesel), with an annual production of 700 or 800 million liters, could replace all of the diesel consumed in the Northern Isolated System (of electric power generation). If it were made with castor oil plant biodiesel, it would require one million planted hectares. We’re talking about direct jobs for 300,000-350,000 people, which would imply benefits for 100,000-120,000 families. If we consider that each direct job generates three indirect ones, we’d be talking about creating, in a short period of time, 1-1.5 million jobs in the country’s Northeastern region. That’s the aspect that might be seen as urgent in the biodiesel project. All other aspects could be implemented in a planned, continuous form.
Brazil Forever – Will Brasil Ecodiesel have castor oil production plants?
Silveira – The plant will use a technology developed together with Tecbio, using Expedito Parente’s (Tecbio’s coordinator) process. Parente is a scientist from Ceará who got the first castor oil-based biodiesel patent. Together, we’re developing a plural plant, as we like to call it, which will produce 20-22 million liters per year. This plant will be able to transesterify (transesterification is the biodiesel production process) any type of vegetable oil and use either ethanol or methanol in the mixture. When the type of oil is changed, the production capacity remains the same, but when the type of alcohol is changed, there’s a change in plant capacity. If we manage to produce 20 million liters with ethanol, we’d be able to produce about 26 million liters with methanol. This aspect is in the development and implementation phase. The first plant will be located in Piauí, and the second one, in Ceará.
Brazil Forever – Doesn’t biodiesel production generate important by-products?
Silveira – Yes. Not only biodiesel production, but also the cultivation of the castor oil plant itself. What’s left after the castor oil plant is processed is the cake, an organic fertilizer that, after having the toxins removed, can be used as cattle food. After biodiesel is prepared, glycerin will be left as a residue. If its degree of pureness is high, it can be used by the medical and pharmaceutical industries. It can be used in the chemical industry. Today glycerin has a fairly high price, and the natural trend, with the increase in supply, is a significant price drop – and the uses of glycerin are limited precisely because of its cost. So the market will be flooded with glycerin at a lower price, and the product will be used in other ways. I believe it could replace some oil by-products again, in the manufacturing of varnish, for instance... Glycerin represents about 10% of the final biodiesel quantity. Another study we’ve been making is about the polymerization of glycerin for resin production. At this moment of transition, adjustment, and adaptation of the market to new uses of glycerin, it would be possible to make resin materials with bamboo fiber, premanufactured houses... There are several options being studied so that we can promote the use of glycerin in this initial phase. Generally speaking, each liter of castor oil makes one liter of biodiesel. About 10% of alcohol is added and 10% of glycerin is removed.
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