Brazil to use river system to move ethanol

01 July 2008 23:52  [Source: ICIS news]

PIRACICABA, Brazil (ICIS news)--Brazil plans to start moving ethanol on barges to cut transportation costs and take advantage of its huge river system, a Petrobras official said on Tuesday.

“It is a means of transportation widely used in other countries, but hardly explored in Brazil,” said Ubiracyr Martins, development manager with Petrobras’ logistics arm, Transpetro.

Martins said the industry could cut transportation costs by 40% if it used river barges, instead of trucks, to move ethanol.

“It is good economics and good for the environment,” he said during an industry event in Piracicaba, Brazil.

Under the plan, Petrobras would build a pipeline of about 100 km that would connect a yet-to-be-built river terminal in Sao Paulo to its Paulinia refinery in the same state.

The biofuel would then be transported from Paulinia to the coast through a pipeline Transpetro already has at the refinery, he said.

The project would allow Brazil to export more ethanol without building more ports, Martins said, adding that the system is expected to be operational by 2012.

No financial details were available.

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By: William Lemos
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