Fondef Fund for the Promotion of Scientific and Technological

January, 2011. Research Centre for Environmental Technologies will provide data on the behavior of the biodiesel and bioethanol, independently and when mixed with traditional fossil fuels. The initiative will assess automotive engines and boilers industriales.Fuente: USM News

 

 

In 2012 would leave a law requiring mixing a between 2% and 5% biofuels with conventional fossil fuels. In this context, Environmental Technology Center (CETAM) work on the project "Analysis and generation of potential database of energy and emissions of biofuels in the national interest", research which received 540 million in the contest XVII FONDEF.

 

According to scholar, Department of Chemistry and Director of CETAM, Dr. Francisco Cereceda, the study "seeks to determine from the environmental point of view what will happen to the emissions problem. In other words, what chemical contaminants be broadcasted, especially the atmosphere of Santiago, when you incorporate fuel with characteristics different from those of today. Parallel, will determine the energy potential of mixtures of fossil fuels with biofuels, in order to obtain results on the energy performance of the engine and industrial boilers, aspect that will be addressed by the team of Dr. Mario Toledo, Department of Mechanical Engineering, in collaboration with colleagues from the Department of Mechanical Headquarters Viña del Mar ".

 

Cereceda ensures that there is still no consensus in the scientific community about the benefits or harm that would bring this scenario about the known problems of air pollution from the combustion of traditional fossil fuels or biofuel blends. "Differences of opinion respond primarily to a lack of systematization of information", notes.

 

"One example is the use of different types of engines and boilers of varied manufacturers or different operating conditions of these combustion equipment when comparing the reductions or increases for certain atmospheric pollutants, as NOx, SOx, PM10 and VOCs,. There is also no standardization in the mixture used, in some cases, comparisons are made for a 10% biofuel, while others compared to a 20%. The same goes when comparing industrial boilers. That kind of errors standardize protocols and procedures are one of the problems with this project solve ".

 

Another aspect to be addressed relates to research the origin of a biofuel. Cereceda clarifies that "the original material that is produced biofuel could also eventually determine their behavior at the time of combustion".

 

"You can produce biodiesel from micro and macro algae, forest residues, used oil, oilseed, among other materials. The big question is whether to take up biodiesel under the same conditions, or boilers same engine and the same percentage of the combustion mixture are the same pollutants regardless of their origin or otherwise determine their origin biofuel fingerprint ", adds.