FEATURE - Argentine Company Researching New Uses for Ethanol
Date: 21-Sep-06
Country: ARGENTINA
Author: Nicolas Misculin
The company, Quimica True, which produces conventional auto-related liquids based on petroleum-derived chemicals, is working with university and government chemists to develop the new techniques.
"This is new," said project chief Gustavo Bianchi at the company near Buenos Aires. "The idea is that from the alcohol obtained principally from sugar cane or beets we can get the byproducts used to make brake fluid and coolants."
Quimica True (True Chemistry in English) hopes eventually to find ways to use ethanol as an environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels in such petrochemical products as polythene, paints and fertilizers.
"The potential for using (this technique) is very big. There are other byproducts derived from this process and in the future it could be possible to replace at least 50 percent of petrochemical products," Bianchi said.
The project team is made up of chemistry experts from the University of Buenos Aires, the government and Quimica True.
Argentina is one of the world's biggest exporters of agricultural products, supplying about 80 million tonnes of grains per year, and industry leaders see great potential to develop biofuels from its crops.
Agricultural Secretary Miguel Campos said recently the South American country would "become a leader" in the sector chiefly because of the climatic variations that allow it to grow crops from sugar cane and sunflower to corn and soybeans.
ROOTS OF PROJECT
Like many small Argentine businesses, Quimica True was hit hard by the country's 2001-2002 economic crisis in which the peso currency was devalued and fell sharply against the dollar, making imports expensive.
High global oil prices aggravated the situation and prompted the company to look for other ways to get hold of fuels.
"This project was born out of the need to be self-sufficient in relation to the supply of raw materials," said Domingo Gatto, company president.
Within two years, the company expects to be able to meet all its fuel needs with vegetable alcohol, a cheap, renewable energy source that is less contaminating than fossil fuels.
"While a barrel of crude costs about US$70, a liter of alcohol is about 10 cents," Bianchi said. That would mean the barrel of vegetable alcohol would cost about US$15.
To turn ethanol into brake fluid and coolants, the company is developing a chemical catalyst that will produce the two chemicals that form the base of the liquids, ethylene glycol and diethanolamine.
Up until now the project is small-scale, funded by a government loan of US$70,000 to set up a laboratory, but its leaders believe that the same technique could be applied on a far larger scale.
"We're developing something that could open a lot of doors in the future," Gatto said. "The scale of Quimica True could change if someone a lot bigger than us was interested in developing this technique internationally."
