The Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, announced, this Tuesday (9), that he will submit to the National Energy Policy Council (CNPE) a proposal to increase the mixture of anhydrous ethanol in gasoline from the current 30% (E30) to up to 32% (E32). The measure meets a demand from the biofuels sector and should be evaluated in the next 15 days.
The statement came after a meeting with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), other State ministers and leaders of associations and businesspeople in the sector, at Palácio do Planalto.
“We know that we can go up to E35, but the technical studies necessary to advance the mixture allow us to go up to E32. It was a demand made today by the sector”, said Silveira.
According to the minister, the initiative is part of the decarbonization and strengthening of the country’s energy security agenda, driven by the Future Fuel Law, which encourages the production and use of sustainable fuels. He highlighted that the increase in the mixture will reduce the country’s external dependence, estimating a saving of 450 million liters of imported gasoline.
“It’s energy security, it’s reasonable fuel prices, it’s decarbonization, it’s national development, it’s more planting, it’s more employment, it’s more income. These are public policies focused on the country’s development”, stated Silveira, reinforcing that the measure also minimizes fluctuations in fuel prices caused by international conflicts.
Savings for consumers
Representatives of the biofuels industry who participated in the meeting classified the meeting as very productive and reinforced the role of ethanol in the country’s energy security and in reducing consumer prices.
“Today, a liter of ethanol costs an average of R$2.40 less than a liter of gasoline. In other words, an increase in the mixture of 2% will bring a reduction equivalent to that for the consumer”, explained the president of the Sugarcane and Bioenergy Industry Union (Unica), Evandro Gussi.
He added that over the past three months, since the start of the conflict in Iran, the price difference between ethanol and gasoline generated savings of around R$2 billion for Brazilian consumers and avoided the country spending R$8 billion on gasoline imports.
Regarding the debates surrounding the behavior of engines with the new fuel composition, Gussi guarantees the technical feasibility of the change and highlighted that the 32% mixture has already been tested successfully when there was an increase to 30% in June last year.
Furthermore, regarding the permanent demand for anhydrous ethanol in the country and the impacts on agricultural production, the president of Bioenergia Brasil, Mário Campos, stated that public policies structured in recent years have boosted the sector. For this year, he projects an increase of more than 4 billion liters of ethanol in production.
“So, it is an opportunity for Brazil, to further decarbonize our transport matrix, and for the Brazilian consumer it is an excellent time to really use the technology they have in their vehicle and opt for ethanol, which is cheaper than gasoline in several regions”, said Campos.
Measure had been announced
On April 30th, the president increased the mandatory mixture of anhydrous ethanol in gasoline from 30% to 32%, also signaling that there should be an increase in the mixture of biodiesel in diesel from the current 15% to 16%.
In the case of increasing the mixture of biodiesel in diesel, from 15% to 16%, there would be a need for testing, officials previously said. Biofuel is mostly made from soybean oil in Brazil, a measure that should please agribusiness.
At the time, Lula’s confirmation came at a time when fossil fuel prices are under upward pressure due to oil pricesdue to the war in Iran and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, through which around 20% of the oil and liquefied natural gas consumed in the world passed.
