Biodiesel can be manufactured from fish waste. (Photo: Petrobras Biocombustivel)

Petrobras will use fishing waste to produce biodiesel

BRAZIL
Friday, October 26, 2012, 23:10 (GMT + 9)

The Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture (MPA) and Petrobras Biocombustível, a subsidiary of Petrobras, signed a memorandum to investigate and make biodiesel from fish waste raw material.

The signing of the agreement took place during the launch of the Harvest Plan for Fisheries and Aquaculture, attended by the president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff.

The two parties agreed to intensify the studies for the use of fish oil as a feedstock for biodiesel, a fuel of high demand in the country because the law requires the distribution outlets to mix mineral diesel with the vegetable one.

At present, Petrobras produces biodiesel from soybean, castor and palm, Estrella Online reported.

Petrobras Biocombustível CEO, Miguel Rossetto, highlighted that this initiative is aligned with the Harvest Plan, which aims to expand the activity and the fishing trade to reach a production level of two million tonnes of fish by 2014.

The agreement between MPA and the subsidiary of Petrobras also aims to increase fishermen’s income and to add value to their production, in addition to providing technical-scientific development and technological innovation for the activity, reported InfoMoney.

Petrobras Biocombustível is developing several projects to evaluate the use of fish oil for manufacturing biodiesel. One of them is Biopeixe pilot project, implemented with farmers in the region of Jaguaribara, in Ceará, to conduct research in the dam Açude Castanhão.

Rousseff this week announced an investment of USD 2,050 million until 2014 to raise fish production in Brazil. It is expected that this increase in production, with a consequent increase in fish waste and fish oil, contribute to make projects such as that on biodiesel, viable.

By Analia Murias
editorial@fis.com
www.fis.com
 

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