Brasilia — With the government about to increase the percentage of biodiesel in fossil diesel to up to 17% (B17), the biofuels sector has launched a strategy to pressure President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's administration to accelerate the start of tests for B20 and up to B25.
NeoFeed has learned that Lula, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, and Minister Alexandre Silveira (Mines and Energy) will be in Mauá, in Greater São Paulo, next Monday morning, July 13th, visiting laboratories at the Mauá Institute of Technology (IMT), which is involved in these tests.
Executives from major industries and trading companies involved in biodiesel processing in Brazil—Bunge and Cargill—will also participate in the visit, as well as representatives from business entities such as Ubrabio, Apeobio, and Anfavea (automobile manufacturers).
The idea from the business sector is to give the government another "push" in order to unlock tests to further increase the blend. The government had already indicated that tests of B20 to B25 would only begin next year, but companies want them sooner, in the context of the emergency needs imposed by the war in Iran and the consequent surge in global oil prices.
A source familiar with the negotiations with the government told NeoFeed that the National Energy Policy Council (CNPE) is expected to approve the increase to B16 and B17 in one of its upcoming meetings, between the end of July and the beginning of August. This is a result that the private sector wants to show President Lula, as a way to prove that the country can already handle increases in the blend and is prepared for more.
The appetite for this government approval is so great that the industry even made pickup trucks available for testing on a weekend last month (and even prototypes of trucks powered by B100). These tests are a requirement of the Future Fuel Law, in effect in the country since 2024.
In May, the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) defined a schedule with criteria for tests aimed at increasing the biodiesel blend in diesel to up to 25% (B25).
According to the decree, the tests will be carried out in two stages: in the first, mixtures between B15 and B20 will be evaluated, and in the second, up to B25. Both newer model diesel engines and those over 30 years old will be under evaluation.
As NeoFeed has already shown this year , the biodiesel sector wanted B16 implemented in the first quarter. And due to the war, it argued to the government to bring forward the tests, given the industry's capacity to guarantee sufficient production to increase the share of biodiesel in diesel to 16% or 17%. The offensive, however, was unsuccessful at the time, and pressure continues to accelerate the tests.
