A Energy Cup, a bottling, marketing and distribution company for LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) in Brazil and Latin America, is developing, in partnership with USP (University of São Paulo), the modeling and optimization of the BioGLP production chain in Brazil.
In the North American and European markets, for example, this fuel has been available since 2018. BioGLP has a renewable origin and has a lower environmental impact than fossil LPG, which comes from oil refining and natural gas processing.
Furthermore, it is a drop-in fuel, i.e. can replace fossil LPG or be used together, in any proportion and without any need to change the existing infrastructure.
It is gaseous at ambient temperature and pressure conditions, which can be obtained from vegetable oil, agro-industrial waste and even urban waste, and its use is recommended for all consumers who already use fossil LPG, whether LPG in cylinders or business customers, but who would like to migrate to a renewable energy source with a lower environmental impact.
“Copa Energia has in its DNA the encouragement of innovation and sustainability,” stated Pedro Zahran Turqueto, VP of Operations and Strategy at Copa Energia.
“Supporting the insertion of BioGLP in the Brazilian market as a destination energy source and not just as a transition fuel, based on research originating from one of the most renowned universities in the country, reinforces our vision of the future and our aspiration to become a reference energy in Brazil”, he highlighted.
According to the company, the partnership with USP supports one scientific initiation project, two master's degrees and one doctorate for research on the topic. The initiative already presents preliminary results, such as process parameters – yields, raw material and energy consumption – for different production routes.
“We aim to identify the best routes for sustainable production of BioGLP, taking into account the specificities of logistics, economics and national raw materials, using modeling and optimization techniques for decision making”, explained prof. Dr. Moisés Teles, professor and coordinator of the BioGLP project at USP.
Currently, there are different conversion routes at varying levels of technological maturity, but the only commercial-scale production process is the hydrotreatment of vegetable oils. BioGLP is obtained as a co-product from the production of green diesel (HVO diesel) and SAF (sustainable aircraft fuel).
As for the price, they stated that BioGLP is no exception to the rule of biofuels, which are normally still more expensive than their fossil counterparts. However, technological advances have made this disparity increasingly smaller and its use brings advantages with the commercialization of carbon credits, such as CBIOS.
In practice, the CBIO is a carbon credit with a very specific use. Every year, fuel distributors are required to purchase a certain amount of CBIOs. Those who issue these CBIOs are producers of biofuels, such as ethanol, biodiesel and biomethane.
Innovation
The partnership signed at the beginning of 2022 between Copa Energia and USP for research into BioGLP resulted in the creation of the Renewable Energy Hub, which has been operating since the beginning of 2023 and was officially inaugurated last Friday (02). . The space is on the university's main campus.
“As one of the purposes of the partnership is to encourage researchers, it is essential to offer a comfortable space for their day-to-day research. USP and Copa Energia interaction is constant, with meetings to share partial results, exchange information, discussions”, commented Natália Menezes, who participates in the project as a New Technologies engineer at Copa Energia and as a researcher for one of the master's degrees in progress.
The Hub can also be used in research on other projects with USP in the area of renewable energy. “Space is a first step towards the development of new renewable sources and new collaborative partnerships, with bioGLP being the first biofuel that is on our development radar”, added Leonardo Silva, coordinator of New Technologies at Copa Energia.
