Mexico to promote ethanol production
Just south of the US ethanol power-house, Mexico is looking to ramp-up its own renewable fuel production.
Mexico’s state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) will invite tenders next month for a contract to produce 176 million litres a year of ethanol.
The bidding round, which will be concluded in December, aims to promote ethanol as a transportation fuel as part of a wider plan by the government to reduce pollution and diversify the country's energy mix.
Energy Secretary Georgina Kessel says the project will first be carried out in the western state of Jalisco, with 65,000 ha of sugarcane to be used as feedstock in producing up to 176 million litres a year of an ethanol-petrol blend.
The project is being launched after a successful test-run last month in Monterrey, where 151,600 litres of sugarcane-based ethanol were added to petrol at retail outlets, with 2.53 million litres of the blend sold to consumers.
In 2008, Mexico enacted a law to promote and develop the use of biofuels, which also calls for production of ethanol from different sources, including algae, sugarcane, and corn.
In addition, the law also allows for the production of ethanol from waste leftover from sawmills, as well as agro-industrial and urban waste and traditional agriculture and forest residues.
Mexico hopes that biofuel production will enable Pemex to reduce its imports of petrol which, in May, accounted for 39.2% of sales in the country during the second quarter compared to 40.5% year-on-year. In terms of volume, petrol sales totaled 784,364 b/d compared to 798,249 b/d year-on-year.
Mexico’s state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) will invite tenders next month for a contract to produce 176 million litres a year of ethanol.
The bidding round, which will be concluded in December, aims to promote ethanol as a transportation fuel as part of a wider plan by the government to reduce pollution and diversify the country's energy mix.
Energy Secretary Georgina Kessel says the project will first be carried out in the western state of Jalisco, with 65,000 ha of sugarcane to be used as feedstock in producing up to 176 million litres a year of an ethanol-petrol blend.
The project is being launched after a successful test-run last month in Monterrey, where 151,600 litres of sugarcane-based ethanol were added to petrol at retail outlets, with 2.53 million litres of the blend sold to consumers.
In 2008, Mexico enacted a law to promote and develop the use of biofuels, which also calls for production of ethanol from different sources, including algae, sugarcane, and corn.
In addition, the law also allows for the production of ethanol from waste leftover from sawmills, as well as agro-industrial and urban waste and traditional agriculture and forest residues.
Mexico hopes that biofuel production will enable Pemex to reduce its imports of petrol which, in May, accounted for 39.2% of sales in the country during the second quarter compared to 40.5% year-on-year. In terms of volume, petrol sales totaled 784,364 b/d compared to 798,249 b/d year-on-year.
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