QUESTION Edson David Pantoja Gonçalves, S. Sebastião da Boa Vista, PA
The main difference between these fuels is the origin of each one of them and the applications. While gasoline and diesel come from fossil sources, ethanol, which is the type of alcohol we use in cars, comes from plants. (“Alcohol” was what we used to call ethanol in the old days. Today the word has fallen into disuse and ethanol is only used at pumps.)
Ethanol and gasoline serve to fuel light vehicles, such as cars and motorcycles, while diesel is the fuel that powers buses, trucks and even large vessels.
FROM NATURE
O ethanol It is the result of the sugarcane distillation process. At this stage, it still contains a small percentage of water, which is why it is called hydrated. In the next stage, dehydration, it becomes anhydrous, which is mixed with gasoline sold at gas stations.
In Brazil, this type of fuel has been encouraged since the 1970s, when the Proálcool program was launched. The objectives were not to depend solely on fuels obtained from petroleum, to help reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and also to generate employment and income in the countryside.
OF OIL
Gasoline and diesel are petroleum fractions, distilled at different temperatures. In refineries, this raw oil goes through a series of processes until it is transformed into derivatives, which, in addition to gasoline and diesel, can also be lubricants and aviation kerosene.
There is also biodiesel, a fuel that can be produced from oleaginous plants, animal fat and even residual frying oils.
CONSULTANCY João Norberto Noschang Neto, manager of Technological Management at Petrobras Biocombustível