07/07/2010 - Portal
Brazil / Petrobras
- Petrobras announces a partnership with
BIOeCON, a Dutch company, for development
of a new process for enhanced conversion
of biomass lignocelluloses, as found in
agricultural wastes such as sugarcane bagasse,
into chemicals that can be used to produce
green plastics, or further transformed in
next generation advanced biofuels.
The new technology,
called BiCHEM (Biomass Chemical Conversion),
was developed by BIOeCON with high potential
for biofuels production for diesel blend
content with superior energy density when
compared with ethanol.
Petrobras and BIOeCON
will work together to further develop this
technology and establish proof of concept
on pilot and demonstration scales. The first
part of this work, including the pilot phase,
will be performed in The Netherlands, while
the demonstration plant is envisioned to
be constructed in Brazil.
Therefore, Petrobras
develops one more alternative for biofuels
production and sustainable renewable chemical
products in addition to its ongoing projects,
as for example, the sugarcane ethanol process.
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Botanical Garden of
Rio will receive US$ 11 million for environmental
research
07/07/2010 - Portal
Brazil / Ministry of Science and Technology
- The Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro,
created in 1808, will receive about R$ 20
million (US$ 11.1 million) of the Ministries
of Environment and Science and Technology
to ensure the development of research infrastructure
and expand its facilities.
The largest amount (R$
16 million) will be directed to the historic
rescue of Brazilian plants and the virtual
herbarium for knowledge and conservation
of native flora. The goal is to produce
and publish on the Internet Authentic Virtual
Herbarium of the national flora species,
with plants collected through the centuries
since the early 18th century.
The agreement also provides
for strengthening the research development,
infrastructure for biological collections
and Botanical Garden scientific output,
aiming to expand the capacity and maintenance
of the institution collections and thereby
strengthen the actions of research and teaching.
The Botanical Garden
of Rio de Janeiro works in one of the best
preserved green areas of the city and is
an example of diversity of national and
foreign flora. It also houses monuments
of historical, artistic and archaeological
heritage, and a research center that includes
a library.
+ More
MMA awaits the approval
of rules for waste management by the Senate
07/07/2010 - Brazil
annually produces 155 thousand tons of urban
garbage. Of this total, it is estimated
that about 50% is disposed directly into
open dumps, contaminating the soil, hydrographic
basins, rivers and the sea, causing diseases
and producing incalculable losses to the
State.
On the other hand, these
same residues are a source of livelihood
for thousands of Brazilian families - the
so-called scavengers (collectors) of recyclable
materials, whose associations and cooperatives
total over 34 thousand people across the
country, joining another 800 thousand scavengers
that, informally, also survive by collecting
recyclable materials.
This reality, which
still presents unfavorable results for health
and the environment, should be amended with
the approval of the National Policy on Solid
Waste (PNRS) by the Senate. The new policy,
which will define the general guidelines
for the proper disposal of all kinds of
garbage, determines, for example, how the
performance of the business sector might
facilitate the correct disposal of the residues.
The PNRS will also require from the government
entities a proper public management of the
waste.
After 19 years, Brazil
expects to approve a law that defines responsibilities
and tools for the management of several
types of solid waste, among them, electronic
materials, for which there is still no federal
law defining how the disposal might happen.
The PNRS will define the general guidelines
for waste management. Its regulation will
be made later by presidential decree.
The proposal approved
by the House of Representatives in March
is the result of a broad consensus involving
all the actors who are part of the many
different cycles of production of solid
waste. It deals with issues that are already
part of daily routine of people, involving
concepts such as contaminated area, the
product life cycle, selective collection,
social control, waste management, recycling,
shared responsibility and urban cleaning
services.
The new policy aims
at the protection of public health and environmental
quality, as well as at the adoption, development
and improvement of clean technologies to
minimize environmental impacts, and at the
reduction of the volume of hazardous waste,
amongst other actions.
