Illustrated thus far
has been an indepth review of the macro backdrop and micro economic
dynamics of the prime issues and agents respectively behind and
within the Brazilian automotive sector.
As seen, the drive for
national economic development has been intrinsically linked to both
outward -facing global trade and inward-facing self reliance,
successive advisors and governments seeking to best balance the
country's own national and regional development progress, critically
promoting suitable industrial learning and associative technological
prowess when deemed necessary.
5. Indigenous
Development – Technologies
Transport Fuel :
Ethanol
As a commodity and
agriculturally rich nation, ever since the introduction of the
internal combustion engine the scientists and thought leaders of
Brazil had been frustrated that like the imported vehicles, the fuel
used to operate those trucks and cars was likewise imported.
It was deemed
irrational that Brazil's foreign trade was largely premised upon the
exportation of low-value food-stuffs and minerals, and low US$ per
tonne, whilst importing both high cost finished goods and highly
processed / refined oils.
This imbalance started
to shift in the late 1940s with the beginnings of the national oil
state company Petrobras.
However, the production
of a highly flammable and (thus, when contained), very explosive
liquid through a filtration and or distillation process had been
known ever since the Mayans and Aztecs, primarily derived from the
sugar-rich pods and beans of mid-altitude shrubland plants (the agave
and mezquite best known for tequila and mesquite alcoholic drinks).
As required such 'preparations' were used to both provide a source of
light, by soaking a candle wick in the liquid (akin to a European a
tallow candle from animal fat) and when ingested for euphoric
purposes during social celebrations.
This knowledge had been
absorbed by the European intelligensia by the early 19th
century, and by the late 19th century the impressive
scientific research establishments and associated laboratories of
Germany and the US had used the similar whisky and bourbon filtration
and distillation process to create a very stable and critically
repeatable output.
However, unlike the
bartering methods of the Mayans and Aztecs for such basics, the basic
costs and time-scale of the process were high and lengthy compared to
the specific energy output received. Instead the refining and
distillation efforts were directed to the high energy density of the
new 'black gold': the underground, typically deep sub-strata oil.
Moreover, deep-drilled
oil was glutinous and composed (quite literally) of a range of
chemicals that could each be refined to produce varying degrees of
purity, relative to required cost and required character. In short,
oil had far greater inherent 'added-value' given the range of
applications than a highly purified alcohol.
Thus by the early 20th
century it was believed, and globally propagated by the far advanced
West, that grain and bean was best directed purely as foodstuff.
This allowed many
producers before even the first 'major' that was Standard Oil to
provide a wide range of B2B and B2C 'distillates', from glutinous
grease for machine barings and shafts through to notionally
'clean-burn' lamp oil to of course the prime support behind the
global introduction and widespread adoption of the motor-truck and
motor-car.
However, whilst it
embraced the advantages of “foreign oil” to power the increasing
numbers of Fords, Dodges, Chevys on roads and John Deeres,
International Harvestors and Fordsons in the fields in those early
decades of the 20th century, Brazil well recognised that
its massive agri-business could and should off-set this foreign
monopoly on transportation fuels.
Doing so would help
provide national independence by adding to internal economic
advantage, and now the often massive tracts of fallow land – often
deliberately left fallow to reduce grain supply and so support prices
and profitability – could be utilised to the gain of land-owner,
land-workers and the country at large.
Known for years was the
fact that Sugar Beat and Sugar Cane sourced sugars could be turned
into alcohol, land workers having long mastered the process for
alcoholically fuelled celebrations, for the cleaning of open wounds,
and use as a combustible aid, such as scorching ground stubble after
harvest.
Indeed, and
unsurprisingly, as soon as petroleum powered mechanised tractors and
trucks were imported the volumes expensive petrol and diesel would be
'stretched-out' by adding varying percentages of home-brewed grain
alcohol.
[NB here in the UK,
with its then very pro petroleum stance, the far smaller scale,
'problem' led to the introduction of far cheaper 'red-diesel' for
farmers, for field, track and yard use only and prohibited for road
transport use].
However, quite
obviously for successive Brazilian governments this ongoing trend of
mixed substitution was anything but a problem, and so hat internal
knowledge would be put to broader and far more substantive use as
part of official economic growth policy.
The more remote NE
region officially first led the way in the 1910s when because of
petroleum supply problems and the advantageous abundance of land and
sugar cane, it was decided that local vehicles should be run on
derived ethyl alcohol, the first processing plant created in 1927 and
located in Algoas. The fuel used was a mix of primarily ethanol and
quarter quantity of ethyl ether.
By the 1940s hundreds
of trucks, cars and small rail locomotion engines were being run on
the substance.
It was mandated in 1931
that 5% of sold petroleum would consist of ethanol, and to support
this decision 54 processing plants built by 1945. Through the 1930s
supply and use of the mixed fuel rose sharply, accounting for 7% of
purchase by 1937.
Although largely
neutral within WW2, the oil-wars of the Middle East and North Africa,
and attacks on inbound oil ships illustrated that foreign sourced oil
could all too easily become restricted; so maintaining belief in the
notion of self-supply. This again boosted production and in 1945 10%
of sold fuel across the country was 'alcool'.
However, the post WW2
period was that of cheap international oil and petroleum, so
massively affecting the raison d'etre for self-supply; thus official
production of ethanol dwindled through the 1950s and 1960s, though it
was distilled unofficially and used to boost the octane rating of
stored stale petroleum in deep country regions.
As previously described
(regards the reasons behind the ubiquity of the VW boxer engine) for
many years Brazil was 'technology-trapped' because of the lower grade
quality of more affordable imported petroleum, which in more remote
regions might be stored in official and unofficial re-fueling
stations for months given the low usage rates and long time gaps
between tank refills. Thus the already low-grade fuel would
inevitably deteriorate further so creating problems in use, from
carburettor blockages (because of chemical lamination in the tiny
holes of venturi 'jets') to heavy 'knocking' of the engine (because
of the low lead content), especially when under the strain of an
invariable heavy load. Home-brewed 'alcool' helped overcome these
conditions and was applied when available.
So even in the era of
cheap oil, ethanol never truly disappeared; with well recognised
advantages.
It was officially
recognised that resurgence of a domestically grown, processed and
supplied ethanol based fuel supply base – critically reaching from
coast-line to deep inland - would help alleviate the two previously
aforementioned issues:
1. Fuel Security
(reducing foreign oil reliance)
2. Overcoming the
'Technology Trap'.
The first item is self
explanatory but the second related to the assistance of better engine
development in terms of power and some emissions pollutants, since
ethanol typically combusts quicker than petroleum. When designed
properly with adequate valve timing/overlap could potentially
revolutionise the use of the internal combustion engine.
Vitally ethanol could
potentially be the foundation-stone to a sustainable bio-fuel based
eco-system.
Throughout the 1950s
and 1960s government laboratories had been in a small way exploring,
experimenting and improving a sugar-cane and sugar-beat refining
process. When the optimum formula in terms of chemical compounds,
cost, quality and production volumes had been identified the
forward-looking central government set about the 'fall-back planning'
for a potential re-introduction across the national fuel network. Yet
more exploration was to come later.
This fall-back position
came to the fore and was deployed with the global consequences of the
1973 Arab-Israeli War and the oil producing nations' decision to
drastically reduce supply, the “Oil Crisis”.
The enacted policy in
1975 was titled 'Programa Nacional do Alcool' with the high ideal
(never met) of providing 100% of transport fuel needs produced within
Brazil. A resurgence in scientific experimentation resumed, and
having already mastered the ethanol solution, new avenues were
explored with other fermentable carbohydrates offering up both gases
and liquids.
The notion was that the
country would be provided with both the hybridised cheaper mixture of
petroleum and ethanol for mass use, and the retained availability of
pure higher-priced 'better graded' petroleum as necessary for more
sensitive engine types. This came into official being only one year
later in 1976 when it became compulsory that blended fuel ('alcool')
was made available nationwide; under the 'Pro Alcool' campaign.
The major vehicle
manufacturers were tasked with recalibrating current engine families
already present in the country and the task of developing dedicated
and optimised 'Alcool' engines. To try and gain a publicity lead and
possible market share lead, Chrysler's local Dodge operations created
the first 100% (E100) ethanol powered engine, and installed it into
its local product, the 1800 (a Dodge badged UK originated Avenger).
Thereafter in May 1979
a fleet of two-thousand E100 vehicles was tested to 'de-bug'
potential problems, however although large mileages were covered, the
time-frame was small, and this appeared more a PR exercise to
convince the general public and so consumer marketplace.
But it was FIAT with
the 147 that marketed to the general public a fully E100 dedicated
car from its production line, and won applause for doing so. Other
manufacturers followed FIAT's lead and adapted standard ICE engines
to suit the combustion characteristics and exacerbated in use wear
and tear issues from such a pure and so rich use of ethanol.
This was set at various
levels to begin with, between a minimum of 10% (E10) to maximum of
22% (E22) between 1976 and 1993, this allowing various newer types of
more efficient and tunable IL4 engines to steadily replace the
ubiquitous VW 'boxer-4'. Thereafter, the increased adoption of
electronic ignition and fuel injection and altered ancillaries meant
that engines could be yet further refined to accept higher levels of
'alcool', thus after 1993 the blend was officially set at 22%.
Such technical
advancement, with later additions such as intelligent ECU's and
gas-flow sensors provided the basis for the Brazilian 'Flex-Fuel'
revolution as of 2003 onwards which has now become engrained into
many motorists' everyday lives.
However, legislated
flexibility was given at state level to take account of local market
differentiation, in terms of ethanol supply, petroleum supply, market
pricing fluctuations and general local income levels; and so
variations of 20% (E20) to 25% (E25) prevailed.
To increase the ethanol
volume mix – and so continue to wean off of higher worldwide petrol
levels – the standard was set at 25% in 2003; coinciding with the
availability of the first productionised 'Flex-Fuel' cars (VW Gol and
Chevrolet Corsa) and with the popularity of these cars prompting a
similar manufacturer and consumer movement with other marques, with
12 brands offering 'Flex-Fuel' products by 2010.
But periodic ethanol
shortages - so raising the commodity's price and thus negating policy
intentions - meant that greater flexibility had to be put back into
the system, with a prescribed low limit of 18% (E18) when necessary.
Nonetheless by 2015 the official mix had been reset from 25% to 27%
(E27).
The present question is
how recent record low worldwide oil prices might affect the
'Pro-Alcool' policy, yet history dictates that even with greater
flexibility on ethanol policy as a result, Brazil will invariably
maintain its self-supply stance with greater correlation to the BR(I)C, broader EM and entrenched OPEC providers of fossil-based global oil.
