Unicamp and Nissan signed this Friday a service provision contract aimed at a study on the use of bioethanol as an option for electric mobility. The Japanese manufacturer is the first in the world to develop a prototype vehicle with a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) that runs on energy generated by ethanol. The document was signed by the rector of Unicamp, Marcelo Knobel, and the president of Nissan do Brasil, Marco Silva, in the Rectory's Office. The research will be conducted at Unicamp's Genomics and BioEnergy Laboratory.
The agreement provides for analysis, research and development of products and processes related to vehicle technologies and biofuels, as well as assessments of trends in the sugar-energy sector. “It is a first contract, made with a single laboratory, for the development and testing of a new Nissan technology. It is a first step, bringing specialists from the company to evaluate all the possibilities we have for joint work involving other laboratories in the future”, said dean Marcelo Knobel.
Marco Silva, in turn, said that the idea is to put ethanol technology into Nissan vehicles not only in Brazil, but worldwide. “We want to take this technology developed to Japan and also to other countries. We have several interests in relation to electrification and forms of propulsion, and the 100% electric engine is one of them, but we see a great opportunity for our products through technology based on the solid oxide fuel cell. And the Unicamp study will help us with this completely innovative technology of hydrogen generated by ethanol.”
Nissan clarifies that, despite the use of ethanol, it is not a hybrid set, as there is no combustion. Alcohol enters the system only to produce, through a chemical reaction, hydrogen – responsible for supplying the fuel cell, which generates electricity. The combination of this with two other technologies, the engine and electric batteries, guarantees the vehicle a range of more than 600 km. The first period of testing the supply and use of the SOFC was carried out until 2017 by the manufacturer's R&D team. Currently, the prototype is in a new testing phase in Japan, but according to Marco Silva, it will be brought back to Brazil by the end of the year.
Professor Gonçalo Amarante Guimarães Pereira, from the Genomics and BioEnergy Laboratory, explains that the new fuel cell engine allows the electric car's battery to be replaced by the ethanol tank. “Electric motors are much more efficient than combustion engines, but they require a battery, which is a problem in terms of price, size, recharging time and also pollution, not directly, but in their production process – analyzing the life cycle, from cradle to grave, a battery electric car in Europe pollutes as much as a gasoline car.”
Jump in ethanol production
Gonçalo Pereira recalls the history of ethanol in Brazil starting with the oil crisis in the 1970s, when the price per barrel went from three to 30 dollars, paralyzing the world. “Brazil, which did not produce ethanol, developed the alcohol-powered car, going from zero to 10 billion liters in ten years. With pressure from plant owners for a price increase and the discredit of the alcohol-fueled car, the industry reacted again and the flex-fuel car came along, with production going from 10 billion to 30 billion liters, as we have now. What we are seeing is a technology capable of promoting a new leap in ethanol production.”
The Unicamp professor also recalls that ethanol production leveraged an entire chain, with the requirement for more varieties of sugarcane, mechanization of cultivation and an adequate disposal of bagasse, generating the bioelectricity that today supplies a large part of São Paulo. “In addition, while each fossil energy unit generates one job, the bioelectricity unit can generate seven jobs. The importance of this new technology is that it is a vector that pulls together an entire chain, which perhaps explains how a genetics professor is leading an agreement with an automobile industry”, he jokes.
According to Pereira, this first contract between Unicamp and Nissan aims to evaluate our ethanol production potential, and not just for Brazil, as it is estimated that we could supply the entire world fleet if half of the 180 million hectares of pastures were dedicated to cane. “It turns out that the oil industry is very strong and introducing a new technology, even if it makes sense, is not easy. The fact is that ethanol, unlike oil, can be produced in Africa, for example, creating jobs and alleviating the problem of immigration in Europe. This would democratize energy generation.”
