(El Tiempo (Google Translation)) A regulation issued on Wednesday of last week by the ministries of Mines and Energy, Environment and Agriculture, and which seeks to increase the percentages of ethanol and biodiesel in the mixture with gasoline and Acpm, sparked a debate among the same unions, and these with the Executive for the initiative.
It is about Resolution 40421 of 2021, whose articles seek not only to bring the level of biodiesel to 12% and then between January and February to lower it to 11% and from March that the level is adjusted to 10%; but also, that of ethanol leave it at 7%, and then reduce it to 6% between February and June, and increase it to 8% in July, and from August the level is definitely at 10%.
“The adjustment of the ethanol and biodiesel blends, which are stipulated in the content in the resolution, is not a new initiative. In August 2018, the mix was 10% for ethanol and 10% for biodiesel.But after a series of technical discussions with other ministries such as the Environment, Agriculture and Commerce ministries, the percentage of biodiesel was brought to 12%, and an additional 3% was added for those industries that were excluded such as mining “, explained Diego Mesa, Minister of Mines and Energy.
The official, however, specified that, with the onset of the pandemic, both ethanol and biodiesel producers stated that they did not have the capacity to maintain the supply level, which forced a reduction in the mix of both vegetable fuels for the gasoline and diesel.
“With the new resolution, the lost ground is being regained, and the aim is to initially raise the level of ethanol to 7%, as well as to bring the biodiesel to 12% , that is, to place the mixtures at the previous levels, including to revitalize the production of the two plant components ”, underlined Minister Mesa.
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According to Resolution 41421 of 2021, diesel, whose biosiésel mix must reach 12% , will be supplied by retail distributors, ….
In dialogues that he held at the time with Portafolio, the president of Fedebiocombustibles, Jorge Bendeck, always insisted that the percentage of mixtures in biofuels, both for biodiesel and ethanol, must continue to increase.
Even, in the last conversation, he reiterated that a first step should be 10% to 12% in the mixture of palm oil with diesel. And with respect to the increase in sugarcane ethanol with gasoline, which today is 8% , the union leader stressed that the Government must adjust it so that first it reached 10% and then, exceed this percentage. READ MORE