Skip to main content

Trial of renewable diesel for Rio buses

Amyris Brasil, a subsidiary of Amyris, has announced that it will supply renewable diesel during a 12-month fleet test involving 20 city buses in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The renewable fuel derived from sugarcane, known locally as Diesel de Cana, will be blended at a 30 per cent rate with petroleum-derived diesel and used in Mercedes-Benz buses operated by Viação Saens Peña, a Rio-based bus operator. The Rio transportation federation, Fetranspor, will use the data collected during this fleet test to evaluate
March 23, 2012 Read time: 2 mins

Amyris Brasil, a subsidiary of 4229 Amyris, has announced that it will supply renewable diesel during a 12-month fleet test involving 20 city buses in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The renewable fuel derived from sugarcane, known locally as Diesel de Cana, will be blended at a 30 per cent rate with petroleum-derived diesel and used in 1685 Mercedes-Benz buses operated by Viação Saens Peña, a Rio-based bus operator. The Rio transportation federation, Fetranspor, will use the data collected during this fleet test to evaluate the engine and environmental benefits of Amyris’s renewable diesel. The results of the fleet test will be presented at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) taking place in Rio in June 2012.

The city of Rio de Janeiro has more than 8,000 buses consuming about 280 million litres of diesel per year. The Rio fleet test is expected to validate the significant reduction of nitrogen oxide and particulate matter emissions evidenced in recent Mercedes-Benz engine tests with a 30 per cent blend of Amyris’s renewable diesel.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Trailer buses - flexible and cost efficient passenger transport
    January 25, 2012
    A study of the German local public passenger transport market, initiated by Göppel Bus and carried out by Consultatio Venture, revealed unsurprising results that would apply to just about any operation in this sector throughout the world: the pressure on costs and capacity peaks pose the greatest problems for local public passenger transport operations.
  • Amey upgrades 64,000 Edinburgh streetlights
    July 19, 2021
    Amey says energy reduction will save Scottish capital's council £54m over next 20 years
  • Hawaii backs road user charging to replace fuel tax
    August 7, 2019
    Fuel tax revenue in Hawaii is falling - and even in paradise, someone has to pay. Adam Hill talks to Hawaii DoT’s Scot Uruda about a major change in the way the state funds road improvements All over the world, governments, transportation agencies and local authorities are casting around for new forms of revenue as the money from taxes imposed on fuel begins to trickle away. Spending is outstripping tax take as a combination of more efficient internal combustion engines and the increasing take-up of cars
  • Integrating traffic systems improves management and control
    April 25, 2012
    Following a successful trial in 2007, VicRoads has adopted Streams Motorway Management from Transmax as its primary traffic management and control system Throughout the world, the avoidable social cost of traffic congestion continues to rise each year with increased motorisation, urbanisation and population growth. Traffic congestion is responsible for an increase in travel times, vehicle operating costs and carbon emissions. In 2007, VicRoads commissioned Streams Motorway Management for the M1 Monash Freew