Brazil’s requirement for a 4% biodiesel blend (B4) goes into effect today. The country began with a 2% requirement in January 2008, which was subsequently increased to 3%.

Today, Brazil has 43 plants installed and allowed to produce and sell biodiesel with a total production capacity of nearly 3.6 billion liters (951 million gallons US) of biodiesel per year. Family farmers are responsible for about 15% of the production of raw materials towards the Brazilian industry of biodiesel. The Social Fuel Seal has been granted to 31 plants, which were responsible for more than 90% of contracted volume in auctions.

Brazil is expanding the participation of family farming in the production of different oilseeds, anticipating the next expansion in blend requirement to 5% (B5).

Engineers successfully fueled (with gasoline) and fired the Scuderi prototype engine for the first time, achieving the split-cycle engine’s concept of firing after top dead center. (Earlier post.) The Scuderi Group had unveiled a cutaway model of the first proof-of-concept prototype for the engine at the SAE World Congress in Detroit in April. (Earlier post.)

The Scuderi Engine is a split-cycle design that divides the four strokes of a conventional combustion cycle over two paired cylinders: one intake/compression cylinder and one power/exhaust cylinder. By firing after top-dead center, it produces highly efficient, cleaner combustion with one cylinder and compressed air in the other. Unlike conventional engines that require two crankshaft revolutions to complete a single combustion cycle, the Scuderi Engine requires just one. Besides the improvements in efficiency and emissions, studies show that the Scuderi Engine is capable of producing more torque than conventional gasoline and diesel engines.

Engineers at SwRI will continue further testing and adjustments for the next several weeks in order to fine tune the engine so it can reach its maximum efficiency levels. Engine maps, test data and other performance measurements are being made available to the global automotive community under non-disclosure agreements.

The one-liter, naturally aspirated gasoline prototype potentially produces up to 80% fewer toxic emissions than a typical internal combustion engine. When fully developed with its turbocharged and Air-Hybrid components, the engine is expected to achieve significant gains in fuel efficiency.

With the naturally aspirated engine up and running, the Scuderi Group and SwRI continue to work on the next prototypes. Completion of the turbocharged Scuderi Engine and the Scuderi Air-Hybrid are expected in 2010.

Engineers successfully fueled (with gasoline) and fired the Scuderi prototype engine for the first time, achieving the split-cycle engine’s concept of firing after top dead center. (Earlier post.) The Scuderi Group had unveiled a cutaway model of the first proof-of-concept prototype for the engine at the SAE World Congress in Detroit in April. (Earlier post.)

The Scuderi Engine is a split-cycle design that divides the four strokes of a conventional combustion cycle over two paired cylinders: one intake/compression cylinder and one power/exhaust cylinder. By firing after top-dead center, it produces highly efficient, cleaner combustion with one cylinder and compressed air in the other. Unlike conventional engines that require two crankshaft revolutions to complete a single combustion cycle, the Scuderi Engine requires just one. Besides the improvements in efficiency and emissions, studies show that the Scuderi Engine is capable of producing more torque than conventional gasoline and diesel engines.

Engineers at SwRI will continue further testing and adjustments for the next several weeks in order to fine tune the engine so it can reach its maximum efficiency levels. Engine maps, test data and other performance measurements are being made available to the global automotive community under non-disclosure agreements.

The one-liter, naturally aspirated gasoline prototype potentially produces up to 80% fewer toxic emissions than a typical internal combustion engine. When fully developed with its turbocharged and Air-Hybrid components, the engine is expected to achieve significant gains in fuel efficiency.

With the naturally aspirated engine up and running, the Scuderi Group and SwRI continue to work on the next prototypes. Completion of the turbocharged Scuderi Engine and the Scuderi Air-Hybrid are expected in 2010.

Carbon pools in the northern circumpolar permafrost region. Source: CSIRO. Click to enlarge.

New research shows that the amount of carbon stored in frozen soils in the Arctic and boreal regions of the world is more than double previous estimates and could, if emitted as carbon dioxide and methane, lead to a significant increase in global temperatures by the end of this century. The new estimate is more than 1.5 trillion tons of frozen carbon, about twice as much carbon as contained in the atmosphere.

In a paper published in the latest edition of the AGU journal Global Biogeochemical Cycles, an international team of researchers from the US, Australia, Canada, Sweden and Russia say that the frozen high-latitude soils have the potential to release vast quantities of carbon and methane into the atmosphere and subsequently influence carbon-climate feedbacks.

Warmer temperatures at high latitudes are already resulting in unprecedented permafrost degradation. Projections show that almost all near-surface permafrost will disappear by the end of this century exposing large carbon stores to decomposition and release of greenhouse gases.

The research shows that the amount of carbon stored in soils surrounding the North Pole has been hugely underestimated. Using the new carbon pool estimates from this research, permafrost degradation could account for the entire upper range of carbon-climate feedbacks currently estimated by climate models.

—Dr Pep Canadell, co-author and Executive Director of the Global Carbon Project at CSIRO

The area of all soils in the northern permafrost region is approximately 18,782 x 10³ km², or approximately 16% of the global soil area. In the northern permafrost region, organic soils (peatlands) and cryoturbated permafrost-affected mineral soils have the highest

mean soil organic carbon contents (32.2–69.6 kg m^-2).

The research tea, which had earlier found higher than estimated carbon pools in the northern soils, developed a new estimate including deeper layers and pools not accounted for in previous analyses. Carbon pools were estimated to be 191.29 Pg for the 0–30 cm depth, 495.80 Pg for the 0–100 cm depth, and 1024.00 Pg for the 0–300 cm depth. Their estimate for the first meter of soil alone is about double that reported for this region in previous analyses.

In total, the northern permafrost region contains approximately 1672 Pg of organic carbon, of which approximately 1466 Pg, or 88%, occurs in perennially frozen soils and

deposits. This 1672 Pg of organic carbon would account for approximately 50% of the

estimated global below ground organic carbon pool

—Tarnocai et al. (2009)

Resources

• Charles Tarnocai, Josep G. Canadell, Edward A. G. Schuur, Peter Kuhry, Galina Mazhitova and Sergei A. Zimov (2009) Soil organic carbon pools in the northern circumpolar permafrost region.

  Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 23, GB2023, doi: 10.1029/2008GB003327

General Motors China and its joint ventures sold 814,442 vehicles in China in the first half of 2009. This represented an increase of 38.0% from the first six months of 2008. It was a first half record for both GM China and global automakers in China.

China’s vehicle market continued to outpace most expectations for growth. The market benefited from stimulus policies adopted by the Chinese government as well as growing demand for personal transportation in tier-three and tier-four cities and rural areas.

—GM China Group President and Managing Director Kevin Wale

GM and its joint ventures exceeded domestic sales of 100,000 vehicles in each of the first six months of the year.

GM China’s SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture once again registered record sales for its mini-commercial vehicles. In May, it became the first joint venture automaker in China to sell more than 100,000 vehicles in a single month. For the first six months as a whole, its sales totaled 524,598 units—an increase of 49.9% from the first half of 2008.

Its Wuling Sunshine minivan was China’s most popular vehicle, with sales of 295,789 units in the first half. Demand for the Wuling Rong Guang premium minivan, which was launched a year ago, nearly topped 100,000 units, while sales of SAIC-GM-Wuling’s Chevrolet Spark mini-car rose 60.0% to 32,065 units.

Led by record demand for its Buick lineup of passenger cars, Shanghai GM also continued to see its sales rise. The GM joint venture sold 288,843 vehicles in the first six months, as Buick sales jumped 34.0% on an annual basis to 195,989 units. Sales of the Excelle lower-medium sedan remained solid at 115,877 units and sales of the New Regal continued to build since its introduction in December to 35,729 units in the first half. In addition, sales of Shanghai GM’s Chevrolet lineup were up, with the new Cruze compact sedan getting off to a good start; 19,196 were sold in its first three months on the market.