TRACING ETHANOL-POWERED ENGINES IN BRAZIL TO THE 1950’S

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The greatest experiment in the world in the commercial exploration of biomass as a source of energy has taken place in Brazil. The Brazilian National Alcohol Program (ProAlcool – previous post), which has promoted the use of ethanol fuel made from sugarcane, is at the center of this experiment.

Brazilian experience has shown that it is possible to implement a large-scale alternative energy policy in a very short period of time. Ten years after the program’s inception in 1975, sales of ethanol-powered vehicles reached their peak. At the height of the program, between 1986 and 1989, over 90% of the automobiles produced by GM, Ford, Volkswagen, and FIAT in Brazil were powered by ethanol.

ITA (Instituto Tecnologico da Aeronautica, the Brazilian Air Force Technological Institute), was a pioneer center in the development of ethanol engines. Colonel Urbano Ernesto Stumpf, an engineer and professor, was at the forefront of the effort to develop the engine, a feat accomplished in 1953. The first steps towards industrialization were taken by Prof. Stumpf, who began his tests with the car fleet belonging to TELESP (Telecomunicacoes de Sao Paulo), the government-owned telecom carrier of the state of Sao Paulo. In the 1970s, the ethanol engine was introduced to the entire country.

Continued research on alternative engines and fuels led the Engine Division of the Institute for Research and Development (IPD) of the Brazilian Technical Air and Space Center (CTA) to also develop the first bus engine powered by natural gas.

Prof. Ernesto Stumpf was born in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil’s southernmost state. He is considered the father of Brazilian ethanol, as he was head of the Engine Research Lab of the CTA, in the city of Sao Jose dos Campos, in the state of Sao Paulo. He began his career as a sergeant at the Specialists’ School of the Brazilian Air Force, in the field of Engine Mechanics. After several years of study, he became an Aeronautical Engineer at ITA, where he lectured for twenty years.

His interest in ethanol dates back to 1951, when he earned his degree. At the time, a project was required for graduation, and he worked on an ethanol-powered engine toward that end.

His company, called PENTRA, was charged in 1974 with developing ethanol engines, which met with immediate success. His pioneering attitude in a wide range of fields, from the introduction of ethanol as automotive fuel to the production of the first engine powered by vegetable oil, won him several awards.

Prof. Stumpf received a posthumous tribute in 2004, when Law # 10,968 was passed, changing the name of the airport of the city of Sao Jose dos Campos to “Sao Jose dos Campos Prof. Urbano Ernest Stumpf Airport”.

In the 1980s, several patents for an ethanol-powered vehicle were registered by the CTA, with Prof. Stumpf as the inventor. Patent PI 8106855 shows a carburetor specifically designed for ethanol. The invention describes a carburetor with a variable-area Venturi, designed to run on combustible ethanol. Traditional carburetors for gasoline-powered engines, when adapted for use with ethanol, presented deficiencies in the pulverization of ethanol and uneven distribution of the air-ethanol mix, in addition to problems involving the corrosion of the materials used.

Because traditional carburetors are made of zinc and tin, ethanol becomes a perfect electrolyte, because it contains water and conducts electricity. Attempts to line the inner surfaces with anti-corrosives or plastics did not work. Variable Venturi carburetors, in which the Venturi simultaneously executes power modulation, had been rarely used up to then because of problems with sealing. The invention proposed by Prof. Stumpf in this patent consists in the substitution of the metal body of conventional carburetors for a body made of plastic, with no canals or screws. A piston (12), which moves inside a cylinder (13) balances out the axial forces, due to differences in pressure, which acts on the fuse (9). This difference is balanced through a tubular stem (10). The pulverization orifices are found in a ring canal in the periphery of the strangled section of the Venturi.

(to be continued)

Sources:

http://www.uol.com.br/bestcars/ct-combu.htm
http://www.uol.com.br/bestcars/ct/alcool.htm
http://geocities.yahoo.com.br/prcoliveira2000/motoresaexplosao.html
http://elogica.br.inter.net/ladislau/fontes.htm
http://elogica.br.inter.net/ladislau/biomassa.htm
http://www.ecomm.com.br/carosamigos/outras_edicoes/grandes_entrev/bautista.asp
http://www.mast.br/videos/tecnologia.htm
http://www.sbpe.org.br/v1n1/v1n1a2.htm
http://www.rits.org.br/pbsd
http://luciano.stanford.edu/~franca/ita/pub/ita.html
http://www.aondevamos.eng.br/boletins/edicao07.htm
http://www.udop.com.br/tecnologia/materias/tec_10_09_01.htm
http://www.udop.com.br/tecnologia/materias/tec_16_08_01.htm
https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_Ato2004-2006/2004/Lei/L10.968.htm

Cronologia do Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico Brasileiro, 1950-2000 (“Chronology of Brazilian Scientific and Technological Development”), MDIC, Brasília, 2002, pages 83, 91, 93, 95
Crônicas de Sucesso, Ciência e Tecnologia no Brasil (“Tales of Success, Science, and Technolgy in Brazil”), Ed. Ciência Hoje, page 31

Special thanks to the inventor’s son, Ricardo Dantas Stumpf (stumpf@solar.com.br), who, in December 2004, contributed to this report.

Follow what's happening in the Brazilian ethanol market on Ethablog, the only blog in English dedicated to Brazilian ethanol.