The ramón tree, in addition to being an ally for carbon uptake and having important nutritional properties, can also be used as fuel
MÉRIDA, Yucatán.- The ramón tree, in addition to being an ally for the capture of carbon and having important nutritional properties, can also be used as fuel, thus making this fruit fully exploited.
Researchers from the Natural Resources and Renewable Energy Units of the Yucatan Scientific Research Center (CICY) have created a technique to produce bioethanol from the fermentation of the seed of the ramón tree (Brosimum alicastrum).
“The ramón seed, in addition to containing a high content of starch and protein, we have worked so that it can be energetic, that is, that the fruit can also be used for the creation of biofuel, that is, that the biotenal serves as Oxygenating component of gasoline that as a rule it must have in Mexico ”, explained Raúl Tapia Tussell, a researcher at the Renewable Energy Unit at CICY.
This is possible due to the large annual production of seeds from a single tree: up to 95 kilograms, so it can be a good generator of this fuel from flour, a process for which the patent has already been obtained.
“This tree has a wide variety of benefits, because not only do you have to see it from the point of view of a good generator of food or renewable energy, if you don’t have to see it as a whole, you have to start seeing the seed as part of a biorefinery process ”.
He recalled that in 2017 the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) modified the Official Mexican Standard (NOM) 016-CRE-2016, which establishes that 10 percent ethanol (E10) can be used as an oxygenator, with the exception of the metropolitan areas of Monterrey, Guadalajara, Valley of Mexico, and in which there are high levels of ozone.
Preservation of the environment
Thus, the bioethanol they produce can help reduce costs, conserve the environment and comply with this official standard. They hope that, despite the pandemic, there are entrepreneurs interested in the scale production of this new product, which is created with elements native to the region.
But to obtain this product, you must think in the same way about a reforestation program because currently there are no cultivated hectares since everything that has been used is obtained in the wild, from the tree that is in the communities.
Currently, only in the municipality of Izamal, there is a reforestation project in a particular way but it needs to be extended to other localities.
The work on obtaining ramón products has been done for more than 10 years at CICY where, in addition to the creation of biofuel, techniques have also been developed to obtain flour from the fruit; the researcher Alfonso Larqué Saavedra is the forerunner of these works.
Source: sipse.com
The Yucatan Post