Brazilian diesel fuel specifications are established by the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP—Agência Nacional do Petróleo, Gás Natural e Biocombustíveis). The following were some of the important steps in the evalution of fuel standards in Brazil:
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- From December 2001, ANP Resolution 310/2001 defined the specifications for two types of on-road diesel fuel: Metropolitan and Interior. Metropolitan diesel fuel was the only diesel fuel permitted for sale in a number of cities in Brazil (first to those cities with poor air quality then to cities with more than 200,000 inhabitants) and limited sulfur to 2000 mg/kg. Interior diesel fuel was intended for the other parts of the country and had a sulfur limit of 3500 mg/kg.
- In December 2005, ANP Resolution 12/2005 introduced a third type of diesel fuel, S500, that had a sulfur limit of 500 mg/kg. It replaced Metropolitan diesel fuel in a number of municipalities in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Campinas, Baixada Santista, São José dos Campos, Belo Horizonte and Vale do Aço.
- In July 2006, a new diesel fuel specification was introduced, ANP Resolution 15/2006, that replaced ANP Resolution 310/2001. The S500 type of diesel fuel was dropped but the sulfur limits of Metropolitan and Interior diesel fuels were lowered to 500 and 2000 mg/kg respectively. In 2009, the sulfur limits for Metropolitan and Interior Diesel fuel will drop further to 50 and 500 mg/kg to coincide with the introduction of exhaust emission standards equivalent to Euro 4.
ANP Resolution 15/2006 also introduced a voluntary 2% biodiesel content. Law 11.097 passed in December 2005 (amending Law 9.478 of 1997) mandates 2% biodiesel by 2008 and 5% by 2013. It also provides a broad definition of biodiesel that can be used to meet this mandate as a biofuel derived from renewable biomass for use in compression ignition engines that can partially or wholly substitute fuel of fossil origin.