MAHLE is celebrating the one-year anniversary of its Global Biomobility Center, based at the company’s Tech Center in Jundiaí, São Paulo, Brazil. Launched to harness regional expertise and partnerships in South America, the center aims to drive global progress in biofuels and biomaterials for future mobility.
In its inaugural year, the center initiated eight development projects in collaboration with customers and research institutions. Beyond R&D, it has also taken on the critical role of tracking global trends and governmental policies related to biofuel adoption, while beginning to share its insights with teams in North America and Asia.
“Sustainable fuels must be scaled up quickly and globally to combat climate change,” said Arnd Franz, Chairman of the Group Management Board and CEO of MAHLE. Emphasizing the importance of technological diversity, he added that MAHLE is committed to using every available solution to achieve rapid and effective decarbonization in the mobility sector.
“MAHLE is strongly promoting an increase in biofuel blending to match the shares reached in Brazil or India across the world. By 2030, more than 20 percent of global fuel consumption must come from renewable resources to meet zero emission targets. The MAHLE Biomobility Center is working with governments, regulators and industry players in India, Thailand, Japan and other countries to reach this goal,” said Arnd Franz.
“The Global Biomobility Center was created with the mission of being MAHLE’s global competence center in Research & Development (R&D) for the development and application of biofuels and biomaterials, enabling their use on a larger scale throughout the world, supporting global decarbonization,” said Everton Lopes, Head of the MAHLE Technology Center in Brazil and responsible for the Global Biomobility Center.
Along with electrification and thermal management, highly efficient and sustainable internal combustion engines are a key MAHLE strategy field. Operated with renewable fuels such as hydrogen, synthetic fuels or biofuels, internal combustion engines have the potential to make a significant contribution to climate protection.
During this first year, projects on various topics have been started at the group’s Global Biomobility Center. The project range includes for example the development of a cellulosic filter medium and activated carbon from biomass, the development of an Ethanol Power Cell Unit (PCU) aiming to increase the efficiency of flex-fuel engines using ethanol as well as the development of a multifuel medium duty engine running on biomethane and ethanol. Also, the impact of using advanced biodiesel on the performance, durability, and emissions of heavy duty engines has been assessed.
Among these projects, 50 percent are developed in partnership with Brazilian research institutes and funded by government programs such as MOVER (Green Mobility and Innovation Program), Embrapii (Brazilian Agency for Research and Industrial Innovation), and FAPEMIG (Minas Gerais State Agency for Research and Development). Projects are being developed directly in partnership with OEMs, automotive suppliers and companies in the energy sector. Apart from developing sustainable technologies, the Global Biomobility Center initiates technical dialogs at the international level.
Biofuels are at the heart of Brazil’s decarbonization strategy. The country is a global pioneer in biofuel production and deployment, successfully combining mandates, financial incentives, and sustainability requirements to expand the supply of biofuels. Along with biofuels, biomaterials (or renewable materials) have considerable potential for replacing fossil products and reducing the carbon footprint of automotive parts.
