Brazilian engineers try boosting ethanol's efficiency

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian automotive engineers are working to design engines that burn ethanol as efficiently as gasoline, as more of their technologies are adopted by countries turning to biofuels.

"The local technology is serving as a foundation," Fabio Ferreira, head of applied engineering in Brazil for Germany's Robert Bosch GmBH ROBG.UL, which makes fuel injectors, said on Monday. "The alcohol protected fuel injector was designed here and later was adopted worldwide."

Ethanol, or alcohol, can cause corrosion, which requires engine makers to use resistant materials for fuel tanks, intake and exhaust systems.

New engines sold in Brazil, called flex-fuel motors, run on any combination of ethanol, which is distilled from sugar cane, or gasoline.

Right now, a tank of pure ethanol runs out of fuel about 30 percent faster than one burning gasoline. Engineers want to close that gap.

More than 80 percent of new cars sold in Brazil have flex-fuel engines, which were introduced in 2003. Ethanol in Brazil, the world's biggest sugar cane grower, tends to be about half as expensive as gasoline.

All Brazilian gasoline stations sell pure ethanol, or gasoline that contains a mixture of about 20 percent ethanol.

Besides fuel injectors, automotive makers like Volkswagen (VOWG.DE) and General Motors GM.N> are playing with turbos,