Devastating floods in Italy claim lives and leave thousands homeless

 Angela Giuffrida in Rome
Wed 17 May 2023 20.59 BST

Twenty-one rivers burst their banks after heavy storms across country cause landslides and submerge villages

People call for help as extreme floods engulf houses and roads in Italy 

Nine people have died and thousands have been evacuated from their homes after heavy storms wreaked havoc in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, causing severe flooding and landslides.

People sought refuge on the rooftops of their homes after 21 rivers broke their banks, submerging entire towns.

Among the victims were an elderly man and a couple who owned a company in the agriculture sector, according to Corriere della Sera. The body of a German woman was found on a beach in Cesenatico, a town by the Adriatic coast, but it is unclear if she was killed in the storms. Others are still reported missing.

The Emilia Romagna F1 Grand Prix scheduled this weekend has been cancelled.

“The only irreparable thing in this emergency are the nine people who lost their lives, and we hope there are no more,” said Stefano Bonaccino, president of Emilia Romagna.

Italy’s civil protection agency said on Wednesday there could be worse to come. “The rainfall is not over, it will continue for several hours,” the agency’s chief, Titti Postiglione, told SkyTG24 news. “We are facing a very, very complicated situation.”

The Savio River in Cesena, central Italy, which burst its banks. Photograph: AP

There has been heavy rain across Italy in recent days but the worst-affected area has been Emilia-Romagna and parts of the central Marche region, where 12 people died in floods last September.

In a video shared on social media, the voices of people trapped in their homes in Faenza, a city in Ravenna province, could be heard shouting for help. Massimo Isola, the mayor of Faenza, said: “We had a night that we will never forget. We’ve never known such flooding in our city, it is something unimaginable.”

Enzo Lattuca, the mayor of Cesena, where citizens swam through the floods to rescue others, said: “The situation is disastrous, it’s a catastrophe, and the rain has not yet finished.”

He said on Wednesday morning the River Savio was starting to swell again.

Emilia-Romagna and parts of Marche have been badly affected by heavy rain, floods and landslides

A bridge that connected Motta-Budrio with San Martino in the area of Bologna collapsed overnight. “Do not go near it,” Italy’s fire service warned. “There is a gas pipeline close by which also seems to be affected.”

Five thousand people were evacuated from their homes in Ravenna. “It’s probably the worst night in the history of Romagna,” Michele de Pascale, the mayor of Ravenna, told Rai radio. “Ravenna is unrecognisable for the damage it has suffered.”

Dario Nardella, the mayor of Florence, said mountain villages on the Romagna side of the Mugello valley had been cut off due to landslides.

Motor diesel convertido para etanol pode estar disponível em 2010

Uma multinacional do grupo Fiat, a FPT Powertrain Technologies, está desenvolvendo no Brasil um motor a propulsão que utiliza etanol no lugar de óleo diesel. Previsto para o mercado brasileiro entre o final de 2010 e início de 2011, o equipamento poderá ser usado em caminhões, tratores e motobombas.

Segundo informações da empresa, o projeto terá como público-alvo as usinas de cana-de-açúcar. “Acreditamos que os clientes potenciais são os produtores de açúcar e etanol, por terem a vantagem de produzir o próprio combustível utilizado neste motor, o que simplifica a logística de produção”, informa a companhia.

Alfred Szwarc, assessor de Emissões e Tecnologia da União da Indústria de Cana-de-Açúcar (UNICA), informa que a FPT já vem trabalhando com o conceito de alimentação etanol-diesel há mais de um ano e em junho, por ocasião do Ethanol Summit 2009, anunciou que desenvolveria um motor 100% etanol.

“A perspectiva de que em cerca de um ano já tenhamos à disposição do setor sucroenergético um motor para máquinas agrícolas, operando exclusivamente com etanol, é uma excelente noticia. Não somente por permitir que o produtor possa utilizar o seu próprio produto em vez do combustível fóssil, mas também por avançar na auto-suficiência energética e ajudar na redução de gases de efeito estufa", avalia o assessor da UNICA.

De acordo com Franco Ciranni, superintendente da companhia para o Mercosul, o objetivo do projeto é ajudar a tornar o processo produtivo do etanol totalmente carbono neutro. “Quando utilizamos combustíveis fósseis retiramos o carbono do solo e, ao queimá-lo, o despejamos na atmosfera aumentando assim o efeito estufa”.

Tecnologia

O motor Cursor 8 E-100 movido a etanol é uma variante de modelo a diesel e gás fabricado pela empresa na Europa. Para a conversão do motor foi realizada a aplicação dos sistemas de ignição e injeção indireta Otto (combustão de ignição por centelha) em motores do Ciclo Diesel, sendo necessária a modificação do cabeçote, tampa que fecha a parte superior do bloco de cilindros, para instalação desses sistemas.

Foi feito ainda um trabalho de adequação de componentes para resistir às características específicas do etanol. Todas as modificações garantiram a manutenção do torque original, mesmo com a substituição do combustível, de acordo com informações fornecidas pela FTP.

A FPT possui 16 fábricas e 11 centros de pesquisa e desenvolvimento em oito países. No Brasil, possui unidades em Betim e Sete Lagoas, ambas em Minas Gerais, e em Curitiba, no Paraná.

Motor diesel convertido para etanol pode estar disponível em 2010

Uma multinacional do grupo Fiat, a FPT Powertrain Technologies, está desenvolvendo no Brasil um motor a propulsão que utiliza etanol no lugar de óleo diesel. Previsto para o mercado brasileiro entre o final de 2010 e início de 2011, o equipamento poderá ser usado em caminhões, tratores e motobombas.

Segundo informações da empresa, o projeto terá como público-alvo as usinas de cana-de-açúcar. “Acreditamos que os clientes potenciais são os produtores de açúcar e etanol, por terem a vantagem de produzir o próprio combustível utilizado neste motor, o que simplifica a logística de produção”, informa a companhia.

Alfred Szwarc, assessor de Emissões e Tecnologia da União da Indústria de Cana-de-Açúcar (UNICA), informa que a FPT já vem trabalhando com o conceito de alimentação etanol-diesel há mais de um ano e em junho, por ocasião do Ethanol Summit 2009, anunciou que desenvolveria um motor 100% etanol.

“A perspectiva de que em cerca de um ano já tenhamos à disposição do setor sucroenergético um motor para máquinas agrícolas, operando exclusivamente com etanol, é uma excelente noticia. Não somente por permitir que o produtor possa utilizar o seu próprio produto em vez do combustível fóssil, mas também por avançar na auto-suficiência energética e ajudar na redução de gases de efeito estufa", avalia o assessor da UNICA.

De acordo com Franco Ciranni, superintendente da companhia para o Mercosul, o objetivo do projeto é ajudar a tornar o processo produtivo do etanol totalmente carbono neutro. “Quando utilizamos combustíveis fósseis retiramos o carbono do solo e, ao queimá-lo, o despejamos na atmosfera aumentando assim o efeito estufa”.

Tecnologia

O motor Cursor 8 E-100 movido a etanol é uma variante de modelo a diesel e gás fabricado pela empresa na Europa. Para a conversão do motor foi realizada a aplicação dos sistemas de ignição e injeção indireta Otto (combustão de ignição por centelha) em motores do Ciclo Diesel, sendo necessária a modificação do cabeçote, tampa que fecha a parte superior do bloco de cilindros, para instalação desses sistemas.

Foi feito ainda um trabalho de adequação de componentes para resistir às características específicas do etanol. Todas as modificações garantiram a manutenção do torque original, mesmo com a substituição do combustível, de acordo com informações fornecidas pela FTP.

A FPT possui 16 fábricas e 11 centros de pesquisa e desenvolvimento em oito países. No Brasil, possui unidades em Betim e Sete Lagoas, ambas em Minas Gerais, e em Curitiba, no Paraná.

Italians to produce biodiesel from seaweed

Italian biodiesel producers currently producing from food crops are working together to substitute seaweed for first-generation feedstocks. The eight companies involved in the €10 million scheme currently produce diesel from crops like corn and rapeseed. They hope to be able to produce fuel from seaweed commercially within five years. ‘The initiative aims to substitute or integrate the raw material used today with another which does not compete with crop cultivation,’ said Pier Giuseppe Polla, vice-president of Italy's Union of Biodiesel Producers, which heads the project. The group is currently working with scientists at the University of Florence to select the most suitable species of seaweed. The crop will be contained in plastic tubes and fed with carbon captured from a local power station. The group hopes to have established the technology within two years. It will then build a plant, probably in southern Italy.

Italians to produce biodiesel from seaweed

Italian biodiesel producers currently producing from food crops are working together to substitute seaweed for first-generation feedstocks. The eight companies involved in the €10 million scheme currently produce diesel from crops like corn and rapeseed. They hope to be able to produce fuel from seaweed commercially within five years. ‘The initiative aims to substitute or integrate the raw material used today with another which does not compete with crop cultivation,’ said Pier Giuseppe Polla, vice-president of Italy's Union of Biodiesel Producers, which heads the project. The group is currently working with scientists at the University of Florence to select the most suitable species of seaweed. The crop will be contained in plastic tubes and fed with carbon captured from a local power station. The group hopes to have established the technology within two years. It will then build a plant, probably in southern Italy.

European body sees algae fuel industry in 10-15 years

By Svetlana Kovalyova

MILAN (Reuters) - Industrial-scale production of bioenergy from algae, or seaweeds, can be expected in 10 to 15 years, helping Europe to reach its green energy targets, the top official at a newly created bioenergy body said on Wednesday.

Companies around the world are racing to find economic ways to make biofuels from algae, one of the planet's oldest life forms. Such fuels are considered to be net carbon neutral because the algae absorbs greenhouse gases when they grow.

Research into algae-made biofuels has been active in the last 3 to 5 years, but it would take another 10 to 15 years to turn laboratory experiments into industrial-scale production, said Raffaello Garofalo, executive director of the European Algae Biomass Association.

"It will happen in the longer term, 10 to 15 years ... There are still challenges and problems to resolve," Garofalo told Reuters in a telephone interview from Florence, Italy, where the EABA was officially launched on Wednesday.

The new association unites 54 members representing science and industry and aims to be the platform for creating a full algae-based production chain, from biofuels to animal feed and nutrients, Garofalo said.

Making biodiesel from algae costs at least 10 to 30 times more than making traditional biofuels at present, he said.

But extracting value from by-products, which can be used in animal feed or pharmaceutical industries, would help bring down overall price and make algae fuel competitive with traditional fuels faster, he said, adding that he saw a competitive price level at about $500 to $550 per tonne of biodiesel.

Garofalo brushed off concerns that lower oil prices can push development of biofuels, including those made from algae, to the back burner because the world needs new technologies to reduce carbon emissions and fight climate change.

"Algae have a potential to provide answers in this respect: There is no competition food versus energy. There is no impact on land use and algae absorb CO2 as they grow," he said.

Pilot projects to make energy from algae have been operating in Portugal, Italy and other countries, Garofalo said but warned against expectations of quick technological break-though or start of industrial production.

"One of the risks of algae business is the risk of over-enthusiastic announcements ... The potential is enormous but the challenges remain very important too," he said.

Garofalo, also secretary general of the European Biodiesel Board, said Europe's biodiesel output in 2008 was slightly higher than in 2007, but declined to give precise figure.

The European Union's biodiesel output came in at 5.7 million tonnes in 2007, up 17 percent from 2006, according to EBB data on its Web site.

(Editing by Lisa Shumaker) - REUTERS

European body sees algae fuel industry in 10-15 years

By Svetlana Kovalyova

MILAN (Reuters) - Industrial-scale production of bioenergy from algae, or seaweeds, can be expected in 10 to 15 years, helping Europe to reach its green energy targets, the top official at a newly created bioenergy body said on Wednesday.

Companies around the world are racing to find economic ways to make biofuels from algae, one of the planet's oldest life forms. Such fuels are considered to be net carbon neutral because the algae absorbs greenhouse gases when they grow.

Research into algae-made biofuels has been active in the last 3 to 5 years, but it would take another 10 to 15 years to turn laboratory experiments into industrial-scale production, said Raffaello Garofalo, executive director of the European Algae Biomass Association.

"It will happen in the longer term, 10 to 15 years ... There are still challenges and problems to resolve," Garofalo told Reuters in a telephone interview from Florence, Italy, where the EABA was officially launched on Wednesday.

The new association unites 54 members representing science and industry and aims to be the platform for creating a full algae-based production chain, from biofuels to animal feed and nutrients, Garofalo said.

Making biodiesel from algae costs at least 10 to 30 times more than making traditional biofuels at present, he said.

But extracting value from by-products, which can be used in animal feed or pharmaceutical industries, would help bring down overall price and make algae fuel competitive with traditional fuels faster, he said, adding that he saw a competitive price level at about $500 to $550 per tonne of biodiesel.

Garofalo brushed off concerns that lower oil prices can push development of biofuels, including those made from algae, to the back burner because the world needs new technologies to reduce carbon emissions and fight climate change.

"Algae have a potential to provide answers in this respect: There is no competition food versus energy. There is no impact on land use and algae absorb CO2 as they grow," he said.

Pilot projects to make energy from algae have been operating in Portugal, Italy and other countries, Garofalo said but warned against expectations of quick technological break-though or start of industrial production.

"One of the risks of algae business is the risk of over-enthusiastic announcements ... The potential is enormous but the challenges remain very important too," he said.

Garofalo, also secretary general of the European Biodiesel Board, said Europe's biodiesel output in 2008 was slightly higher than in 2007, but declined to give precise figure.

The European Union's biodiesel output came in at 5.7 million tonnes in 2007, up 17 percent from 2006, according to EBB data on its Web site.

(Editing by Lisa Shumaker) - REUTERS

Jatropha for biofuel to be grown in Morocco

An Italian bioenergy consultancy company, Agroils, who is cultivating 10,000 hectares of jatropha in Ghana for the production of biofuels, have announced that they will be looking to expand their test crop in Morocco. According to a number of reports, Agroils is also investing in the cultivation of jatropha in four African countries - Morocco, Ghana, Senegal and Cameroon. Agroils’ Business Development Manager, Giovanni Venturini Del Greco, said at an energy conference last week, that the company aims at producing 100,000 tonnes of biofuel from the jatropha plant in 2018 in these countries where it works with local farmers. The project in Morocco is small at the moment - some 200-hectares - in a desert in Morocco The company started the cultivation in 2008, the report said.

Jatropha for biofuel to be grown in Morocco

An Italian bioenergy consultancy company, Agroils, who is cultivating 10,000 hectares of jatropha in Ghana for the production of biofuels, have announced that they will be looking to expand their test crop in Morocco. According to a number of reports, Agroils is also investing in the cultivation of jatropha in four African countries - Morocco, Ghana, Senegal and Cameroon. Agroils’ Business Development Manager, Giovanni Venturini Del Greco, said at an energy conference last week, that the company aims at producing 100,000 tonnes of biofuel from the jatropha plant in 2018 in these countries where it works with local farmers. The project in Morocco is small at the moment - some 200-hectares - in a desert in Morocco The company started the cultivation in 2008, the report said.