Contact Us

Petrobras Joins Model Fuels Consortium II

Third-largest energy company in the world aligns with Reaction Design to focus on
computer modeling of "real fuels"

San Diego, CA – February 16, 2011 – Reaction Design, a leading developer of advanced combustion simulation software, announced today that Petrobras has joined the Model Fuels Consortium II (MFC-II). Petrobras was a participant in the inaugural phase of the Consortium and is keenly interested in the Consortium’s work toward creation of accurate fuel models and combustion simulation tools that will enable the next generation of more efficient engines used for transportation and power generation.

“Fuel producers must consider a widening product range, from cleaner, high-performance petroleum blends to alternative fuels that vary in quality,” said Alipio Ferreira Pinto, Jr., Downstream R&D General Manager at Petrobras. “The MFC helps us make good decisions by creating accurate and industry-validated computer models of complex fuels.”

The MFC-II builds on the work of the original Consortium and continues the innovative design work targeting cleaner burning, more efficient transportation engines, power turbines and fuels. The group was established in 2005 to address engine design challenges caused by the urgent need to reduce pollutant emissions and the economic realities driving the introduction of both modified conventional fuels and new and more complex alternative fuels. The MFC’s primary focus has been to assemble realistic surrogate fuel models that make it possible to represent the precise characteristics of current and future fuels.

“Global industry leaders that participate in the Consortium can design highly efficient and cleaner-burning products that can transform energy sources into progress and growth,” said Bernie Rosenthal, CEO of Reaction Design. “The MFC’s vision and work leads to highly visible and crucial successes in addressing global issues, and is creating a framework for the way modern design will be done industry-wide.”

In addition to Petrobras, current members of the Consortium are ConocoPhillips, GE Energy, l’Institut Français du Pétrol (IFP), Mazda, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Reaction Design, Saudi Aramco, Suzuki, Toyota and Volkswagen.

About Petrobras
Petrobras, a leader in the Brazilian oil industry, provides energy that can propel development and ensure the future of our society. Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Petrobras is a publicly traded corporation; the majority stock holder is the Government of Brazil.  Petrobras engages in exploring, producing, refining, and trading of oil and natural gas, and transportation of oil extracted from reservoir wells and shale and other rocks.  It owns and operates thermoelectric, petrochemical, and other plants, and is involved in the purchase, production, transportation, and distribution of liquefied natural gas, electric energy, biofuel and other renewable energy supplies.  Petrobras has expanded their operations, aiming to be among the top five integrated energy companies in the world by 2020. Petrobras has a presence in 28 countries and the 2009-2013 business plans foresee investments on the order of $174.4 billion.

About Reaction Design
Reaction Design, a San Diego-based engineering software provider, enables transportation manufacturers and energy companies to rapidly achieve their Clean Technology goals by automating the analysis of chemical processes via computer simulation and modeling solutions. Reaction Design is the exclusive developer and distributor of CHEMKIN and CHEMKIN-PRO, the de facto standards for modeling gas-phase and surface chemistry, providing engineers ultra-fast access to reliable answers that save time and money in the Development process. Reaction Design’s ENERGICO software brings accurate chemistry simulation to gas turbine and boiler/furnace combustion systems using automated reactor network analysis. Reaction Design also offers the CHEMKIN-CFD software package, which brings detailed kinetics modeling to other engineering applications, such as Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) programs. Reaction Design’s world-class engineers, chemists and programmers have expertise that spans multi-scale engineering from the molecule to the production plant. Reaction Design serves more than 400 customers in the commercial, government and academic markets.


Reaction Design can be found online at www.reactiondesign.com.

CHEMKIN®, CHEMKIN-PRO® and Reaction Design® are registered trademarks of Reaction Design. ENERGICO, CHEMKIN-CFD and Model Fuels Consortium are trademarks of Reaction Design.