Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: DANIEL ANANIAS REIS DE CAMPOS

Production, Specification and Comparison of Biodiesel Obtained from Macaúba and Buriti Pulp 

in different regions of Brazil

Biodiesel, macauba oil, buriti oil, quality control

In recent years, renewable energy sources have gained a lot of importance on the global stage. Biodiesel is one of these new sources of energy because its burning produces low levels of toxic waste and is produced from various raw materials. However, to be commercialized, biodiesel must comply with the quality standards required by the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) and the resolutions on the subject are No. 45/2014 and No. 798 / 2019.

Soy is the main raw material for the synthesis of Brazilian biodiesel, but the country has several native species with high potential for oil production, among these species: macaúba (Acrocomia aculeata) and buriti (Mauritia flexuosa). A law requires the planting of at least 20% of the rural property with permanent native forest. The use of these reforestation areas for the plantation of Macaúba and Buriti and the use of fruits for the production of biodiesel could contribute to the restoration of environmental balance and favor the country's economy.

Although they are present in a large part of the Brazilian territory and have excellent prospects to become a source of oil for the synthesis of biodiesel, buriti and macaúba are still wild trees. The buriti has few studies, mainly on biodiesel, no research having completely specified the biodiesel of this palm. Macauba has more studies on biodiesel synthesis, but there is no comparison between biodiesels from different locations. As the areas where these trees are present are very vast (cerrado, for macaúba and Amazonian forest, for buriti), it is expected that there will be some difference between the quality of biodiesel from the same species of tree from different locations.

In this way, this project seeks to produce and analyze all 24 biodiesel quality parameters, both for buriti and macaúba biodiesel, using the raw material from several locations in Brazil. In this way, it will be possible to conclude whether the biodiesel in each location is within the quality standards and can be sold and also find out where the best genotypes for biodiesel production are located, in case these trees are domesticated in the future.