Produção e caracterização das misturas do diesel com biodiesel de óleo de milho.

Global energy demand has increased significantly and nations have come to depend on petroleum as their primary energy source. However, the use of this raw material tends to have limitations regarding long-term availability. Thus, the study of different raw materials for the production of renewable fuels is of great importance. The present study had as objective the production of biodiesel from corn and the study of the physicochemical characteristics of the diesel-biodiesel mixtures in the proportions of 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80 % and 90%. Biodiesel was produced by methyl route, using sodium hydroxide (NaOH) as a catalyst. The transesterification took place under magnetic stirring, respecting the proportion of 6 moles of methyl alcohol to 1 mole of vegetable oil, 1% of NaOH in volumetric basis and stirring time of 60 minutes. An increase in specific mass and kinematic viscosity was observed in relation to the proportion of biodiesel in the blends. The results indicated that the production of biodiesel from corn oil had a satisfactory average yield of 94.29% and that only the diesel-biodiesel blends B10, B20, B30, B40 and B50 presented specific mass and kinematic viscosity in patterns consistent with the norm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]