Análise bibliométrica do processo de produção de biodiesel pelo método de transesterificação

Abstract

Fossil fuels are exhaustible sources of energy. Furthermore, they are fuels with a great polluting potential, which has provoked discussions about biofuels and, mainly, biodiesel. This renewable fuel is considered a “clean” energy source because it is produced using vegetable oils or animal fat and, when burned, it does not release greenhouse gases at specific points. The characteristics of biodiesel are very similar to those of petroleum diesel, making it a promising substitute for diesel. However, it is a fuel with high raw material and production process costs. In order to obtain a general overview of its global development over the last five years, a bibliometric analysis of the biodiesel production process using the transesterification method was carried out. Bibliometrics made it possible to determine the areas of study, institutions and countries that were most interested in carrying out research on this subject, in addition to the raw materials and events most used in transesterification to produce this biofuel. From the Web of Science database, it was possible to obtain publications in articles on “biodiesel” and “transesterification” since 2019. As a result, it can be seen that of the countries where the research was carried out, 88 articles corresponded to India, followed by China, with 69 articles. Brazil is in seventh position, with 17 articles. The educational institution that made the most of these publications is the National Institute of Technology, in India, and the areas of study that developed the most were Fuels (27%), followed by Engineering (22%) and Chemistry (12% ). Analyzing the components of the transesterification occurrence most reported in the articles, it is clear that of the types of triglyceride sources used, vegetable oils are present in 76% of them, with a focus on residual cooking oils in 18% of cases. The alcohol that was most present in the transesterification reactions was methanol, a petroleum derivative. More research was carried out on the heterogeneous cases, more specifically on calcium oxide. There is a lot of research carried out on the occurrence of transesterification for the biodiesel production process, however, more studies should be carried out involving the replacement of petroleum-derived alcohol with another whose origin is more environmentally friendly and independent of fossil fuels. In this way, it will be possible to obtain an economical and environmentally viable biofuel.