Contribuição à análise crítica sobre os tipos de antioxidantes utilizados para a conservação de biodiesel

Abstract

Brazil is the second largest producer of biodiesel in the world. Compared to petroleumderived diesel, biodiesel tends to undergo rapid degradation (oxidative). Antioxidants are added to biodiesel to reduce the rates of these undesirable reactions. Most of antioxidants used are synthetic origin, however, there is a growing demand in the consumer market for natural oxidants as they represent a green, clean and renewable technology. This work presents a bibliographic review that aims to contribute to the foundation of a critical analysis on the use of antioxidants for the chemical stabilization of biodiesel during transport and storage. To facilitate the understanding of the application of antioxidants, the various topics covered were: biodiesel, natural antioxidants, synthetic antioxidants, the mechanism of action of antioxidants and Brazilian legislation. The critical analysis was focused on the comparison between those of synthetic origin with the natural ones. After, the implementation of production processes for natural antioxidants was addressed