ANÁLISES DE PARÂMETROS FÍSICO-QUÍMICOS DO ÓLEO EXTRAÍDO DE ESPÉCIES VEGETAIS UTILIZADAS PARA A PRODUÇÃO DO BIODIESEL

Biodiesel is considered an excellent alternative to diesel derived from fossil sources, due to its renewable nature, which minimizes environmental impacts. In this research, several parameters were analyzed, such as the oil content of seeds, acidity and saponification indexes for oil extracted from different plant species, and qualitative analysis for the verification of free fatty acids in the biodiesel composition by thin layer chromatography (TLC). Four cultivars were evaluated for each specie: canola, sunflower, corn and soybean. Oil samples were submitted to the transesterification process for the production of biodiesel. The data were submitted to ANOVA and Tukey and F significance tests for evaluation of differences between and within species. A significant difference was observed in the percentage of oil between species, sunflower (40.4% to 46.6%), Análises físico-químicas de óleos vegetais para a produção de biodiesel 131 Colloquium Exactarum, v. 7, n.2, Abr-Jun. 2015, p.130 –141. DOI: 10.5747/ce.2015.v07.n2.e121 canola (38.4% to 41.9%), soy (17.1% at 21 , 8%) and corn (4.3% to 6.4%). The acidity and the saponification indexes values showed no differences between and within species, indicating the good quality of the oil. The TLC analysis revealed the presence of oleic, linoleic and palmitic acids in the biodiesel synthesized from each specie