Biochemical biomarkers in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) after short-term exposure to diesel oil, pure biodiesel and biodiesel blends

Fossil fuels such as diesel are being gradually replaced by biodiesel, a renewable energy source, cheaper and less polluting. However, little is known about the toxic effects of this new energy source on aquatic organisms. Thus, we evaluated biochemical biomarkers related to oxidative stress in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) after two and seven exposure days to diesel and pure biodiesel (B100) and blends B5 and B20 at concentrations of 0.01 and 0.1mLL -1. The hepatic ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase activity was highly induced in all groups, except for those animals exposed to B100. There was an increase in lipid peroxidation in liver and gills in the group exposed to the higher concentration of B5. All treatments caused a significant increase in the levels of 1-hydroxypyrene excreted in the bile after 2 and 7d, except for those fish exposed to B100. The hepatic glutathione-S-transferase increased after 7d in animals exposed to the higher concentration of diesel and in the gill of fish exposed to the higher concentration of pure diesel and B5, but decreased for the two tested concentrations of B100. Superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase also presented significant changes according to the treatments for all groups, including B100. Biodiesel B20 in the conditions tested had fewer adverse effects than diesel and B5 for the Nile tilapia, and can be suggested as a less harmful fuel in substitution to diesel. However, even B100 could activate biochemical responses in fish, at the experimental conditions tested, indicating that this fuel can also represent a risk to the aquatic biota. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.

Thermal behavior of renewable diesel from sugar cane, biodiesel, fossil diesel and their blends

Biofuels and their blends with fossil fuel are important energy resources, whose production and application have been largely increased internationally. This study focuses on the evaluation of the activation energy of the thermal decomposition of three pure fuels: farnesane (renewable diesel from sugar cane), biodiesel and fossil diesel and their blends (20% farnesene and 80% of fossil diesel - 20F80D and 20% farnesane, 50% fossil diesel and 30% biodiesel - 20F50D30B). Activation energy has been determined from thermogravimetry and Model-Free Kinetics. Results showed that not only the cetane number is important to understand the behavior of the fuels regarding ignition delay, but also the profile of the activation energy versus conversion curves shows that the chemical reactions are responsible for the performance at the beginning of the process. In addition, activation energy seemed to be suitable in describing reactivity in the case of blends of renewable and fossil fuels. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

Correlation Between Apparent Activation Energy and NOx emission of renewable diesel from sugar cane, biodiesel, fossil diesel and their blends

Biofuels and their blends with fossil fuel are important energy resources, which production and application have been largely increased internationally. This study focus on the development of a correlation between apparent activation energy (Ea) and NOx emission of the thermal decomposition of three pure fuels: farnasane (renewable diesel from sugar cane), biodiesel and fossil diesel and their blends. Apparent Activation energy was determined by using thermogravimetry and Model-Free Kinetics. NOx emission was obtained from the European Stationary Cycle (ESC) with OM 926LA CONAMA P7/Euro 5 engine. Results showed that there is a linear correlation between apparent activation energy and NOx emission with R2 of 0,9667 considering pure fuels and their blends which is given as: NOx = 2,2514Ea - 96,309. The average absolute error of this correlation is 2.96% with respect to the measured NOx value. The main advantage of this correlation is its capability to predict NOx emission when either a new pure fuel or a blend of fuels is proposed to use in enginees.

Greenhouse gas balance associated with sugarcane production in South-Central Brazil, considering the management and expansion

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Biodiesel CO2 emissions: A comparison with the main fuels in the Brazilian market

The use of biodiesel is increasing as an attractive fuel due to the depleting fossil fuel resources and environmental degradation. This paper presents results of an investigation on the potentials of biodiesel as an alternative fuel and main substitute of diesel oil, comparing the CO2 emissions of the main fuels in the Brazilian market with those of biodiesel, in pure form or blended in different proportions with diesel oil (2%, 5%, and 20%, called B2, B5, and B20, respectively). The results of the study are shown in ton CO2 per m(3) and ton CO2 per year of fuel. The fuels were analyzed considering their chemical composition, stoichiometric combustion parameters and mean consumption for a single vehicle. The fuels studied were: gasoline, diesel oil, anhydrous ethyl alcohol (anhydrous ethanol), and biodiesel from used frying oil and from soybean oil. For the case of biodiesel, its complete life cycle and the closed carbon cycle (photosynthesis) were considered. With data provided by the Brazilian Association of Automotive Vehicle Manufacturers (ANFAVEA) for the number of vehicles produced in Brazil, the emissions of CO2 for the national fleet in 2007 were obtained per type of fuel. With data provided by the Brazilian Department of Transit (DENATRAN) concerning the number of diesel vehicles in the last five years in Brazil, the total CO2 emissions and the percentage that they would decrease in the case of use of pure biodiesel, B100, or several mixtures, B2, B5 and B20, were calculated. Estimates of CO2 emissions for a future scenario considering the mixtures B5 and B20 are also included in this article. Crown Copyright (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Composição química das águas pluviais e deposição atmosférica anual na bacia do Alto Sorocaba (SP)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Anthropogenic influences on annual flux of cations and anions at meio stream basin, São Paulo State, Brazil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Economical analysis of ethanol steam reformer for hydrogen production associated with a sugarcane industry

An expressive amount of produced hydrogen is generated by customers in-situ such as petrochemical, fertilizer and sugarcane industries. However, the most utilized feedstock is natural gas, a non-renewable and fossil fuel. The introduction of biohydrogen production process associated in a sugarcane industry is an alternative to diminish emissions and contribute to create a CO2 cycle, where the plants capture this gas by photosynthesis process and produces sucrose for ethanol production. The cost of production of ethanol has dramatically decreased (from about US$ 700/m3 in 1970s to US$ 200/m3 today), becoming this a good option at near term, inclusively for its utilization by customers localized in main regions (localized especially in regions such as Southeastern Brazil) Also in near future, it will possible the utilization of fuel cells as form of distributed generation. Its utilization could occur specially in peak hours, diminishing the cost of investments in newer transmission systems. A technical and economic analysis of steam reformer of ethanol to hydrogen production associated with sugarcane industry was recently performed. This technique will also allow the use of ethanol when its price is relatively low. This study was based on a previous R&D study (sponsored by CEMIG - State of Minas Gerais Electricity Company) where thermodynamic and economic analyses were developed, based in the development of two ethanol steam reformers prototypes.x In this study an analysis was performed considering the use of bagasse as source of heat in the steam reforming process. Its use could to diminish the costs of hydrogen production, especially at large scale, obtaining cost-competitive production and permitting that sugarcane industry produces hydrogen in large scale beyond ethylic alcohol, anhydrous alcohol (or ethanol) and sugar.

Greenhouse gas emission associated with sugar production in southern Brazil

Background: Since sugarcane areas have increased rapidly in Brazil, the contribution of the sugarcane production, and, especially, of the sugarcane harvest system to the greenhouse gas emissions of the country is an issue of national concern. Here we analyze some data characterizing various activities of two sugarcane mills during the harvest period of 2006-2007 and quantify the carbon footprint of sugar production.Results: According to our calculations, 241 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent were released to the atmosphere per a ton of sugar produced (2406 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent per a hectare of the cropped area, and 26.5 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent per a ton of sugarcane processed). The major part of the total emission (44%) resulted from residues burning; about 20% resulted from the use of synthetic fertilizers, and about 18% from fossil fuel combustion.Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that the most important reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from sugarcane areas could be achieved by switching to a green harvest system, that is, to harvesting without burning. © 2010 de Figueiredo et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Glycerol: Production, consumption, prices, characterization and new trends in combustion

The demand for petroleum has been rising rapidly due to increasing industrialization and modernization. This economic development has led to a huge demand for energy, most of which is derived from fossil fuel. However, the limited reserve of fossil fuel has led many researchers to look for alternative fuels which can be produced from renewable feedstock. Increasing fossil fuel prices have prompted the global oil industry to look at biodiesel, which is from renewable energy sources. Biodiesel is produced from animal fats and vegetable oils and has become more attractive because it is more environmentally friendly and is obtained from renewable sources. Glycerol is the main by-product of biodiesel production; about 10% of the weight of biodiesel is generated in glycerol. The large amount of glycerol generated may become an environmental problem, since it cannot be disposed of in the environment. In this paper, an attempt has been made to review the different approaches and techniques used to produce glycerol (hydrolysis, transesterification, refining crude glycerol). The world biodiesel/glycerol production and consumption market, the current world glycerin and glycerol prices as well as the news trends for the use of glycerol mainly in Brazil market are analyzed. The technological production and physicochemical properties of glycerol are described, as is the characterization of crude glycerol obtained from different seed oil feedstock. Finally, a simple way to use glycerol in large amounts is combustion, which is an advantageous method as it does not require any purification. However, the combustion process of crude glycerol is not easy and there are technological difficulties. The news and mainly research about the combustion of glycerol was also addressed in this review. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Comparative study of the life cycle assessment of particleboards made of residues from sugarcane bagasse (Saccharum spp.) and pine wood shavings (Pinus elliottii)

This paper presents a research on the environmental impacts of particleboards produced from wastes, based on a comparative Life Cycle Assessment study. The particleboards were manufactured in laboratorial scale from the following residues: sugarcane bagasse (Saccharum spp.) and pine wood shavings (Pinus elliottii). The study was developed following the methodological guidelines of ISO 14040. The functional unit adopted was the m2 of the particleboards produced and the impacts were evaluated by the Environmental Development of Industrial Products method. The results indicated that pine particleboard present the highest environmental impact potential. Our findings suggested that the factors that mostly aggravated the environmental impacts were: the distance between the raw materials and the production site, and formaldehyde emissions (FE). The first is related to the combustion of fossil fuel during the acquisition of raw material, which achieved the values of 2185.94 g/m2 for consumption of non-renewable resources for pine particleboard and 893.53 g/m2 for bagasse particleboard. The second is related to the use of urea-formaldehyde resin, responsible for the FE into the air during production. The FE is accountable for the contamination of approximately 7,800,000.00 m3 of air per m2 of particleboard produced, and was the factor with the greatest impact in human toxicity potential. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Participação da energia fóssil na produção dos fertilizantes industriais nitrogenados com ênfase na uréia

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Análise energética do processo experimental de produção de biodiesel a partir de óleo de frango

Pós-graduação em Agronomia (Energia na Agricultura) - FCA

Instrumentos jurídicos do MDL - mecanismo de desenvolvimento limpo na implementação de reserva legal para fins energéticos no Brasil

Pós-graduação em Agronomia (Energia na Agricultura) - FCA

Subsolagem em profundidade variada com base no mapeamento de áreas de manejo específico

Pós-graduação em Agronomia (Produção Vegetal) - FCAV