Preliminary Economic Study of Biodiesel Production from Pequi in Brazil

The demand for renewable energy use is continuously rising, since fossil fuels have been depleted and their extensive use has caused environmental issues, such as global warming [1]. Among renewable energy options, Biofuel have attracted attention in part because they are liquid fuels that can be easily used in motor vehicles, and in some cases with little or no modification of existing gasoline or diesel fuel engines [2,3]. Over the last decade, global Biofuel production increased rapidly. In 2008, about 15 billion liters of biodiesel were produced globally. New projections indicate that the world biodiesel production tends to increase from 31 billion of liters in 2015 to 41.4 billion liters in 2025. The United States is still the largest Biofuel producer, followed by Brazil and the European Union. While corn-based ethanol is dominating domestic production in the United States, Brazil produces ethanol mainly from sugar cane and Biofuel production of the European Union is mainly derived from canola and sunflower crops [4].