Preliminary Economic Study of Biodiesel Production from Pequi in Brazil

Abstract

This study deals with the economic feasibility of biodiesel production in Brazil by using the pequi oil as raw matter. The software SIMB-E was used during simulations in which a cash flow model related economic indexes with biodiesel production features. Competitiveness between selling prices of biodiesel and petro diesel, fixed capital costs, operating costs, depreciation, and auxiliary costs were also considered during the economic calculations. A total of 8 scenarios of production were simulated and 4 of them presented competitive biodiesel selling prices, being considered as worthwhile projects in the final analysis. But, all simulated scenarios were found to be potentially profitable and should be motivated considering sustainability, social and environmental aspects. The worthwhile projects were plants with alkaline transesterification, indicating that the success of biodiesel production from alternative raw matter still depends on incomes from the feedstock co-products and glycerol, as well as on the costs of catalyst and feedstock. Pequi contributed to the feasibility of biodiesel production due to its high yield, low costs of fruits and good valuation of its co-products.

Use of essential oils from plants of Araripe National Forest against Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae)

“…The low mortality presented in both works may have occurred because the plant oils act more as repellents, growth regulators and others, than as a direct effect on insect mortality (Alves et al, 2017). Essential oils from various parts of this plant have shown proven efficiency through significant toxic activity on several species of animals, for example disease-vectoring insects and mollusks, besides protozoa, bacteria, and pathogenic fungi (Lopes and Steidle Neto, 2017;Ribeiro et al, 2018). These studies open room for the investigation of other biological activities, as they allow inferring that pequi oils present effects on several groups of living organisms.…”

Economic and Technical Feasibility of Grain Chilling in Brazil

“…Economic analysis was performed based on the cash flow model [32,33], which is the balance of the number of revenues and expenses during the lifetime of the project, with year zero considering no revenues and the capital investment as expenses:…”

“…The net present value (NPV) is the most frequent index used for making economic decisions since it requires information about the rate of return, regulatory and market possibilities, as well as hedging options [32]. This index represents the present value of all revenues and costs during the period of analysis of the investment, with values greater than zero indicating profitability.…”