It is considered that, in a close future, the petroleum reservations economically viable will tend to the shortage. Besides it, the exacerbated current price levels of the petroleum barrel in the international market, the possibility of employment generation and income with the consequent fixation of man country life, the excellent and varied climatic conditions and several types of terrain become the country, with extensive workable areas, stand out in the world scenery if considering its great potentiality on generation of alternative fuels. The environmental preservation, important subject nowadays, makes that the human being work in searches for the development of alternative energies, mainly those originating from renewable and biodegradable sources of sustantable character. Taking in consideration those searches, the purpose of this work was to evaluate the performance of a diesel engine working in different moments with mineral diesel and mixtures of mineral diesel and biodiesel in the equivalent proportions B2 (98% mineral diesel and 2%biodiesel), B5 (95% mineral diesel and 5%biodiesel), B20 (80% mineral diesel and 20%biodiesel), and, finally, B100 (100% biodiesel). The rehearsal was accomplished in the dependences of the Engineering Department at UFLA - Federal University of Lavras, in Lavras, Minas Gerais, in July, 2005. For the accomplishment of the rehearsals it, was used an engine cycle diesel of a tractor VALMET 85 id, of 58,2kW (78 cv), following it methodology established by the norm NBR 5484 of ABNT (1985), that refers to the rehearsal dynamometric of engines cycle Otto and Diesel being proceeded. One noticed ended that the potency of the motor when using biodiesel was lower than one when using mineral diesel. One observed that, in some rotations, the mixtures B5 and B20 presented the same potency or even higher, in some situations, than the one when if using mineral diesel. The best thermal efficiency of the motor was verified in the rotation of 540 rpm of equivalent TDP to 1720 rpm of the motor.
Biodiesel; performance of a diesel engine; alternative fuel
