PERFORMANCE OF AN AGRICULTURAL TRACTOR IN FUNCTION OF BIODIESEL TYPE (SOYBEAN X MURUMURU) IN SOIL PREPARATION

Abstract

Biodiesel is a fuel obtained by transesterification of vegetable oils and animal fats, presenting renewable and biodegradable characteristics. Due to its growing use, it is necessary to expand the raw materials available in various regions and to study the effect of these new sources on agricultural machinery. The objective of the present study was to evaluate operating performance and smoke opacity of a tractor operating with soybean biodiesel and murumuru biodiesel. The experiment was conducted at the Department of Rural Engineering, UNESP/Jaboticabal. Mixing ratios of biodiesel/diesel were B0 (0% of biodiesel and 100% of diesel), B5 (5% of biodiesel and 95% of diesel), B15 (15% of biodiesel and 85% of diesel), B25 (25% of biodiesel and 75% of diesel), B50 (50% of biodiesel and 50% of diesel), B75 (75% of biodiesel and 25% of diesel) and B100 (100% of biodiesel and 0% of diesel). Results showed an increase of 9.59 and 15.85% in specific consumption when comparing B0 and B100 of murumuru and soybean, respectively. The consumption of B100 of murumuru was 6.91% lower than B100 of soybean. Smoke opacity decreased by 53.54 and 26.10% when working with murumuru and soybean biodiesel, respectively. The opacity of B100 of murumuru was 19.81% lower than B100 of soybean.