REVISÃO BIBLIOGRÁFICA SOBRE COMBUSTÍVEIS RENOVÁVEIS

Abstract

Discussions about air pollution have gained worldwide prominence among concerns about the future of humanity. Annually, environmental councils meet to build new proposals and set goals to reduce pollutant emissions, in addition to promoting renewable energy sources. In these councils, motor vehicles, widely used globally, have a significant share in greenhouse gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide (CO2). These efforts reflect growing awareness of the priority to reduce the environmental impacts caused by motorized transportation and to promote sustainable development in the automotive sector. Continuous literature reviews are essential to understand the progress and outcomes of research focused on liquid fuels, energy efficiency, and advances in renewable fuels. The objectives of this work were to conduct a literature review on renewable liquid fuels and their advances concerning environmental protection, to verify the number of research studies on the subject in the Science Direct platform from 2019 to 2023, as well as to conduct a prospective analysis on promising renewable fuels by qualitatively assessing the positive and negative points of potential renewable fuel candidates. The results showed that Asia was the continent with the highest representation in terms of the number of articles, with India standing out, contributing 21 articles. Although various articles proposing new fuels were reviewed, many were still fuel blends, such as a new type of fuel being added to diesel or gasoline. It was observed that 16% of the analyzed articles dealt with fuels focused on the reuse of waste materials, whether industrial or domestic. This could indeed encompass the entire ecological chain currently under discussion, as residual waste is a problem on all scales, whether environmental due to improper disposal, economic due to the cost of treatment, or sanitary because of inadequate treatment. Furthermore, the vast majority of the fuels studied involved blending biofuels with plant-based raw materials, and four other articles focused on studying the effects of additives combined either with newly suggested fuels derived from renewable sources or with commonly used fossil fuels.