CONTROLE, NORMAS E DESEMPENHO DE COMBUSTÍVEIS: UMA ABORDAGEM INTEGRADA

Abstract

Fuel quality is essential to ensure energy efficiency, vehicle and machinery safety, and to minimize environmental impacts. Low-quality fuels can cause engine failures, increase consumption, lead to higher pollutant emissions, and raise maintenance costs. Adulteration and the presence of contaminants such as water and heavy metals worsen these risks. Among the main fuels, gasoline is efficient for light vehicles but highly polluting; ethanol, a renewable fuel derived from plants, reduces greenhouse gas emissions; diesel, widely used in heavy vehicles and machinery, may be produced with low sulfur content to decrease pollutants; and biodiesel, obtained by transesterification of oils or fats, offers a cleaner alternative to fossil diesel. Ensuring fuel quality is therefore strategic for efficiency, sustainability, safety, and economic performance, contributing to the development of the energy and logistics sectors in Brazil and globally. The internship at the Q-Laboratórios fuel laboratory in Rio Verde, Goiás, enabled the monitoring of all stages of quality control for ethanol, gasoline, diesel, and biodiesel, from sample collection to issuance of conformity reports and analyses. Physicochemical tests were carried out according to ANP specifications, using specialized equipment to evaluate parameters such as color, appearance, density, alcohol content, flash point, water content, electrical conductivity, and biodiesel content. The 1 year and 6 months of experience highlighted the importance of laboratory rigor to ensure the quality and safety of fuels distributed in the region.