The environmental problems caused by the excessive use of energy from
petroleum are causing countries seek to diversify sources of energy. Within this
context, is that the production of biodiesel from vegetable oils, has been increasing
in energy scenario. The extraction of the raw material used in producing these
biofuels is an extremely important step, so it is necessary to determine the best
form of his achievement, featuring the main chemical and physical factors that
affect this process. In order to optimize the extraction process of oil pits pequi, this
work was based on the realization of experiments that attempted to identify the
approximate oil content in the pits pequi and yet which is the best organic solvent,
hexane between ethanol and the mixture of these solvents for oil extraction from
the seed pequi for biodiesel production. Starting from the data obtained in the tests
performed in this study, it can be observed that the pits pequi has a high content
of oil, around 31%, much higher than found in soy beans, which today is raw -
material basis for biodiesel production. It was also observed that mixtures of two
organic solvents (hexane + ethanol) at a ratio of 1:1 was more efficient in the
process of Extracting approximately 34% of the oil present in the pits pequi.
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