v. 2 n. 2 (2018): Pesquisa e Ensino em Ciências Exatas e da Natureza

The Exame Nacional do Ensino Médio (Enem) has used biofuel as the topic of questions since the implementation in 2004 of an inter-ministerial program of the Federal Government denominated the Programa Nacional de Produção e Uso do Biodiesel (PNPB), the aim of which is to find sustainable alternatives to the use of diesel oil. The basis of this program is the development of family farming and investments in scientific research to improve the production and use of biofuel. With this subject in mind, Freire et al. (see article in this edition) sought to understand the profile of questions addressing biofuel on the NHSE, considering the national context and the presentation of information on biofuel. The authors selected a total of nine out of a universe of 1503 questions between 1998 and 2017 and found that, beginning in 2003, the NHSE addressed the issue of the transformation of vegetal oil into biofuel through the transesterification reaction and policies regarding use and production. The cover photo was courtesy of MultiPetro – Diesel Oil and Petroleum Product Distributor, which is one of the main biofuel distributors in the state of Paraná. MultiPetro has been supporting sustainability and, consequently, a better world for us all. The photo was originally published on May 25th, 2017, on the company's website and shows soybeans, which constitute one of the main raw materials for the production of biofuel in Brazil.