The demand for petroleum has been rising rapidly due to increasing industrialization and modernization. This economic development has led to a huge demand for energy, most of which is derived from fossil fuel. However, the limited reserve of fossil fuel has led many researchers to look for alternative fuels which can be produced from renewable feedstock. Increasing fossil fuel prices have prompted the global oil industry to look at biodiesel, which is from renewable energy sources. Biodiesel is produced from animal fats and vegetable oils and has become more attractive because it is more environmentally friendly and is obtained from renewable sources. Glycerol is the main by-product of biodiesel production; about 10% of the weight of biodiesel is generated in glycerol. The large amount of glycerol generated may become an environmental problem, since it cannot be disposed of in the environment. In this paper, an attempt has been made to review the different approaches and techniques used to produce glycerol (hydrolysis, transesterification, refining crude glycerol). The world biodiesel/glycerol production and consumption market, the current world glycerin and glycerol prices as well as the news trends for the use of glycerol mainly in Brazil market are analyzed. The technological production and physicochemical properties of glycerol are described, as is the characterization of crude glycerol obtained from different seed oil feedstock. Finally, a simple way to use glycerol in large amounts is combustion, which is an advantageous method as it does not require any purification. However, the combustion process of crude glycerol is not easy and there are technological difficulties. The news and mainly research about the combustion of glycerol was also addressed in this review.

Glycerol: Production, consumption, prices, characterization and new trends in combustion

Technologies for production of biodiesel focusing on green catalytic techniques: A review

The effects of catalysts in biodiesel production: A review

Biodiesel production has increased greatly in recent years, because of the less-detrimental effects of this fuel on the environment, compared to a conventional diesel obtained from petroleum. This work investigates the possibility of using MgO and calcined hydrotalcites as catalysts for the transesterification of soybean oil with methanol. The achieved experimental data show a correlation not only with the catalysts basicity, but also with its structural texture. However, the structural texture of the examined catalysts is dependent on both the precursor and the preparation method. At least four different types of basic sites have been individuated on the surface of MgO and calcined hydrotalcite catalysts. The strongest basic sites (super-basic) promote the transesterification reaction also at very low temperature (100 °C), while the basic sites of medium strength require higher temperatures to promote the same reaction. Ultimately, all the tested catalysts are resistant to the presence of moisture in the...

Transesterification of Soybean Oil to Biodiesel by Using Heterogeneous Basic Catalysts

Catalytic processes towards the production of biofuels in a palm oil and oil palm biomass-based biorefinery

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Gerald Ondrey

Papers

Biodiesel production using a heterogeneous catalyst

Coal to liquids

The divide in distillation

Gas to liquids

Outlets for glycerin