The world is confronted with the twin crises of fossil fuel depletion and environmental degradation. The indiscriminate extraction and consumption of fossil fuels have led to a reduction in petroleum reserves. Petroleum based fuels are obtained from limited reserves. These finite reserves are highly concentrated in certain region of the world. Therefore, those countries not having these resources are facing a foreign exchange crisis, mainly due to the import of crude petroleum oil. Hence it is necessary to look for alternative fuels, which can be produced from materials available within the country. Although vegetative oils can be fuel for diesel engines, but their high viscosities, low volatilities and poor cold flow properties have led to the investigation of its various derivatives. Among the different possible sources, fatty acid methyl esters, known as Biodiesel fuel derived from triglycerides (vegetable oil and animal fates) by transesterification with methanol, present the promising alternative substitute to diesel fuels and have received the most attention now a day. The main advantages of using Biodiesel are its renewability, better quality exhaust gas emission, its biodegradability and the organic carbon present in it is photosynthetic in origin. It does not contribute to a rise in the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and consequently to the green house effect. This paper reviews the source of production and characterization of vegetable oils and their methyl ester as the substitute of the petroleum fuel and future possibilities of Biodiesel production.

Biodiesel production through the use of different sources and characterization of oils and their esters as the substitute of diesel: A review

Food waste generation and industrial uses: A review.

Due to the large amount of diesel fuel demands worldwide and the negative environmental and health impacts of its direct combustion, biodiesel production and consumption have been globally increasing as the best short-term substitute for mineral diesel. However, using edible and non-edible oil feedstocks for biodiesel production has led to several controversial issues including feedstock availability and cost, greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, land use changes (LUC), and fuel vs. food/feed competition. Fortunately, these problems can be effectively overcome using non-crop feedstocks. In this context, waste-oriented oils/fats have been proposed as the excellent options to produce biodiesel by overlooking the trivial collection/recycling costs. In this review article, a comprehensive collection plan followed by an elaborated integrated utilization strategy called “waste oil biodiesel utilization scenario” (WO-BUS) is proposed for Iran in order to achieve cost-effective and eco-friendly production/consumption of biodiesel. WO-BUS is adoptable by the countries with similar situations and infrastructures.

A review on the prospects of sustainable biodiesel production: A global scenario with an emphasis on waste-oil biodiesel utilization

In recent decades, the concern over depletion of the world׳s petroleum reserves and environmental pollution has increased the demand to develop a renewable and environmental friendly fuel. Biodiesel, which mainly consists of Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME) is one of the best substitutes for diesel fuel. Currently, vegetable oils, edible or non-edible, are the main resources of biodiesel. This review aims at providing comprehensive information and analyzes on biodiesel produced from edible and non-edible vegetable oils, their composition and specifications. Accordingly, the Fatty Acid (FA) profiles of 28 edible vegetable oils and 40 non-edible vegetable oils were collected. Their main specifications including sulfur content, density, viscosity, flash point, cloud point, pour point, cold filter plugging point, cetane number, iodine number, heating value, acid value and carbon residual before and after transesterification (vegetable oil and biodiesel, respectively) were analyzed in detail. Many researchers have developed prediction models to quantify biodiesel specifications to optimize its manufacturing and obtain biodiesel with the best specifications. Three factors that are especially influential are the fatty acids profiles, the degree of unsaturation within the FA structures and molecular weight. Accordingly, many models have been constructed on these features. There are also models that quantify the relationship between the biodiesel specifications and its thermodynamic properties or other specifications. Accordingly, the second part of this work was conducted on the existing prediction models. All the models were discussed along with their deviation in prediction.

A comprehensive review on properties of edible and non-edible vegetable oil-based biodiesel: Composition, specifications and prediction models

Comparative analyses of diesel–waste oil biodiesel and propanol, n-butanol or 1-pentanol blends in a diesel engine

Biodiesel production from vegetable oil and waste animal fats in a pilot plant.

Using waste animal fat based biodiesels–bioethanol–diesel fuel blends in a DI diesel engine

In this study, biodiesels were produced from sunflower, corn, soybean, rapeseed, hazelnut, and cottonseed oils by transesterification reactions using methanol, ethanol, 2-propanol, and 1-butanol as alcohol. Potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, and sulfuric acid were used as catalysts. After biodiesel production, ester conversion rates and fuel properties such as viscosity, density, and total and free glycerol were determined and compared in graphical forms. From the experimental results, it was concluded that the most suitable alcohol for biodiesel production is methanol. Other alcohols should be used with an acid catalyst in long reaction times such as at least 48 h. As the alkaline catalyst, potassium hydroxide is more superior to sodium hydroxide. Among the studied vegetable oils, sunflower oil gave the best results, while cottonseed oil gave the worst ones in terms of practicality and some fuel properties.

Effects of Different Alcohol and Catalyst Usage on Biodiesel Production from Different Vegetable Oils

Effects of waste frying oil based methyl and ethyl ester biodiesel fuels on the performance, combustion and emission characteristics of a DI diesel engine

Huseyin Sanli

Papers

Biodiesel production from vegetable oil and waste animal fats in a pilot plant.

Using waste animal fat based biodiesels–bioethanol–diesel fuel blends in a DI diesel engine

Effects of Different Alcohol and Catalyst Usage on Biodiesel Production from Different Vegetable Oils

Effects of waste frying oil based methyl and ethyl ester biodiesel fuels on the performance, combustion and emission characteristics of a DI diesel engine

Evaluation of leather industry wastes as a feedstock for biodiesel production