Kinetics studies of synthesis of biodiesel from waste frying oil using a heterogeneous catalyst derived from snail shell.

Biodiesel is one of the prospective alternatives to petroleum fuel resources because of its renewable and environment friendly nature. Transesterficiation process is used for biodiesel production. The biodiesel production process mainly depends on five parameters which includes free fatty acid (FFA) content, type of alcohol used and molar ratio (alcohol:oil), catalyst type and its concentration, reaction temperature and time. Methanol and ethanol are commonly used for biodiesel production in presence of different alkaline catalysts like sodium and potassium hydroxides. The production methodology of biodiesel is an important aspect for efficient and cost-effective production of biodiesel. The present study focuses on the various technical aspects of biodiesel production methodology. The study reveals that for optimum biodiesel production reaction temperature should be in range of 50–60 °C, molar ratio of alcohol to oil should be in range of 6–12:1 with the use of an alkali catalyst having optimum concentration 1% by weight. The optimal reaction time for transesterification process is 120 min.

Review of process parameters for biodiesel production from different feedstocks

The production of biodiesel can be accomplished using a variety of feedstock sources. Plant and microalgae based feedstocks are prominent and are studied extensively. Plant based feedstocks cultivated as monoculture on wastelands and trees in forests can cater towards partial fulfillment of feedstock requirements for biodiesel industry. Synthesis of biodiesel from microalgal oil has gathered immense interest and has potential to cater to the increasing feedstocks demands of the biodiesel industry. The major advantage offered by microalgal oil, as compared to plant based oils, is its potential for culture on non-arable land. Despite of the advantages of microalgal oil as a feedstock for biodiesel, there are constraints that have to be overcome in order to make it economical and sustainable. Sustainable approaches for both the plant and microalgae as feedstocks have been drawn. Despite there being several plant species, few have been found to be desirable as feedstocks for biodiesel production based on their lipid profiles. Among the microalgae, there are thousands of species and several of these have been cultured for extracting the oil to explore their feasibility in utilization as biodiesel feedstocks. Though, several of the microalgal species have shown potential for high biomass growth and lipid productivity, only a few have been found to provide a high biodiesel yield and conversion. Due to the several steps involved in the extraction of oil which are energy intensive, the cost of biodiesel from microalgal oil is high as compared with that obtained from the plant oils. A sustainable approach for utilizing plant and microalgal oils as feedstocks for biodiesel have been discussed. The emerging cost effective methods in production of biodiesel have been described. The energy return and greenhouse gas emissions from biodiesel have been outlined. Together, the plant oil and microalgal oil can offer potential source of feedstocks for the production of biodiesel. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Towards a sustainable approach for development of biodiesel from plant and microalgae

Biodiesel, a renewable fuel has a great potential in fulfilling an ever-increasing transport fuel demand. The enzymatic conversion process of feedstock oil to biodiesel is greener when compared to the conventional approach of chemical conversion due to mild reaction conditions and less wastewater generation. Lipases obtained from various microbial sources have been widely applied as catalysts for the conversion of oil to biodiesel. Biodiesel and glycerol obtained by enzymatic conversion have shown a higher purity as compared to that obtained by other conversion techniques. Enzymatic conversion of oil to biodiesel is less energy intensive because of milder reaction conditions and fewer purification steps involved in processing. Lipases, due to their catalytic efficiency and specificity, have emerged as a great tool for converting a wide range of feedstock oils to biodiesel. This manuscript presents an overview of the use of enzymatic conversion for making biodiesel production sustainable and environmentally-friendly. The constraints of enzymatic conversion are the high cost of the enzyme and its inhibition by alcohol and glycerol. The possible solutions to overcome these constraints are discussed. Recent advances to develop an effective process for enzymatic conversion of feedstock oils into biodiesel are critically evaluated. Prospective and challenges in scaling up of this technology are also discussed.

Advances in synthesis of biodiesel via enzyme catalysis : Novel and sustainable approaches

Effective conversion of non-edible oil with high free fatty acid into biodiesel by sulphonated carbon catalyst

Kinetics of transesterification of palm oil and dimethyl carbonate for biodiesel production at the catalysis of heterogeneous base catalyst.

Synthesis and component confirmation of biodiesel from palm oil and dimethyl carbonate catalyzed by immobilized-lipase in solvent-free system

The invention relates to an environmentally-friendly preparation method for biological diesel oil under catalysis of a solid base. The method comprises the following steps of: mixing a short-chain aliphatic ester (methyl acetate or ethyl acetate and like) used as a transesterification reagent with animal and vegetable oil, carrying out reaction in the presence of a catalyst in a reactor at the temperature of 30-350 DEG C for 2-18 hours, wherein the mol ratio of the transesterification reagent to the animal and vegetable oil is (3:1)-(30:1), and the addition amount of the catalyst is 1-30wt% of the animal and vegetable oil; and filtering to remove the catalyst and distilling to remove the excess transesterification reagent to obtain a biological diesel oil product. The pollution-free preparation method provided by the invention has the advantages of easy separation of the catalyst, no need for water washing and no wastewater generation, provides possibility for the reuse of the catalyst, and overcome the defects of large technical and economical loads in the traditional preparation processes of the biological diesel oil; and a transesterification reaction is carried out on the animal and vegetable oil and transesterification reagent, the product can be directly used as a fuel, byproduct glycerol is not generated, and the utilization rate of raw materials is improved.

Environmentally-friendly preparation method for biological diesel oil under catalysis of solid base

The invention relates to a method for producing biodiesel with no by-product of glycerin under the catalysis of an immobilized enzyme. The method comprises steps that: an ester exchange reagent is mixed with animal/vegetable oil; the mixture is subject to a reaction in a shaking bath under the existence of the immobilized enzyme catalyst, with a reaction temperature of 20 to 100 DEG C and a reaction time of 15 to 48 hours, wherein a molar ratio of the ester exchange reagent to the animal/vegetable oil is 2:1 to 30:1, and the mass of the added catalyst equals 1 to 30% of the mass of the animal/vegetable oil; the catalyst is removed by filtering, and excess ester exchange reagent is removed by distillation, such that biodiesel is obtained. The method of the invention has advantages that: methanol is replaced by the new ester exchange reagent, such that the problem of enzyme catalyst deactivation caused by methanol in prior arts is avoided; the catalyst is easy to separate without washing, such that no waste water is generated, and the catalyst can be reused; no glycerin is generated, because oil is subject to an ester exchange reaction with the ester exchange reagent to co-produce glycerin downstream products which serve as one of the components of the biodiesel; no separation is necessary, and the utilance of the raw materials is improved.

Qun Liu

Papers

Kinetics of transesterification of palm oil and dimethyl carbonate for biodiesel production at the catalysis of heterogeneous base catalyst.

Synthesis and component confirmation of biodiesel from palm oil and dimethyl carbonate catalyzed by immobilized-lipase in solvent-free system

Environmentally-friendly preparation method for biological diesel oil under catalysis of solid base

Method for producing biodiesel with no by-product of glycerin, under catalysis of immobilized enzyme

A spatiotemporal fusion method based on interpretable deep networks