Biomass is considered to have potential to be used as an alternative energy source. High carbon content present in biomass converts it into high energy biochar on thermochemical treatment. Among few well established thermochemical technologies for the treatment of biomass and biogenic waste to produce high energy char along with oil and gaseous yield, pyrolysis is the most studied and discussed technique in the recent past. A comparison between the existing techniques is established in the present work. Production of char from the biomass and biogenic wastes is reviewed and it was found that yield of the biochar depends upon the biomass composition like moisture content and presence of cellulose or lignin. Pyrolysis product distribution and their quality strongly depend upon the process parameters. Different biomasses which can be used as raw material in pyrolysis are also reviewed and categorized depending upon their source. Pyrolysis process parameters such as temperature, heating rate, residence time etc. also influence the biochar yield. This study discusses the effect of these process parameters on the production of biochar through pyrolysis of biomass.

Effect of process parameters on production of biochar from biomass waste through pyrolysis: A review

Biodiesel, which could be derived from plant oils and animal fats, is considered as a promising substitute for petroleum diesel fuel because of its advantages, such as renewability, biodegradability, less environmental toxicity, and superior combustion efficiency. The feedstock used for biodiesel production primarily include edible oils, non-edible oils, waste oils, and animal fats. Consistent scientific investigations are performed to locate innovative oil resources and minimize the utilization of expensive food-grade oils for biodiesel production. The extensive research information is available on the determination of physico-chemical properties of different plant oils. This review will present a general information related to the existing varieties of oil feedstocks, their lipid content, and fatty acid composition. This article further discusses different methods employed to enable the usage of plant oils as biofuel, such as its direct use, blending, thermal cracking, microemulsion, and alcoholysis process. Among the possible methodologies for biodiesel production, alcoholysis process, in the presence or absence of a catalytic material, have been frequently employed. The benefits and limitations of using homogeneous, heterogeneous, enzyme catalysts, and supercritical method for the alcoholysis process are comprehensively discussed. In the current article, efforts have been made to review the recent inventions in homogeneous and heterogeneous catalytic materials utilized for biodiesel production. The present study shall provide a tool for the selection of an optimal catalyst for a large-scale biodiesel production.

A review on recent advancement in catalytic materials for biodiesel production.

This paper discusses about the importance of animal fats for power generation particularly from waste chicken fat, advantages of using chicken fat for biodiesel production, different ways of oil extraction from chicken fat and various biodiesel production techniques. A detailed review has been done on the use of novel heterogeneous catalysts for transesterification process such as metal based catalysts and organic catalysts. The factors influencing transesterification parameters like molar ratio, catalyst weight percentage, reaction time and temperature has been collected from several research articles were presented in detail. In addition, the transesterification reaction is studied at different co solvents employed to increase the methyl ester conversion. Also, analyses of relative optimization techniques implementing for transesterification process parameters have been discussed thoroughly. The physico-chemical properties of chicken fat methyl ester such as kinematic viscosity, density, pour, cloud, flash and cold filter plugging point, calorific value and fatty acid compositions of chicken fat methyl ester were compared with different animal fat methyl esters. The study reveals that biodiesel produced from waste chicken fat would be a suitable replacement of edible vegetable oils due to its low cost, ease of availability and the properties of chicken fat methyl ester were within the limits of ASTM D 6751 biodiesel standards. Furthermore, the research work has to be carried out for the improvement of cycles of catalyst reusability, biodiesel purity and cost-effectiveness of biodiesel production process in future.

A comprehensive review of low cost biodiesel production from waste chicken fat

The massive consumption of fossil fuels and associated environmental issues are leading to an increased interest in alternative resources such as biofuels. The renewable biofuels can be upgraded from bio-oils that are derived from biomass pyrolysis. Catalytic cracking and hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) are two of the most promising bio-oil upgrading processes for biofuel production. Heterogeneous catalysts are essential for upgrading bio-oil into hydrocarbon biofuel. Although advances have been achieved, the deactivation and regeneration of catalysts still remains a challenge. This review focuses on the current progress and challenges of heterogeneous catalyst application, deactivation, and regeneration. The technologies of catalysts deactivation, reduction, and regeneration for improving catalyst activity and stability are discussed. Some suggestions for future research including catalyst mechanism, catalyst development, process integration, and biomass modification for the production of hydrocarbon biofuels are provided.

Shelly Biswas

Papers

Studies on cracking of jatropha oil.

Studies on synergism in the cracking and co-cracking of Jatropha oil, vacuum residue and high density polyethylene: Kinetic analysis

Effect of different catalysts on the cracking of Jatropha oil.

Effect of different catalyst on the co-cracking of Jatropha oil, vacuum residue and high density polyethylene

Effect of metal additives on neutralization and characteristics of AP/HTPB solid propellants