Biodiesel Production from Waste Oil in Multiphase Reactors with Bifunctional Catalyst for Sustainable Energy

Abstract

Multiphase reactors combined with bifunctional catalysts have great potential for producing biodiesel from waste oil. In this chapter, an example is described for continuous biodiesel fuel production from sunflower oil, non-edible oil and waste oil with a fixed-bed multiphase reactor packed with a bifunctional heterogeneous catalyst. The performance of the catalyst is demonstrated for biodiesel production reaction using the multiphase reactor for several oils as feedstock at low reaction temperatures (ca. 55 °C). The catalytic material, 3D–microstructured bifunctional catalyst showed good conversions for low-quality feedstocks that have high free fatty acid and water content. Multiphase reactors combined with microstructured bifunctional catalyst are a promising new technology for biodiesel production.