Comparative study of a two-step enzymatic process and conventional chemical methods for biodiesel production: Economic and environmental perspectives

Abstract

The urgent need to address greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions underscores the significance of biodiesel as a key liquid biofuel. Compared to chemical biodiesel production, enzymatic technology offers a more sustainable alternative. This article presents a comparative study between a two-step enzymatic biodiesel production technology, already successfully industrialized, and conventional chemical technologies utilizing soybean oil (SBO) and waste cooking oil (WCO) as feedstock, respectively. The economic analysis demonstrates significant cost savings with the enzymatic process resulting in reductions of 16.33% and 36.54% for SBO and WCO, respectively. Enzymatic technology also exhibits substantial reductions in energy consumption, with a decrease of 86.8% and 60.2% for SBO and WCO, respectively. LCA findings indicate that enzymatic technology diminishes environmental impacts and GHG emissions are less than 78.86% and 63.05% for SBO and WCO, respectively. This study provides crucial insights for decision-makers, marking a significant paradigm shift in biodiesel production.