Current Status of the Biodiesel Industry and Its Assessment of Feedstocks

Abstract

Sustainability is a key principle in natural resource management, and it involves operational efficiency, minimization of environmental impact, and socioeconomic considerations. All of which are interdependent. It has become increasingly obvious that continued reliance on fossil fuel energy resources is unsustainable, owing to both depleting world reserves and the greenhouse gas emissions associated with their use. Therefore, there are vigorous research initiatives aimed at developing alternative renewable and potentially carbon neutral solid, liquid, and gaseous biofuels as alternative energy resources. Biodiesel is gaining more and more importance as an attractive fuel due to the easier access to feedstock with the Government support. This chapter given an overview of biodiesels, introduce the manufacturing status both China and abroad, focusing on detailed information of biodiesel and byproduct glycerol on both the preparation principle and commercial process. It was found that, whereas there are outstanding issues related to reproducible and environment-friendly, biofuels could progressively substitute a significant proportion of the fossil fuels required to meet the growing energy demand.