Performance of functionalized magnetic nanocatalysts and feedstocks on biodiesel production: A review study

Abstract

Given the decreasing supply of fossil fuels and their environmental pollution, a major challenge facing developing and developed countries today is replacing fossil fuels with new energy sources. Biodiesel is a proper alternative for fossil fuel, which can be blended with diesel in different proportions and use in vehicles. As of present, the essential problem with biodiesel is its relatively high finished price compared to the conventional diesel. A common way to reduce the cost of biodiesel production is to use heterogeneous magnetic alkaline catalysts, which is easily separated using an external magnetic field. Thus, there is a perspective promoting the potential development of clean magnetic catalysts for large scale synthesis of biodiesel. This review study is an attempt to investigate the application of heterogeneous magnetic catalysts for biodiesel production through the transesterification process. To this end, synthesis methods and physical properties of magnetic catalysts using various analyses were completely studied. Also, the mechanism of biodiesel production using magnetic nanocatalysts has been studied. Furthermore, impact of different oil sources on the yield of biodiesel production was fully investigated and their outcomes were compared. Then, the impact of different factors on the biodiesel yield in the presence of magnetic catalysts were investigated. Besides, the physical properties of biodiesel produced using magnetic catalysts were fully studied and compared to those of conventional diesel based on international standards.