Rapeseed Oil-based Biodiesel Fuels

Abstract

Crude oils have been primary sources of energy and fuels, such as petrodiesel. However, significant public concern about the sustainability, price fluctuations, and adverse environmental impact of crude oils have emerged since the 1970s. Thus, biooils and biooil-based biodiesel fuels have emerged as alternatives to crude oils and crude oil-based petrodiesel fuels, respectively, in recent decades. Nowadays, although petrodiesel fuels are still used extensively, biodiesel fuels are being used increasingly in the transportation and power sectors. Therefore, there has been great public interest in the development of edible oil-based biodiesel fuels as the first generation of biodiesel fuels. Rapeseed oil-based biodiesel (ROBD) fuels have been among the most-produced and marketed edible oil-based biodiesel fuels. Although there have been a number of reviews and book chapters in this field, there has been no review of the 25-most-cited articles. Thus, this chapter reviews these articles by highlighting the key findings of these most-prolific studies on the production and properties of ROBD fuels. Then, it discusses these key findings.