Second-generation Biodiesel Production Research Articles

Catalytic Hydrodeoxygenation of Fatty Acids for Biodiesel Production

This paper is devoted to the production of second generation biodiesel via catalytic hydrodeoxygenation of fatty acids. Pd/C catalysts with different metal loading were used. The palladium catalysts were characterized using low-temperature nitrogen physisorption and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It was revealed that the most active and selective catalyst was 1%-Pd/C which allowed reaching up 97.5% of selectivity (regarding to n-heptadecane) at 100% conversion of substrate. Moreover, the chosen catalyst is more preferable according to lower metal content that leads the decrease of the process cost. The analysis of the catalysts showed that 1%-Pd/C had the highest specific surface area compared with 5%-Pd/C. Copyright © 2016 BCREC GROUP. All rights reservedReceived: 31st July 2015; Revised: 9th December 2015; Accepted: 30th December 2015How to Cite: Stepacheva, A.A., Sapunov, V.N., Sulman, E.M., Nikoshvili, L.Z., Sulman, M.G., Sidorov, A.I., Demidenko, G.N., Matveeva, V.G. (2016). Catalytic Hydrodeoxygenation of Fatty Acids for Biodiesel Production. Bulletin of Chemical Reaction Engineering & Catalysis, 11 (2): 125-132 (doi:10.9767/bcrec.11.2.538.125-132)Permalink/DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.9767/bcrec.11.2.538.125-132Article Metrics: (click on the button below to see citations in Scopus)

Sustainable cultivation location optimization of the Jatropha curcas L. under uncertainty: A unified fuzzy data envelopment analysis approach

Second-generation biodiesel production from non-edible high oil content feedstocks such as Jutropha curcas L. (JCL) has been found as a suitable alternative for the fossil diesel which is mostly consumed in transportation sector. Second-generation biodiesel eliminates the drawbacks of the first generation such as food-energy challenge and provides opportunity for rural development. Location optimization of JCL plays a vital role in the success and prosperity of JCL projects. In this study, sustainability and ecological indicators are defined to evaluate the performance and efficiency of the candidate locations for JCL cultivation under uncertainty. The values of defined indicators are highly tainted with uncertainty in real-life situation. To optimize the candidate locations for JCL cultivation under uncertainty, an efficient Unified Fuzzy Data Envelopment Analysis (UFDEA) model is developed. The proposed UFDEA model is verified and validated through investigating a real case study in Iran and the associated results are compared to those obtained by the crisp Unified Data Envelopment Analysis model under different levels of uncertainty. The obtained results show the applicability of the proposed UFDEA model in selecting suitable areas for JCL cultivation under uncertainty.

Physio-chemical assessment of beauty leaf (Calophyllum inophyllum) as second-generation biodiesel feedstock

Recently, second-generation (non-vegetable oil) feedstocks for biodiesel production are receiving significant attention due to the cost and social effects connected with utilising food products for the production of energy products. The Beauty leaf tree (Calophyllum inophyllum) is a potential source of non-edible oil for producing second-generation biodiesel because of its suitability for production in an extensive variety of atmospheric condition, easy cultivation, high fruit production rate, and the high oil content in the seed. In this study, oil was extracted from Beauty leaf tree seeds through three different oil extraction methods. The important physical and chemical properties of these extracted Beauty leaf oils were experimentally analysed and compared with other commercially available vegetable oils. Biodiesel was produced using a two-stage esterification process combining of an acid catalysed pre-esterification process and an alkali catalysed transesterification process. Fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) profiles and important physicochemical properties were experimentally measured and estimated using equations based on the FAME analysis. The quality of Beauty leaf biodiesels was assessed and compared with commercially available biodiesels through multivariate data analysis using PROMETHEE-GAIA software. The results show that mechanical extraction using a screw press produces oil at a low cost, however, results in low oil yields compared with chemical oil extraction. High pressure and temperature in the extraction process increase oil extraction performance. On the contrary, this process increases the free fatty acid content in the oil. A clear difference was found in the physical properties of Beauty leaf oils, which eventually affected the oil to biodiesel conversion process. However, Beauty leaf oils methyl esters (biodiesel) were very consistent physicochemical properties and able to meet almost all indicators of biodiesel standards. Overall this study found that Beauty leaf is a suitable feedstock for producing second-generation biodiesel in commercial scale. Therefore, the findings of this study are expected to serve as the basis for further development of Beauty leaf as a feedstock for industrial scale second-generation biodiesel production.

Hydrodeoxygenation of stearic acid for the production of “green” diesel

Abstract The current work is devoted to the second-generation biodiesel production via fatty acids catalytic hydrodeoxygenation (HDO). Pd-containing catalysts based on polymeric matrix of hypercrosslinked polystyrene (HPS) with different metal loading were investigated in the process. The catalysts were characterized by low-temperature nitrogen physisorption, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The selectivity of the process (regarding to n-heptadecane) reached up to 99% at 100% conversion. The optimal reaction conditions which allowed achieving high selectivity at 100% of stearic acid conversion were chosen.

Simultaneous Optimization and Heat Integration for Biodiesel Production from Cooking Oil and Algae

In this article, we address the optimal production of second-generation biodiesel using waste cooking oil and algae oil. We consider five different technologies for the transesterification of the oil (homogeneous acid- or alkali-catalyzed, heterogeneous basic-catalyzed, enzymatic, and supercritical uncatalyzed). We formulate the problem as an MINLP problem where the models for each of the reactors are based on surface response methodology to capture the effects of the variables on the yield. The aim is to perform simultaneous optimization and heat integration for the production of biodiesel from each of the different oil sources in terms of the technology to use and the operating conditions to apply. Furthermore, a process network is designed to minimize the freshwater consumption. The optimal conditions in the reactors differ from those traditionally used because the separation tasks are taken into account in this work. For algae oil, the optimal process employs alkali as the catalyst and has a production cost of 0.42$/gal, an energy consumption of 1.94 MJ/gal, and a freshwater consumption of 0.60 galwater/galethanol. For cooking oil, the optimal process is the one with the heterogeneous catalyst and has a production cost and energy and water consumption of $0.66/gal, 1.94 MJ/gal, and 0.33 galwater/galethanol, respectively.

The current status of liquid biofuels in Chile

Chile depends on foreign sources for energy. A solution for this problem is needed to guarantee stability and economic development. Public policies have been proposed involving diversification of the power matrix with an increasing share for Non-conventional Renewable Energies (NCRE) from unconventional resources in the medium- and long-term. In this framework, new funding strategies are fundamental to encourage applied research in this field. Main research subjects are considered: survey, quantification and characterization of raw materials, introduction of energy crops and studies focused on transportation, management and conversion of lignocellulose for the second-generation biofuel industry. A recent regulatory framework allows the substitution of 2 or 5% of gasoline and diesel by ethanol and biodiesel, respectively; however, this is not mandatory because biofuel supply is still non-secured. On the other hand, the scenario for private initiatives focused on first-generation biofuels is not promising, and this may continue in time depending on the price of imported biofuels and local production costs. In 2015, production of second-generation biodiesel in Chile should be fundamentally based on forestry residues using Fischer–Tropsch processes. Local efforts consider biochemical transformation of lignocelluloses including agricultural wastes. Our group is focused on optimization of local second-generation bioethanol production; preliminary results are presented here.