Biodiesel Production Technologies Research Articles

Novel Technology for Bio-diesel Production from Cooking and Waste Cooking Oil by Microwave Irradiation

In the transitional process, acid or base catalysts are common technology to produce bio-diesel from waste cooking oil; however, the catalysts only can be use one time. Highly reaction time is requirement for the transitional technology. For improvement these concern issues, this study applied a novel technology to create bio-diesel product from cooking oil and waste cooking oil by microwave irritation. The microwave irradiation can provide strong power and reach reaction temperature in a short time. The SrO catalyst is a heterogeneous catalyst which is not dissolution into any liquid solution therefore, it can be recycling and reusing again. In this research, the optimum conditions were using commercial SrO, 40 to 180 seconds reaction time, around 80oC reaction temperature, 6 methanol to oil ratio, and 1000W microwave power output. 99% and 93% biodiesel conversion efficiency for cooking oil and waste cooking oil were reached within in these conditions. The determined specifications of obtained biodiesel according to ASTM D6751 and EN14214 standards were in accordance with the required limits. As a conclusion, the present study indicates that derived fuel promises being an alternative for diesel, and could be used in engines without a major modification due to its qualifications.

ChemInform Abstract: Advances in Solid‐Catalytic and Non‐Catalytic Technologies for Biodiesel Production

AbstractReview: 207 refs.

Advancement in heterogeneous base catalyzed technology: An efficient production of biodiesel fuels

Price fluctuation of petroleum-based diesel, climate change, emerging mandate obligations, availability of new feedstock and the upgrading of conversion technologies are expected to drive biodiesel market to grow robustly in the next coming 10 years. However, the current bottleneck in biodiesel production is the lack of economical sustainable conversion technologies. Generally, industrial production of biodiesel is greatly relied on alkaline homogeneous transesterification reaction. Limitation of the technology, such as multistep process which incur extra pre-step for high acid oil treatment and post-step for biodiesel purification and alkali washing as diminished the economic feasibility and low environmental impact of the entire biodiesel process. Heterogeneous catalysis offers immense potential to develop simple transesterification process, including one step reaction, easy separation, reusability of catalyst, and green reaction. Thus, the aim of this paper is to review the biodiesel production technologies such as blending, micro-emulsion, pyrolysis, and transesterification. Furthermore, recent studies on heterogeneous catalyzed transesterification were presented by discussing the issues such as catalytic performance on different types of biodiesel feedstock, transesterification reaction conditions, limitations encountered by heterogeneous catalysts, and reusability of solid catalysts. The heterogeneous catalysts presented in this review is mainly focused on solid base catalysts, which include single metal oxides, supported metal oxide, binary metal oxide, hydrotalcite, and natural waste shell-based catalyst. Furthermore, current perspectives on application of heterogeneous catalyzed technology in biodiesel industry were discussed herein.

Genetic Engineering Strategies for Enhanced Biodiesel Production.

The focus on biodiesel research has shown a tremendous growth over the last few years. Several microbial and plant sources are being explored for the sustainable biodiesel production to replace the petroleum diesel. Conventional methods of biodiesel production have several limitations related to yield and quality, which led to development of new engineering strategies to improve the biodiesel production in plants, and microorganisms. Substantial progress in utilizing algae, yeast, and Escherichia coli for the renewable production of biodiesel feedstock via genetic engineering of fatty acid metabolic pathways has been reported in the past few years. However, in most of the cases, the successful commercialization of such engineering strategies for sustainable biodiesel production is yet to be seen. This paper systematically presents the drawbacks in the conventional methods for biodiesel production and an exhaustive review on the present status of research in genetic engineering strategies for production of biodiesel in plants, and microorganisms. Further, we summarize the technical challenges need to be tackled to make genetic engineering technology economically sustainable. Finally, the need and prospects of genetic engineering technology for the sustainable biodiesel production and the recommendations for the future research are discussed.

A Review on Processing Technology for Biodiesel Production

A Review on Processing Technology for Biodiesel Production

Advanced biodiesel production technologies: novel developments

Biodiesel, i.e. a mixture of monoalkyl esters of long chain fatty acids derived from renewable biological sources such as vegetable oils has in recent years emerged as an alternative fuel for transportation sector. The conventional method of producing biodiesel is through homogeneous catalytic transesterification; however, increased production costs associated with downstream purification steps have led to the development of more cost-effective and environmental friendly technologies. These advanced production technologies involve heterogeneous or enzymatic catalysts to produce biodiesel, as well as no catalysts in supercritical conditions. Heterogeneous catalytic systems can ease the separation of biodiesel from the reaction mixture along with the possibility of catalyst recovery, potentially leading to lower production costs; enzymatic catalysts give the same advantages, but transesterification can be carried out in milder conditions and with a wider range of feedstocks. Biodiesel synthesis in supercritical conditions composes another alternative to conventional methods due to higher reaction rates, shorter reaction times, and simpler biodiesel separation steps. Nevertheless, mass transfer limitations caused by diffusion problems between phases represent an hindrance for future establishment of these technologies, calling for the development of novel methods to intensify the process. These process intensification technologies include ultrasound irradiation, microwave heating, use of co-solvents, and membrane reactors. The main focus of this review is to discuss recent advances as regards to biodiesel production technologies, devoting a special attention to the use of novel catalysts, diversified feedstocks, besides an analysis of main operational parameters of transesterification processes.

Enhancement of biodiesel, hydrogen and methane generation from molasses by Cunninghamella echinulata and anaerobic bacteria through sequential three-stage fermentation

Biodiesel was produced by direct esterification of Cunninghamella echinulata dry mass using sugarcane molasses as substrate in the first stage of fermentation. GC/MS results for fatty acid methyl esters revealed abundant low degree unsaturated long chain fatty acids and saturated long chain fatty acids that are similar to plant oils. In the second stage, the spent medium of C. echinulata culture was used as the fermentation medium for hydrogen production by Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824. The maximum total H2 yield was 1450 ml H2/l after 48 h fermentation. In the third stage, the spent medium of Clostridium containing volatile organic acids was used for methane production by methanogenic bacteria. The highest cumulative methane yield was 1690 ml l−1 spent medium obtained after 48 h. The gross energy content of biodesel, H2 and methane generated through three successive stages fermentation from 84 g molasses was 3928 kJ mol−1. The results presented in this study suggest a possibility of interlinking biodiesel production technology by fungi with hydrogen production by C. acetobutylicum and methane production by methanogenic bacteria to exploit the residual sugars and organic acids in the spent medium and therefore increase the economic feasibility of the bioenergy production from molasses.

Immobilization of Lipase on Silver Nanoparticles via Adhesive Polydopamine for Biodiesel Production.

Biodiesel production technology is competitive in terms of low cost and alternative source of energy which should be not only sustainable but also environmentally friendly. Designing of the lipase immobilization for biodiesel production has a remarkable impact and is still challenging. In this work, biodiesel production from soybean oil was enhanced and facilitated by using a novel biocatalyst consisting of commercial lipase (EC 3.1.1.3), silver nanoparticles, and polydopamine. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were synthesized with a size range of 10–20 nm. Polydopamine (PD) was delivered by the self-polymerization of dopamine in 10 mM Tris-HCl pH 8.5 and simultaneously coated the AgNPs to form a PD/AgNPs complex. Lipase was immobilized on the PD/AgNPs complex surface via covalent bonds to form a tailor-made biocatalyst consisting of immobilized lipase/PD/AgNPs complex (LPA). The formation and morphology of each composition were characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Significantly, gas chromatography analysis showed a remarkable biodiesel production yield of 95% by using the LPA complex at 40°C for 6-hours reaction time, whereas the yield was 86% when using free lyophilized lipase. The LPA complex was apparently reusable after 7 batches and the latter conversion rate of soybean oil was decreased by only 27%.

Synergistic effect of simultaneous microwave and ultrasound irradiations on transesterification of waste vegetable oil

This study presents a novel application of simultaneous microwave and ultrasound (MW/US) irradiations on transesterification of waste vegetable oil. Experiments were conducted in three phases to evaluate: (1) the effect of process parameters on the transesterification reaction mediated by simultaneous MW/US irradiations at a fixed power output rate; (2) the individual and synergistic effects of the two technologies (by changing the power output rates); and (3) the synergistic effect on the power density (by changing the sample volume for a fixed MW/US power output). From the process parametric optimization study, the following conditions were determined as optimum: 6:1 methanol to oil ratio, 0.75% sodium hydroxide catalyst by wt.%, and 2min of reaction time at a combined power output rate of 200W (100/100MW/US). The biodiesel yields were higher for the simultaneous MW/US mediated reactions (∼98%) when compared to MW (87.1%) or US (89.8%) irradiations individually. The power density tests revealed that an optimum power output rate must be determined for energy-efficient biodiesel production. This study concludes that the combined irradiations result in a synergistic effect that enhances the biodiesel process performance and yields significantly. Identification of optimal parameters and hindrances concerning both techniques will further allow for large-scale application of the combined technology for biodiesel production.

Advances in solid-catalytic and non-catalytic technologies for biodiesel production

The insecure supply of fossil fuel coerces the scientific society to keep a vision to boost investments in the renewable energy sector. Among the many renewable fuels currently available around the world, biodiesel offers an immediate impact in our energy. In fact, a huge interest in related research indicates a promising future for the biodiesel technology. Heterogeneous catalyzed production of biodiesel has emerged as a preferred route as it is environmentally benign needs no water washing and product separation is much easier. The number of well-defined catalyst complexes that are able to catalyze transesterification reactions efficiently has been significantly expanded in recent years. The activity of catalysts, specifically in application to solid acid/base catalyst in transesterification reaction depends on their structure, strength of basicity/acidity, surface area as well as the stability of catalyst. There are various process intensification technologies based on the use of alternate energy sources such as ultrasound and microwave. The latest advances in research and development related to biodiesel production is represented by non-catalytic supercritical method and focussed exclusively on these processes as forthcoming transesterification processes. The latest developments in this field featuring highly active catalyst complexes are outlined in this review. The knowledge of more extensive research on advances in biofuels will allow a deeper insight into the mechanism of these technologies toward meeting the critical energy challenges in future.

Comparison of feedstocks and technologies for biodiesel production: An environmental and techno-economic evaluation

Due to their high productivity in both crops and algae, tropical countries are likely to be the future world suppliers of feedstocks as well as biofuels such as biodiesel. In this work five feedstocks: palm, jatropha, microalgae, tallow and waste cooking oil were analyzed and compared using techno-economic and environmental criteria. For each feedstock, technological configurations currently used in the industry were taken into account (acid catalysis, basic catalysis and cogeneration). In this work, it was found that productivities for the basic catalyzed process were comparatively higher (1.010 kg biodiesel/kg crude oil), than those catalyzed by acid (0.85–0.95 kg biodiesel/kg crude oil). After the simulation of the selected processes, the lowest production costs were obtained for jatropha (USD 0.15/L, basic catalysis) and for waste cooking oils (USD 0.23/L, acid catalysis). The PEI (Potential Environmental Impact) generated for basic catalyzed process ranged from −0.04 to −0.09, while the acid catalyzed case −0.020 and −0.06 PEI per kg of product. The jatropha and microalgae oil using basic catalyzed configuration with energy cogeneration were the best process alternative from the environmental and economical points of view.

Green Technology for Biodiesel Production From Mesua Ferrea L. Seed Oil

In this paper, the non-edible Mesua ferrea L. (MFL) seed oil with an acid value 18.8 mg KOH/g of oil, was tranesterified in the presence 1 MPa hydrogen pressure and also without the application of external pressure at 250–275 °C for 1 hour. The heterogeneous 1–5 wt.% Musa balbisiana Colla underground stem (MBCUS) ash catalyst was used during transesterification. The catalyst has a nano-metric dimension and has a versatile composition that consist of several alkali metal oxides, alkaline earth metal oxides, non-transition metal oxides and nonmetal oxides. The resultant biodiesel was separated using rotary vacuum evaporator and purified using molecular sieve and carbon columns. The biodiesel so obtained from MFL seed oil have been characterized as per available methods and found that the fuel properties are in conformity to ASTM and EN standards. 5 wt.% catalyst was found more effective as compared to other composition during ethanolysis. The effect of hydrogen pressure upon tranesterification was found negligible. Ethanol is a renewable liquid because it is made from renewable precursor such as biomass. It is expected that the use of whole renewable precursor during the process will fulfil the demand of 100% Green Technology for biodiesel production.

Microalgae for third generation biofuel production, mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and wastewater treatment: Present and future perspectives – A mini review

The extensive use of fossil fuels is increasingly recognized as unsustainable as a consequence of depletion of supplies and the contribution of these fuels to climate change by GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions into the atmosphere. Microalgae indicate alternative renewable sustainable energy sources as they have a high potential for producing large amounts of biomass which in turn can be used for production of different third-generation biofuels at large scale. Microalgae transform the solar energy into the carbon storage products, leads to lipid accumulation, including TAG (triacylglycerols), which then can be transformed into biodiesel, bioethanol and biomethanol. This paper reviews the selection, production and accumulation of target bioenergy carrier's strains and their advantages as well as the technological development for oil, biodiesel, ethanol, methanol, biogas production and GHG mitigation. The feedstock of promising algal strain exhibits the suitable biofuel production. The current progress of hybrid-technologies (biomass production, wastewater treatment, GHG mitigation) for production of prime-products as biofuels offer atmospheric pollution control such as the reduction of GHG (CO2 fixation) coupling wastewater treatment with microalgae growth. The selection of efficient strain, microbial metabolism, cultivation systems, biomass production are key parameters of viable technology for microalgae-based biodiesel-production.

Two stage biodiesel and hydrogen production from molasses by oleaginous fungi and Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824

In the present study biodiesel was produced by various fungal species isolated from Egypt using sugarcane molasses as substrate. In the first stage 6 oleaginous fungi, namely, Alternaria alternata, Cladosporium cladosporioides, Epicoccum nigrum, Fusarium oxysporum, Aspergillus parasiticus and Emericella nidulans var. lata were used for lipid production. Subsequent to fungal cultivation on sugarcane molasses the cultures were filtered and biodiesel was prepared by direct esterification of dry fungal biomass. Methyl esters of palmitic, stearic, linoleic and elaidic represented the major components while palmitoleic represented a minor component of biodiesel produced from tested oleaginous fungi. In the second stage, the spent medium of fungal culture was used as the fermentation medium for hydrogen production by Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824. The maximum total H2 yield was obtained with the spent medium of E. nigrum and A. alternata. The results presented in this study suggest a possibility of interlinking the biodiesel production technology by fungi with hydrogen production by C. acetobutylicum ATCC 824 to exploit the residual sugars in the spent media and therefore increase the economic feasibility of the biofuel production from molasses.

A Review on Biodiesel Production: Breeding Technologies of Microalgae Containing Rich Lipid

Among different biodiesel production technologies, microalgae biodiesel production has exhibited largest potential as an substitute of fossil fuels. Microalgae are effective photosynthetic microorganisms and ideal materials for biodiesel production because they have many advantages, such as the high lipid content, fast growth rate and good adaptability. Most key factor for the industrialization of microalgae biodiesel production is selecting the microalgae with rich lipid, which determines the production cost of microalgae biodiesel. The different breeding technologies of microalgae can significantly shorten the breeding time, reduce the production cost and obtain expected strains. The prospect of microalgael application in biodiesel production was also discussed.

Acid and Base Catalysed Transesterification of Used Vegetable (Gutter) and Non-Edible Oils to Fatty Acid Methyl Esters

Transesterification of oils to their corresponding fatty acids methyl esters (FAME) has recently been recognised as an easy and cost effective technology for biodiesel production, mainly on account of the desirable physiochemical properties of the biodiesel produced. In this study, Jatropha (Jatropha curcas), Karanja (Pongania pinnata), Linseed (Linum usitatissimum) and used vegetable oils (Gutter oil) biodiesel production was optimised. Two-stage catalytic process (acid esterification and base transesterification) were used and the effects of factors like catalyst concentration (% w/w) from 0.6% to 1.1%, molar ratio (6:1 to 12:1), temperature (60–70°C) and time (1–6h) were investigated. The optimal yields for Linseed oil, Jatropha, Karanja and Gutter oils were 88.7%, 96%, 92.41% and 96.10%, respectively. The physical properties were then determined and compared with ASTM standards. It was concluded that catalytic transesterification of all oils studied here were economically viable and could be commercialised.

Effective Parameters on Biodiesel Production from Feather fat oil as a Cost-Effective Feedstock

Using low-cost feedstocks such as rendered animal fats in biodiesel production willreducebiodieselexpenditures. One of the low-cost feedstocksfor biodiesel production could be the fatextracted from poultry feathers producedin slaughterhouses abundantly. This paper describes a new andenvironmentally friendly process for developing biodiesel production technology from feather waste producedin poultry industry. In this research the crude oil of poultry feather fat was extracted by soxhlet method using hexane as a solvent. The data resulted from gas chromatography (GC) revealed these percentages for fatty acid compositions: myristic acid (3%), palmitic acid (30%), stearic acid (22%), oleic acid (8.1%), linoleic acid (3%) and arachidonic acid (7%).In this experimental research, the effects of some parameters such as alcohol to oil molar ratio (4:1,6:1, 8:1), catalyst concentration (0.75,1 and 1.25% w/w) and the transesterification reaction time(40,60 and80min) on the percentage offatty acids conversioninto methyl ester(biodiesel) are studied. The results show increasing catalyst concentration up to 1% causes the oil to biodiesel conversion percentage having an upward trend and then adownward trend byincreasing catalyst concentration up to 1.25%. With increasing molar ratio from 4:1 to 6:1 and then 8:1, oil to biodiesel conversion percentage increased16% and2%, respectively. Ultimatelythe optimum point defined by response surface method (RSM) forproducing biodiesel from feather fat is calculated catalyst concentration of 1 wt%, 7.24:1 molar ratio and in 75 minutes resulting in conversion percentage of97.62%.

Cadmium and Tin Magnetic Nanocatalysts Useful for Biodiesel Production

Magnetic mixed iron/cadmium (ICdO) and iron/tin (ISnO) oxide nanoparticles were used as catalysts in relevant reactions for biodiesel production technologies. These compounds were active for hydrolysis and transesterification of soybean oil as well as esterification of soybean oil fatty acids. In the esterification assisted by ISnO high yields, ca. 84%, were achieved, after 1 h reaction at 200 oC. The oxide was magnetically recovered and reused four times without loss in its activity, while a loss of activity was observed for ICdO catalyst. ISnO also demonstrated catalytic activity for macauba oil, a highly acidic substrate.

Evaluation of solvent system for the enzymatic synthesis of ethanol-based biodiesel from sludge palm oil (SPO)

A green technology of biodiesel production focuses on the use of enzymes as the catalyst. In enzymatic biodiesel synthesis, suitable solvent system is very essential to reduce the inhibition effects of the solvent to the enzymes. This study produced ethanol-based biodiesel from a low-cost sludge palm oil (SPO) using locally-produced Candida cylindracea lipase from fermentation of palm oil mill effluent (POME) based medium. The optimum levels of ethanol-to-SPO molar ratio and enzyme loading were found to be 4:1 and 10 U/25 g of SPO respectively with 54.4% w/w SPO yield of biodiesel and 21.7% conversion of free fatty acid (FFA) into biodiesel. Addition of tert-butanol at 2:1 tert-butanol-to-SPO molar ratio into the ethanol-solvent system increased the yield of biodiesel to 71.6% w/w SPO and conversion of FFA into biodiesel to 28.8%. The SPO and ethanol have promising potential for the production of renewable biodiesel using enzymatic-catalyzed esterification and transesterification.

Biodiesel from microalgae: Ways for increasing the effectiveness of lipid accumulation by genetic engineering methods

Microalgae are viewed as one of the most perspective producer of lipids for biodiesel production. The review shows the results of researches of genes' expression increase actually included in fatty acids biosynthesis. The increase of effectiveness of solar energy absorption and carbon dioxide fixation influences the microalgae productivity. Blocking expression of genes that are responsible for starch synthesis, changes the balance towards the quantity growth of lipids in the cell. The change of the length in fatty acids carbon backbone chain towards its shortening is important in the technology of biodiesel production. Operating processes of lipids' catabolism is another way of increasing their quantity. And at last using the methods of transcription analysis allows us to get deeper into the process of intensive accumulation of lipids in stressful conditions for the purpose of directing these processes.