Advanced Chemical Reactor Technologies for Biodiesel Production from Vegetable Oils - A Review

Abstract

Biodiesel is an alternative biofuel that can replace diesel oil without requiring modifications to the engine and advantageously produces cleaner emissions. Biodiesel can be produced through transesterification process between oil or fat and alcohol to form esters and glycerol. The transesterification can be carried out with or without a catalyst. The catalyzed production of biodiesel can be performed by using homogeneous, heterogeneous and enzyme. Meanwhile, non-catalytic transesterification with supercritical alcohol provides a new way of producing biodiesel. Microwave and ultrasound assisted transesterification significantly can reduce reaction time as well as improve product yields. Another process, a plasma technology is promising for biodiesel synthesis from vegetable oils due to very short reaction time, no soap formation and no glycerol as a by-product. This paper reviews briefly the technologies on transesterification reaction for biodiesel production using homogeneous, heterogeneous, and enzyme catalysts, as well as advanced methods (supercritical, microwave, ultrasonic, and plasma technology). Advantages and disadvantages of each method were described comprehensively. Copyright © 2016 BCREC GROUP. All rights reserved <br /> <em>Received: 17th May 2016; Revised: 20th September 2016; Accepted: 20th September 2016</em> <br /> <strong>How to Cite:</strong> Buchori, L., Istadi, I., Purwanto, P. (2016). Advanced Chemical Reactor Technologies for Biodiesel Production from Vegetable Oils - A Review. <em>Bulletin of Chemical Reaction Engineering & Catalysis</em>, 11 (3): 406-430 (doi:10.9767/bcrec.11.3.490.406-430) <br /> <strong>Permalink/DOI:</strong> <a href="http://doi.org/10.9767/bcrec.11.3.490.406-430" /> http://doi.org/10.9767/bcrec.11.3.490.406-430</a>

Optimization of Monoglycerides Production Using KF/CaO-MgO Heterogeneous Catalysis

“…The relationship between the Y response and the X independent variable is modeled as follow: (1) Where, Y is the response observed (yield (%)); 0 is regression parameters; Xi is the main linear variable; XiXj is interaction between variables; Xi 2 is the square of the main variable; and i is 1,2,3,…,k. The desired response is the monoglyceride yield (Y).…”

“…The addition of the catalyst was carried out between 0.03 to 0.37 %wt at a fixed temperature of 210 o C. The addition of a catalyst amount of 0.03 % produce monoglyceride yield about 35.00 %. However, excess catalysts can reduce conversion and decrease the ability of triglyceride to dissolve glycerol [1]. The monoglyceride yield obtained was 27.03 %.…”

“…Most of the fat in food (including cooking oil) has formed of triglycerides, which is broken down, triglycerides will turn into one glycerol molecule and three free fatty acid molecules. The more triglycerides that break down causes more free fatty acids to be produced [1,2]. Monoacylglycerol (MAG) / monoglyceride is a chemical oleo compound that is widely used in the food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, detergent [3,4], oil well drilling [5], textiles [6], packaging [7], plastic processing [7], and construction material [8].…”

Roles of K2O on the CaO-ZnO Catalyst and Its Influence on Catalyst Basicity for Biodiesel Production

“…Biodiesel can be produced by transesterification using the homogeneous catalyst (acid or base), heterogeneous (solid catalyst) or enzyme [6]. Transesterification using solid heterogeneous catalysts has several advantages such as easier separation and purification processes due to different phases of the product, no water in the neutralization process, nontoxic, non-corrosive, low-cost, and easily regenerated [7][8][9].…”

Effect of Catalyst Pellet-Diameter and Basicity on Transesterification of Soybean Oil into Biodiesel using K2O/CaO-ZnO Catalyst over Hybrid Catalytic-Plasma Reactor

“…Conventionally, biodiesel was produced by transesterification of triglyceride from vegetable oils or animal fats with alcohols using a homogeneous or a heterogeneous catalyst. The heterogeneous catalyst can be used several times with easier end product separation, can be recycled, minimize costs of raw material and production, more environmentally friendly, and can be applied to batch or continuous processes without the need of purification [3][4]. However, the homogeneous catalysts were more widely used due to high conversion and fast reaction.…”