Thermomorphic Biphasic System—A Greener Alternative Route to the Synthesis of Biodiesel

Abstract

The thermomorphic biphasic system of heptane and methanol in the presence of K 2 CO 3 was found to be a highly effective, yet simple, method for the production of biodiesel. This process reduced the number of steps in the production, thus generating less waste than the current industrial process. The facility in separation of biodiesel from its byproducts was evaluated by GC-MS and FT-IR analysis. The results showed a virtually undetectable level of glycerol and free fatty acid in the biodiesel. This thermomorphic biphasic system is thus a greener and more economically feasible process. In addition, the alkaline catalyst and methanol were successfully recycled up to five times without any detectable loss of reactivity.

The Formation of Rhamnolipid-Based Water-Containing Castor Oil/Diesel Microemulsions and Their Potentiality as Green Fuels

“…Elemental analyses were performed using a Vario EL III elemental analyzer (Elementar Analysen Systeme GmbH, Germany). The specific method of this study used to analyze C, H, N, and S elements was JY/T 017-1996 (“General Rules for Elemental Analyzer”, State Education Committee of PR China) . Dynamic light-scattering study was performed using a nanometer particle size analyzer (Zetasizer Nano ZEN3600, Malvern, U.K.).…”

“…However, bceause of the high viscosity of castor oil, long-term use of castor oil in direct-injection diesel engines leads to injector coking and ring sticking. , Many techniques have been explored for generating lower viscosity biodiesels. Those techniques vary considerably in procedure complexity and product quality, as follows: simple dilution by mixing with diesel, pyrolysis or transesterification, and modification. − In the present work, the diesel-based water/oil (w/o) (reverse micelle) system was utilized to dissolve the castor oil in order to produce the water-containing castor oil/diesel (WCD) microemulsion.…”