Review on transesterification of non-edible sources for biodiesel production with a focus on economic aspects, fuel properties and by-product applications

doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2019.112155

Energy Conversion and Management

Volume 201, 1 December 2019, 112155

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2019.112155 Get rights and content

Highlights

•
Biodiesel production from non-edible sources has been reviewed.
•
The potential of waste cooking, animal, vegetable and algae oil is reviewed.
•
The yield depends on the reaction temperature and time, molar ratio and amount of catalyst.
•
The total production cost is influenced by catalysis and feedstock type.
•
Glycerol is considered as the main by-product with various beneficial applications.

Abstract

Biodiesel has privileges than conventional diesel fuel because of its low toxicity, renewability, and eco-friendly properties. Biodiesel is produced from various edible and non-edible sources via transesterification process. Non-edible sources such as waste cooking oil (WCO), algal oil, non-edible vegetable oil, and waste animal oil are commonly used to produce biodiesel due to their low cost and no dependency on the food chain. The production process is influenced by several factors such as reaction temperature and time, alcohol to oil molar ratio, and catalyst type and concentration. The analyses of economic aspects of biodiesel production are crucial to reduce the cost of biodiesel production by finding alternatives to available technologies, catalyst, and feedstock. Moreover, the biodiesel production cost is affected by factors such as the type of raw material, by-product selling price, operation and labor cost, the catalyst, and the reaction type. Besides, crude glycerol is a major by-product of biodiesel production with yields ranging between 8% and 10%. Crude glycerol could be used as a beneficial material to produce biopolymers, hydrogen, ethanol, and fuel additive through pyrolysis and gasification processes. Therefore, this review focuses on the recent finding in transesterification of non-edible sources for biodiesel production as well as its economic aspects, fuel properties, and by-products applications. Finally, the economic aspects and process optimization of biodiesel production should be considered as important factors in order to enhance the economic sustainability of biodiesel production.

Introduction

In recent years, efforts have been made to find eco-friendly and renewable alternatives for fuel due to the depletion of fossil resources and increases in the crude oil price. Biodiesel is an eco‐friendly and a sustainable biofuel with fossil fuel–like properties. Therefore, it has been accepted as an alternative to conventional diesel and is now used in blends with petrodiesel by several countries [1]. Between 2000 and 2017, biofuel production increased 10-fold from 16 billion to 143 billion liters [2]. By 2016, the worldwide biodiesel production was over 32.6 million tons. Moreover, the global biofuel market is estimated to grow at an annual growth rate of 5.4% from 2017 to 2024, and the worldwide capacity of biodiesel production is anticipated to reach 12 billion gallons by 2020 [3], [4]. Brazil, the USA, Malaysia, Argentina, Netherlands, Spain, Philippines, Belgium, Indonesia, and Germany are among the 10 countries that fulfill more than 80% of the global biodiesel demand [5], [6].

The second and third generation of biodiesel is produced from non-edible crops (vegetable and algal oil) and oil waste (waste animal oil and WCO), respectively. Also, the feasibility of using a wide range of feedstocks, process optimization, and cost reduction for biodiesel production has been challenging for over 20 years. This has led to the search for low-cost alternatives, such as non-edible resources and animal-based feedstocks [7]. Hence, the use of oil waste sources (WCO and animal fats) is increasing for industrial-scale biodiesel production, which makes the entire production process more sustainable [8].

As reported by Atabani et al. [9], more than 350 oil-bearing crops identified worldwide as potential sources for biodiesel production. Various feedstocks, such as vegetable oil, waste animal fats, WCO, and algal oil, has been evaluated for biodiesel production [10]. Additionally, biodiesel can be produced from terrestrial plants that have limited availability. The food-based crops such as vegetable oils are presumed to be the dominant source for biodiesel production. Vegetable oils are categorized into edible oils (e.g. canola oil and sunflower oil) and non-edible oils (e.g. Jatropha and Karanja oil). The Palm, soybean and rapeseed oil are the most important feedstock sources for biodiesel production. In 2017, the global biodiesel production was attributed to palm oil (31%), soybean oil (27%), rapeseed oil (20%), which followed by WCO (10%), waste animal fats (7%) and other (5%) [11]. As reported by Gui et al. [12], the potential of different edible, non-edible and waste for biodiesel production since many years ago have been investigated. Therefore, the main sources for biodiesel production are dividing into two different categories (edible and non-edible) as shown in Fig. 1.

Besides, the advantages and disadvantages of non-edible oils are shown in Table 1.

The biodiesel production from animal fats and WCO is increasing in the USA and Europe [21]. As reported by Atabani et al. [22], the cost of produced biodiesel from edible oil is higher than that of petroleum fuels. According to Gebremariam and Marchetti [23], the cost of biodiesel production can be decreased by reducing capital investment, increasing biodiesel yield by improving technology, and reducing the cost of raw materials. To achieve this goal, the economic aspects of biodiesel production should be evaluated by finding alternatives to available technologies, catalyst, and feedstock.

Section snippets

Biodiesel production methods

In general, there are four common methods for biodiesel production as follows:

1.
Blending or dilution is defined as the simplest and oldest used method with a blend of preheated vegetable/animal oils and petrodiesel in the ratio of 10–40% (w/w) [24].
2.
Microemulsification is solubilization of vegetable or animal oils in an alcoholic solvent and surfactants. It is work based on the formation of micro-emulsions by using various alcoholic solvents with colloidal microstructures to reach the required

Non-edible sources for biodiesel production

Based on the surveyed literature, WCO, waste animal oil, non-edible vegetable oil, and algae were considered as an alternative for edible sources, which are explained in details in the following sections.

Economic aspects

Some parameters such as the cost of feedstock and the selling price of produced biodiesel and their by-products (glycerol) have a direct effect on the economic feasibility of biodiesel production. As reported by Atabani et al. [9], the average cost of producing biodiesel and diesel fuel is $0.50 and $0.35 per liter, respectively. The biodiesel production price can be calculated using the Eq. (1): $Biodiesel p r o d u c t i o n p r i c e = \frac{o p e r a t i n g c o s t s ($ / y e a r) - b y p r o d u c t c r e d i t ($ / y e a r)}{p r o d u c t y e a r (k g / y e a r)}$

The

Fuel properties of produced biodiesel from non-edible sources

To ensure engine performance without any difficulties, biodiesel quality should meet worldwide standards because it is produced from different sources. A wide range of sources, such as edible and non-edible vegetable oils and waste animal fats, can be used as potential fuel for complete replacement of diesel in Compression Ignition (CI) engines [190].

The properties and qualities of biodiesel must be in accordance with the internationally recognized specification for biodiesel standard, which

By-product applications

The biodiesel production would be economically affordable by the conversion of by-products to value-added products [206]. Crude glycerol is the main by-product of biodiesel production since the large amounts (8% to 10%) can be produced in the transesterification process. As reported by Rastegari et al. [207], the global inventory of glycerol is predicted to reach approximately 41.9 billion liters by 2020. Oil cake/meal (solid residues obtained after oil extraction from the seeds), salt and

Future prospects based on recent studies

The most important parameters for effective biodiesel production are the type of catalyst and feedstock. In fact, raw material selection and catalyst type play significant roles in the economic viability of biodiesel production. The challenges for feedstock selection include storage and transport, oil extraction and conversion process, fuel characterization and property analysis, optimization and production processes [59]. Due to several limitations of traditional homogeneous and heterogeneous

Conclusion

In this review, we focused on the recent findings on biodiesel production from non-edible sources and the economic aspects, properties of produced fuel and the application of glycerol as the main by-product. The following points can be concluded from this review:

•
WCO, a non-edible source, produced high yields of biodiesel (greater than90%) using different heterogeneous catalysts, whereas reaction temperature, reaction time, and catalyst loading had minimal effect on the production yield.
•
The

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support for this work from the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean government (MSICT) (No. 2017R1A4A1015393 and 2019R1A2C2089232).

References (229)

G. Knothe et al.
Biodiesel fuels
Prog Energy Combust Sci
(2017)
I. Ambat et al.
Recent advancement in biodiesel production methodologies using various feedstock: a review
Renew Sustain Energy Rev
(2018)
M. Balat et al.
Progress in biodiesel processing
Appl Energy
(2010)
M. Balat
Potential alternatives to edible oils for biodiesel production–A review of current work
Energy Convers Manage
(2011)
M. Rehan et al.
Waste to biodiesel: a preliminary assessment for Saudi Arabia
Bioresour Technol
(2018)
I.S.A. Manaf et al.
A review for key challenges of the development of biodiesel industry
Energy Convers Manage
(2019)
A.E. Atabani et al.
A comprehensive review on biodiesel as an alternative energy resource and its characteristics
Renew Sustain Energy Rev
(2012)
I.B. Banković-Ilić et al.
Biodiesel production from non-edible plant oils
Renew Sustain Energy Rev
(2012)
M.M. Gui et al.
Feasibility of edible oil vs. non-edible oil vs. waste edible oil as biodiesel feedstock
Energy
(2008)
A.S. Silitonga et al.
A review on prospect of Jatropha curcas for biodiesel in Indonesia
Renew Sustain Energy Rev
(2011)

S.K. Karmee

Liquid biofuels from food waste: current trends, prospect and limitation

Renew Sustain Energy Rev

(2016)

D.Y.C. Leung et al.

A review on biodiesel production using catalyzed transesterification

Appl Energy

(2010)

A.E. Atabani et al.

Non-edible vegetable oils: a critical evaluation of oil extraction, fatty acid compositions, biodiesel production, characteristics, engine performance and emissions production

Renew Sustain Energy Rev

(2013)

S.N. Gebremariam et al.

Economics of biodiesel production

Energy Convers Manage

(2018)

F. Ma et al.

Biodiesel production: a review

Bioresour Technol

(1999)

B. Karmakar et al.

Progress and future of biodiesel synthesis: advancements in oil extraction and conversion technologies

Energy Convers Manage

(2019)

M. Hajjari et al.

A review on the prospects of sustainable biodiesel production: a global scenario with an emphasis on waste-oil biodiesel utilization

Renew Sustain Energy Rev

(2017)

H.M. Mahmudul et al.

Production, characterization and performance of biodiesel as an alternative fuel in diesel engines–A review

Renew Sustain Energy Rev

(2017)

M. Kirubakaran et al.

A comprehensive review of low cost biodiesel production from waste chicken fat

Renew Sustain Energy Rev

(2018)

D. Singh et al.

Chemical compositions, properties, and standards for different generation biodiesels: a review

Fuel

(2019)

S. Deshmukh et al.

Microalgae biodiesel: a review on oil extraction, fatty acid composition, properties and effect on engine performance and emissions

Fuel Process Technol

(2019)

J.L. Stephen et al.

Innovative developments in biofuels production from organic waste materials: a review

Fuel

(2018)

J.M. Fonseca et al.

Biodiesel from waste frying oils: methods of production and purification

Energy Convers Manage

(2019)

A. Marwaha et al.

Waste materials as potential catalysts for biodiesel production: current state and future scope

Fuel Process Technol

(2018)

M. Suresh et al.

A review on biodiesel production, combustion, performance, and emission characteristics of non-edible oils in variable compression ratio diesel engine using biodiesel and its blends

Renew Sustain Energy Rev

(2018)

H. Hosseinzadeh-Bandbafha et al.

A comprehensive review on the environmental impacts of diesel/biodiesel additives

Energy Convers Manage

(2018)

A.B. Leoneti et al.

Glycerol as a by-product of biodiesel production in Brazil: alternatives for the use of unrefined glycerol

Renew Energy

(2012)

G. Baskar et al.

Trends in catalytic production of biodiesel from various feedstocks

Renew Sustain Energy Rev

(2016)

A. Demirbas

Biodiesel production from vegetable oils via catalytic and non-catalytic supercritical methanol transesterification methods

Prog Energy Combust Sci

(2005)

S.A. Razzak et al.

Integrated CO2 capture, wastewater treatment and biofuel production by microalgae culturing—a review

Renew Sustain Energy Rev

(2013)

P. Verma et al.

Review of process parameters for biodiesel production from different feedstocks

Renew Sustain Energy Rev

(2016)

K.A. Zahan et al.

Technological progress in biodiesel production: an overview on different types of reactors

Energy Proc

(2019)

A. Sharma et al.

Application of Microwave Energy for Biodiesel Production using Waste Cooking Oil

Mater Today: Proc

(2018)

J.M. Encinar et al.

An improvement to the transesterification process by the use of co-solvents to produce biodiesel

Fuel

(2016)

I.M. Atadashi et al.

The effects of catalysts in biodiesel production: a review

J Ind Eng Chem

(2013)

A.K. Endalew et al.

Inorganic heterogeneous catalysts for biodiesel production from vegetable oils

Biomass Bioenergy

(2011)

M.K. Lam et al.

Homogeneous, heterogeneous and enzymatic catalysis for transesterification of high free fatty acid oil (waste cooking oil) to biodiesel: a review

Biotechnol Adv

(2010)

F. Ullah et al.

Current advances in catalysis toward sustainable biodiesel production

J Energy Inst

(2016)

S.H.Y.S. Abdullah et al.

A review of biomass-derived heterogeneous catalyst for a sustainable biodiesel production

Renew Sustain Energy Rev

(2017)

I. Reyero et al.

Kinetics of the NaOH-catalyzed transesterification of sunflower oil with ethanol to produce biodiesel

Fuel Process Technol

(2015)

M. Anwar et al.

The potential of utilising papaya seed oil and stone fruit kernel oil as non-edible feedstock for biodiesel production in Australia—a review

Energy Rep

(2019)

R. Shan et al.

Catalysts from renewable resources for biodiesel production

Energy Convers Manage

(2018)

Y.C. Sharma et al.

Advancements in development and characterization of biodiesel: a review

Fuel

(2008)

A. Talebian-Kiakalaieh et al.

Transesterification of waste cooking oil by heteropoly acid (HPA) catalyst: optimization and kinetic model

Appl Energy

(2013)

H.H. Mardhiah et al.

A review on latest developments and future prospects of heterogeneous catalyst in biodiesel production from non-edible oils

Renew Sustain Energy Rev

(2017)

F. Moazeni et al.

Enzymatic transesterification for biodiesel production from used cooking oil, a review

J Clean Prod

(2019)

H. Pourzolfaghar et al.

A review of the enzymatic hydroesterification process for biodiesel production

Renew Sustain Energy Rev

(2016)

S. Wu et al.

Optimization of an effective method for the conversion of crude algal lipids into biodiesel

Fuel

(2017)

A. Zarei et al.

Immobilized lipase-catalyzed transesterification of Jatropha curcas oil: optimization and modeling

J Taiwan Inst Chem Eng

(2014)

M. Marín-Suárez et al.

Reuse of immobilized lipases in the transesterification of waste fish oil for the production of biodiesel

Renew Energy

(2019)

Cited by (254)

Understanding the catalytic performance and deactivation behaviour of second-promoter doped Pt/WO<inf>x</inf>/γ-Al<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf> catalysts in the glycerol hydrogenolysis for selective and cleaner production of 1,3-propanediol
2024, Journal of Energy Chemistry
The selective aqueous-phase glycerol hydrogenolysis is a promising reaction to produce commercially useful 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PDO). The Pt-WO_x bifunctional catalyst can catalyse the glycerol hydrogenolysis but the catalyst deactivation via sintering, metal leaching, and coking can predominantly occur in the aqueous phase reaction. In this work, the effect of reaction temperature, pressure and second promoter (Cu, Fe, Rh, Mn, Re, Ru, Ir, Sn, B, and P) on catalytic performance and deactivation behaviour of Pt/WO_x/γ-Al₂O₃ was investigated. When doped with Rh, Mn, Re, Ru, Ir, B, and P, the second promoter boosts catalytic activity by promoting great dispersion of Pt on support and increasing Pt surface area. The increased Brønsted acid sites lead to selective synthesis of 1,3-PDO than 1,2-propanediol (1,2-PDO). The characterization studies of fresh and spent catalysts reveal that the main cause of catalyst deactivation is the Pt sintering, as interpreted based on XRD, CO chemisorption, and TEM analyses. The Pt sintering is affected depending on the second promoter that can either or reduce the interaction between Pt, WO_x, and Al₂O₃. As an electron acceptor of Pt in Pt/WO_x/γ-Al₂O₃, Re and Mn as second promoters resulted in increased Pt²⁺ on the catalytic surface, which strengthens the contact between Pt and γ-Al₂O₃ and WO_x, resulting in a decrease in Pt sintering. The metal leaching and coking are not affected by the presence of second promoter. The catalyst modified with a second promoter possesses improved catalytic activity and 1,3-PDO production, however the stability continues to remain a challenge. The present work unravelled the determining parameters of catalytic activity and deactivation, thus providing a promising protocol toward effective catalysts for glycerol hydrogenolysis.
Eco-friendly self-terminated process for preparation of CaO catalyst based on chitosan production wastes for biodiesel production
2024, Journal of Materials Research and Technology
One of the major obstacles to the realization of a sustainable planet is the handling of liquid waste, which is where Chitosan production waste (CPW) have been becoming a significant environmental issue. Chitosan production waste derived CaO catalyst (CPW-CaO) was synthesized through a self-termination precipitation of acidic waste (de-mineralization step) with alkali waste (de-proteination/de-acetylation) then calcination and utilized as an eco-friendly and cost-effective catalyst to generate biodiesel from Soybean deodorizer distillate oil (SDDO). XRD, EDS, FTIR, SEM, and BET were used to characterize CPW-CaO. The catalyst demonstrated exceptional catalytic performance in the conversion of SDDO to sustainable biodiesel which matched the EN fuel specifications at 8% catalyst dosage, 12:1 ration of methanol to SDDO, 2 h, and 65 °C reaction temperature as optimum conditions that yielding a 97.1% conversion. For the first four reaction cycles, the CPW-CaO catalyst was able to produce a comparatively high conversion of biodiesel, according to the reusability study. The catalyst regeneration can be recycled for more than four cycles to produce a comparatively high biodiesel yield. The results of this study provide a cost-effective and ecologically friendly method for producing biodiesel.
A review of breakthroughs in biodiesel production with transition and non-transition metal-doped CaO nano-catalysts
2024, Biomass and Bioenergy
The rising energy demand, coupled with increasing pollution and the depletion of fossil fuel reserves, has led to an urgent need for sustainable fuel alternatives like biodiesel. However, biodiesel production is not without its challenges, especially when using homogeneous catalysis, which often results in soap formation and high wastewater production. This review focuses on the use of heterogeneous base catalysts, particularly calcium oxide (CaO) doped with transition and non-transition metals, as a more efficient method for biodiesel production from various raw materials. The inclusion of transition and non-transition metal dopants in CaO catalysts plays a crucial role in enhancing their performance. These dopants significantly increase the surface area of the catalysts, leading to higher biodiesel yields (84.9–99.7%) and offering a marked improvement over traditional homogeneous catalysis methods. The study delves into the reaction mechanisms, thermodynamics, comparison of economic aspects of using heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysts, life cycle assessment (LCA), and practical implications of this study. It highlights that metal-doped heterogeneous catalysts are not only more efficient but also offer environmental benefits such as the emission of fewer pollutants and cost benefits due to reusability, ease of separation, and cheaper maintenance. In addition, future research should explore the untapped potential of new dopants and waste materials for developing cost-effective and sustainable catalysts. Investigating statistical methods and optimization models is crucial for finding optimal conditions for efficient biodiesel production.
A comprehensive review on chemical route to convert waste cooking oils to renewable polymeric materials
2024, Industrial Crops and Products
A large proportion of waste cooking oil (WCO) is currently being generated worldwide, which has led to crucial problems in its waste management due to absence of a proper disposal procedure. Most scholars mainly spotlight on the biodiesel production from WCO as alternative, despite the fact that there are other applications that require attention. Although WCO do not exist as polymers in nature, they are precursors for monomer chains which contain beneficial functional group to act as reactant. Triglycerides, which result from the esterification of glycerol with three fatty acids, are the major components of WCO. These triglycerides have a number of reactive sites, including ester groups and double bonds, providing a variety of opportunities for chemical modification, then polymerize to produce high molecular weight hydrocarbons. This review paper highlights the chemical processes required to produce polyurethane (PU), epoxy, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAS), acrylic, and alkyd resins polymers from WCO. The reaction initiator, catalyst, crosslinker, and others reagent used for the reaction process to convert into different functional monomer were summarized. As a result, WCO can be considered as a potential waste that can be used as a renewable polymer precursor to replace those are currently derived from petroleum hydrocarbons.
Fatty acid methyl ester production from rainbow trout waste oil using microwave-assisted transesterification
2024, Process Biochemistry
The desirable oil content of Rainbow Trout waste makes it a valuable resource for the industrial-scale production of biodiesel. Limited research has been conducted regarding the utilization of microwave-assisted transesterification (MAT) as a cost-effective method for biodiesel production from this accessible resource. In this study, MAT was optimized in terms of reaction time (1–5 min), microwave power level (100–500 W), methanol/oil molar ratio (3−15), and catalyst concentration (0.3–1.5%). The optimal condition was reaction time of 4 min, microwave power 300 W, molar ratio of 12, and catalyst concentration of 1.2%, ensuring utmost efficiency and purity. In addition, MAT was compared to ohmic-, ultrasonic probe-, ultrasonic bath-, and magnetic stirrer-assisted transesterification techniques, assessing physicochemical properties, energy consumption, and thermal properties of produced methyl esters. The microwave, ohmic, and ultrasonic probe showed superior efficiency, briefest reaction time, and minimal pouring and cloudy values, respectively. Additionally, these techniques consumed only 5.3, 5.7, and 6.7 Wh/g, respectively, signifying the lowest energy usage. Conversely, magnetic stirrer and ultrasonic bath showed less desirable performance. Overall, MAT can be suggested as a novel and effective technique for enhancing efficiency, reducing reaction time, and decreasing energy consumption in the production of marine waste oil methyl esters.
Nanoparticle applications in Algal-biorefinery for biofuel production
2024, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
Rapidly depleting fossil fuel resources and rising greenhouse gas emissions have accelerated the search for cost-effective renewable energy sources. Algal feedstock has long been touted as a potential source of several biofuels because of its renewable and sustainable features. However, despite ongoing efforts to develop low-cost technology and improve economic feasibility, biofuels derived from algae are still not yet commercially viable. Multifunctional nanoparticles (NPs) have been proposed as a strategy to enhance the prospect of commercializing algal-based biofuels. NPs synthesized by various routes can support different stages of algal biorefinery. Improvement of 20–30 % cell growth, 80–99 % harvesting efficiency, enhanced product extraction, and ∼85–99 % conversion were achievable with NPs addition. This review provides a comprehensive outlook on the current and significant applications of NPs in the production of different algal-based biofuels such as biodiesel, bioethanol, biohydrogen, biogas, bioelectricity, and jet biofuel as well as in the implementation of algal biorefinery. The challenges, future trends, and the roadmap for further improvements in NP-assisted algal biofuels are also highlighted. Overall, this comprehensive review will help in understanding the recent advanced applications of nanoparticles in the production of algal biofuels.

View all citing articles on Scopus

View full text