Alternative Feedstocks for Biodiesel Production

Abstract:

The increasing in the world population has continuously increased the energy demand. As an effective fuel, petroleum has been serving the world to meet its energy needs. Continued use of petroleum sourced fuels is widely recognized as unsustainable because of depleting supplies and all the environmental issues around its use could be responsible for a major deficit in the future. Thus, the development of alternative energy sources, are to be welcomed. Biodiesel, as an alternative fuel, has many benefits. It is biodegradable, non-toxic and compared to petroleum-based diesel, has a more favorable combustion emission profile, such as low emissions of carbon monoxide, particulate matter and unburned hydrocarbons. In brief, these merits make biodiesel a good alternative to petroleum based fuel. The use of alternative feedstock as waste cooking oils (WCO), bovine fats and microalgae oil for biodiesel production has some advantages. It is cheaper than edible vegetable oils and it is a way to valorize a sub-product. Nevertheless, these oils has some contaminants, which can reduce the quality of biodiesel, a problem that was solved by testing different operating conditions and equipment designs for each stage of processing. The technological assessment of this process was carried out to evaluate their technical benefits, limitations and quality of final product. In this work biodiesel was produced by an alkali-catalyzed transesterification, a reaction involving the WCO feedstock and an alcohol to yield fatty acid alkyl esters (biodiesel) and glycerol. The evaluation of quality from raw materials and final biodiesel was performed according to standard EN 14214. Results show that all parameters analyzed meet the standard and legislation requirements. This evidence proves that in those operating conditions the biodiesel produced from WCO, bovine fats and microalgae can substitute petroleum-based diesel.

• Periodical: Materials Science Forum (Volumes 730-732)
• Pages: 623-629
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.730-732.623
• Online since: November 2012
• Authors: André Ribeiro, Joana Carvalho, Joana Castro, Jorge Araújo, Cândida Vilarinho, Fernando Castro
• Keywords: Bio-Diesel, Bovine Tallow, Microalgae, Transesterification, Waste Cooking Oil (WCO)

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