Biodiesel
(BD) can be synthesized by reaction between oil and an alcohol such as methanol
or ethanol. The feedstock for BD production can be vegetable oil, animal fat,
recycled restaurant grease or lipid contained in microorganism. Commercial
production of BD mostly uses refined edible oil as the feedstock such as
soybean, canola, rapeseed, sunflower, palm and coconut oils. However, one major
problem with BD is its economic viability that is likewise faced by all
biofuels. Pure vegetable oil constitutes about 70% to 85% of the overall BDproduction cost.
For this reason, researches have been undertaken to
investigate the possibility of using agriculture/industry wastes as feedstock
for BD production, which in principle should significantly reduce the overall price
of BD and avoid the competition between food and fuel often faced in producing
biofuel. The
development of environmentally friendly processes has become highly desirable
for reasons such as pollution prevention, public acceptance and hazard
elimination. Many studies employed water as the solvent in sub or supercritical
state to prevent problems associated with volatile organic solvents. Read more............
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