Calcined Biowaste Durian Peel as a Heterogeneous Catalyst for Room-Temperature Biodiesel Production Using a Homogenizer Device.

Calcined biowaste durian peel (BDP) contains 86% potassium element as the main compound and has successfully catalyzed the transesterification of palm oil to biodiesel at room temperature. The effect of catalyst weight, molar ratio of palm oil to methanol, reaction time, and rotational speed of the homogenizer device was investigated on biodiesel conversion and yield. The highest biodiesel conversion of 97.4 ± 0.3% was achieved using the following reaction conditions: a catalyst weight of 5 wt %, a molar ratio of palm oil to methanol of 1:15, a reaction time of 10 min, and a rotational speed of 6000 rpm. Unfortunately, calcined BDP could not hold its catalytic activity in the reusability study. The biodiesel conversion was decreased in the second cycle due to the decrease of both catalyst weight and concentration of potassium ions after the first cycle. However, the calcined BDP paired with a homogenizer device could produce biodiesel in a short reaction time and at room temperature.

Room temperature esterification of high-free fatty acid feedstock into biodiesel.

The esterification of a high-free fatty acid feedstock to biodiesel is often performed in high-temperature conditions using either homogeneous or heterogeneous acid catalysts. Thus, this study attempts to esterify oleic acid to biodiesel in room temperature conditions using sulphuric acid as a catalyst and a homogenizer device. The influences of process parameters including the molar ratio of oleic acid to methanol, catalyst concentration and rotational speed on biodiesel conversion were determined in different reaction times. The maximum conversion of 96.1 ± 0.4% was obtained in the presence of a molar ratio of 1 : 12, catalyst concentration of 0.7 mol L-1, a rotational speed of 4000 rpm and a reaction time of 30 minutes. The catalytic reusability test showed that the addition of fresh methanol is required to maintain the catalytic activity. However, the homogenizer-intensify esterification of oleic acid to biodiesel showed better performance than other methods as the reaction could conducted at room temperature and at a short reaction time. The predicted biodiesel properties meet the international standard except for oxidative stability. However, the flow properties revealed that the biodiesel can be used in winter season.

Microwave-Assisted Enzymatic Esterification Production of Emollient Esters.

Currently, esterification production of isopropyl myristate (IPM) or isopropyl palmitate (IPP) uses a homogeneous or heterogeneous acid substance as a catalyst and is conducted at high temperatures and pressures. Utilization of this type of catalyst requires an additional postproduction process (neutralization and purification), which burdens the production cost. Microwave enzymatic esterification is a simple and fast method. The results showed that reaction time, ratio molar of fatty acids to isopropyl alcohol, catalyst weight, and microwave power have a significant effect on the IPM or IPP conversion. Further, the energy consumption of this process is less than other enzymatic esterification and is certainly more energy efficient, which could save 99 and 29% of processing time.

Controlled crushing device-intensified direct biodiesel production of Black Soldier Fly larvae.

Insect larvae contain sufficient oil comparable with oleaginous biomass, and hence have potency as alternative biodiesel resources. The direct transesterification of Black Soldier Fly (BSF) larvae have conducted using a controllable crushing device (CCD) and a homogeneous base as a catalyst. The effect of catalyst concentration (wt.%), ratio BSF larvae to methanol (wt./v), reaction time (min) and rotational speed (rpm) on biodiesel conversion was determined. The maximum conversion of 93.8% was achieved at room temperature after 20 min of reaction time and ratio larvae to methanol of 1:2 (wt./v), catalyst concentration of 7 wt% and rotational speed of 3000 rpm. In addition, the green metrics calculation showed that this method produces less waste and uses less solvent. Some of the BSF-biodiesel properties meet the biodiesel standard. The CCD-intensified the DT of BSF larvae is a promising alternative for green and energy-saved biodiesel production.

Utilization of waste banana peels as heterogeneous catalysts in room-temperature biodiesel production using a homogenizer.

Banana peels as agro-waste residues contain potassium oxide as the main component after calcination. The calcined waste banana peels (WBPs) successfully transesterified palm oil to biodiesel at room temperature using a homogenizer. The catalyst was characterized by TGA, SEM, XRD and XRF. The catalytic activity of calcined WBPs was determined using parameters of the molar ratio of palm oil to methanol, catalyst weight, reaction time and rotational speed of the homogenizer. The highest biodiesel conversion of 97.7 ± 0.6% was achieved with a molar ratio of 1 : 15, catalyst weight of 7 wt%, reaction time of 30 min and rotational speed of 6000 rpm. Unfortunately, the calcined WBP cannot be reused unless some fresh catalyst is added to defend its catalytic activity, as the concentration of K2O decreases after the reaction. However, the catalyst showed better performance as the transesterification reaction could be carried out at room temperature in a short reaction time using a homogenizer compared with other methods.

Waste rubber seeds as a renewable energy source: direct biodiesel production using a controlled crushing device.

A multistep and high-cost biodiesel production could be simplified using the direct transesterification (DT) method. A controllable device has been developed and applied to study the effects of the ratio of rubber seeds to methanol, catalyst concentration, reaction time and rotational speed on biodiesel conversion and fatty acid (FA) yield extraction. The controllable crushing device (CCD) assisted the DT of rubber seeds and operated at ambient temperature and pressure achieved a maximum biodiesel conversion of 97.5 ± 0.6% in a reaction time of 7 minutes. The biodiesel quality estimated based on the FA extraction profile is comparable with the biodiesel standard. In terms of energy efficiency and reaction time, the CCD saved 71-98% energy consumption and reduced the reaction time up to 99%.

Waste Passion Fruit Peel as a Heterogeneous Catalyst for Room-Temperature Biodiesel Production.

A low-cost, green, and highly active catalyst which could transesterify oil under ambient conditions is required to reduce the biodiesel production cost. A novel heterogeneous catalyst derived from the waste agroproduct has been developed from passion fruit peel. The catalytic activity of calcined waste passion fruit peel (WPFP) which mainly contains potassium in the form of chloride and carbonate has been evaluated using factorial design to determine the interaction of molar ratio of oil to methanol, catalyst weight, and reaction time with three different reaction conditions such as 65, 45 °C, and room temperature. The transesterification of palm oil to biodiesel achieved a conversion of >90% for all variables determined at a reaction temperature of 45 and 65 °C, respectively, while a maximum biodiesel conversion of 95.4 ± 2.8% was obtained at room temperature and a reaction time of 30 min. The addition of certain amounts of the catalyst is required to reuse the catalyst as the leaching study showed the reduction of 22% of catalyst weight. The ability of calcined WPFP to catalyze transesterification at room temperature opens up the possibility to reduce biodiesel production cost.

Direct biodiesel production from wet spent coffee grounds.

Utilization of waste spent coffee grounds (SCG) remains limited and requires pre-treatment before being discarded to avoid pollution to the environment. Lipids contained in SCG could be converted to biodiesel through an in situ transesterification method. Current in situ transesterification of wet SCG biomass, conducted at high reaction temperature to reduce the water effect and reduce reaction time, is energy intensive. A new approach, which combines simultaneous extraction-transesterification in a single step using soxhlet apparatus, was developed to produce biodiesel directly from wet SCG biomass. A homogeneous base catalyst at a concentration of 0.75 M showed better catalytic activity than acid, with hexane as a co-solvent on fatty acid (FA) extraction efficiency and FA to fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) conversion efficiency. Studying the factorial effect of ratio of methanol to hexane and reaction time led to the highest FA to FAME conversion efficiency of 97% at a ratio of 1 : 2 and 30 min reaction time. In addition, the catalyst could be used five times without losing its activity. In term of energy consumption, the reactive extraction soxhlet (RES) method could save 38-99% of energy compared to existing methods.

Turbo thin film continuous flow production of biodiesel from fungal biomass.

Direct biodiesel production from wet fungal biomass may significantly reduce production costs, but there is a lack of fast and cost-effective processing technology. A novel thin film continuous flow process has been applied to study the effects of its operational parameters on fatty acid (FA) extraction and FA to fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) conversion efficiencies. Single factor experiments evaluated the effects of catalyst concentration and water content of biomass, while factorial experimental designs determined the interactions between catalyst concentration and biomass to methanol ratio, flow rate, and rotational speed. Direct transesterification (DT) of wet Mucor plumbeus biomass at ambient temperature and pressure achieved a FA to FAME conversion efficiency of >90% using 3 wt/v % NaOH concentration, if the water content was ≤50% (w/w). In comparison to existing DT methods, this continuous flow processing technology has an estimated 90-94% reduction in energy consumption, showing promise for up-scaling.

Continuous flow biodiesel production from wet microalgae using a hybrid thin film microfluidic platform.

A novel continuous flow turbo-thin film device (T2FD) has been developed. The microfluidic platform is effective in high yielding production of biodiesel from wet microalgae at room temperature under continuous flow conditions. These findings open the possibility of cost effective production of biodiesel directly from wet microalgae.

Vortex fluidic mediated direct transesterification of wet microalgae biomass to biodiesel.

A bottleneck in the production of biodiesel from microalgae is the dewatering and lipid extraction process which is the dominant energy penalty and cost. A novel biodiesel production platform based on vortex fluidic device (VFD)-assisted direct transesterification (DT) of wet microalgal biomass of Chloroparva pannonica was developed and evaluated. Fatty acid extraction and fatty acid to FAME conversion efficiencies were used at different parameter settings to evaluate performance of the processing technology in confined and continuous mode. A response surface method based on Box-Behnken experimental design was used to determine the effects of water content, the ratio of biomass to methanol and residence time in the VFD. Average extraction efficiencies were 41% and conversion efficiencies >90% with the processing technology showing a broad tolerance to parameter settings. The findings suggest that VFD-assisted DT is a simple and effective way to produce biodiesel directly from wet microalgae biomass at room temperature.