scholarly journals Biodiesel production from alternative raw materials using a heterogeneous Low Ordered Biosilicified Enzyme as biocatalyst

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Orlando Ferrero ◽  
Edgar Maximiliano Sánchez Faba ◽  
Griselda Alejandra Eimer

Abstract Background: Nowadays, as an alternative to the production of fuels and chemicals from the fossil platform, renewable feedstocks are widely investigated. For biomass conversion, a new generation of catalysts with specific characteristics such as high activity and selectivity, easy recovery and reusability is necessary. The design of highly efficient and stable heterogeneous catalysts represents a challenge in this field, mainly to overcome current energy and environmental issues. The combination of enzymatic and heterogeneous inorganic catalysis generates an unprecedented platform that combines the advantages of both. Among the techniques for producing solid catalysts, enzymatic mineralization with an organic silicic precursor to obtain hybrid biocatalysts (biosilicification) is highlighted. This technique can provide exceptional stability to the biocatalyst in drastic conditions of use.Results: Then, under these criteria, this work presents the one-step synthesis of a solid enzymatic catalyst, denominated Low Ordered Biosilicified Enzyme (LOBE) due to their structural properties. Pseudomonas Fluorescens lipase forms aggregates that are contained in the heart of a silicon-covered micelle, providing active sites with the ability to process different raw materials (commercial sunflower and soybean oil, Jatropha excisa oil, waste frying oil, residual soybeans, and pork fat) to produce first and second generation biodiesel. Obtaining yields between 81 and 93% by weight depending on the used raw material.Conclusions: Therefore, refined, non-edible and residual oils (with high water and free fatty acid contents) can be transformed into biodiesel through LOBE catalysts with commercial ethanol as co-substrate.

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Orlando Ferrero ◽  
Edgar Maximiliano Sánchez Faba ◽  
Griselda Alejandra Eimer

Abstract Background Cumulative reported evidence has indicated that renewable feedstocks are a promising alternative source to fossil platforms for the production of fuels and chemicals. In that regard, the development of new, highly active, selective, and easy to recover and reuse catalysts for biomass conversions is urgently needed. The combination of enzymatic and inorganic heterogeneous catalysis generates an unprecedented platform that combines the advantages of both, the catalytic efficiency and selectivity of enzymes with the ordered structure, high porosity, mechanical, thermal and chemical resistance of mesoporous materials to obtain enzymatic heterogeneous catalysts. Enzymatic mineralization with an organic silicon precursor (biosilicification) is a promising and emerging approach for the generation of solid hybrid biocatalysts with exceptional stability under severe use conditions. Herein, we assessed the putative advantages of the biosilicification technology for developing an improved efficient and stable biocatalyst for sustainable biofuel production. Results A series of solid enzymatic catalysts denominated LOBE (low ordered biosilicified enzyme) were synthesized from Pseudomonas fluorescens lipase and tetraethyl orthosilicate. The microscopic structure and physicochemical properties characterization revealed that the enzyme formed aggregates that were contained in the heart of silicon-covered micelles, providing active sites with the ability to process different raw materials (commercial sunflower and soybean oils, Jatropha excisa oil, waste frying oil, acid oil from soybean soapstock, and pork fat) to produce first- and second-generation biodiesel. Ester content ranged from 81 to 93% wt depending on the raw material used for biodiesel synthesis. Conclusions A heterogeneous enzymatic biocatalyst, LOBE4, for efficient biodiesel production was successfully developed in a single-step synthesis reaction using biosilicification technology. LOBE4 showed to be highly efficient in converting refined, non-edible and residual oils (with high water and free fatty acid contents) and ethanol into biodiesel. Thus, LOBE4 emerges as a promising tool to produce second-generation biofuels, with significant implications for establishing a circular economy and reducing the carbon footprint.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Orlando Ferrero ◽  
Edgar Maximiliano Sánchez Faba ◽  
Griselda Alejandra Eimer

Abstract Background: Cumulative reported evidence has indicated that renewable feedstocks are a promising alternative source to fossil platforms for the production of fuels and chemicals. In that regard, the development of new, highly active, selective, and easy to recover and reuse catalysts for biomass conversions is urgently needed. The combination of enzymatic and inorganic heterogeneous catalysis generates an unprecedented platform that combines the advantages of both, the catalytic efficiency and selectivity of enzymes with the ordered structure, high porosity, mechanical, thermal and chemical resistance of mesoporous materials to obtain enzymatic heterogeneous catalysts. Enzymatic mineralization with an organic silicon precursor (biosilicification) is a promising and emerging approach for the generation of solid hybrid biocatalysts with exceptional stability under severe use conditions. Herein, we assessed the putative advantages of the biosilicification technology for developing an improved efficient and stable biocatalyst for sustainable biofuel production. Results: A series of solid enzymatic catalysts denominated LOBE (Low Ordered Biosilicified Enzyme) were synthesized from Pseudomonas fluorescens lipase and tetraethyl orthosilicate. The microscopic structure and physicochemical properties characterization revealed that the enzyme formed aggregates that were contained in the heart of silicon-covered micelles, providing active sites with the ability to process different raw materials (commercial sunflower and soybean oils, Jatropha excisa oil, waste frying oil, acid oil from soybean soapstock, and pork fat) to produce first and second generation biodiesel. Ester content ranged from 81 to 93% wt depending on the raw material used for biodiesel synthesis. Conclusions: A heterogeneous enzymatic biocatalyst, LOBE4, for efficient biodiesel production was successfully developed in a single step synthesis reaction using biosilicification technology. LOBE4 showed to be highly efficient in converting refined, non-edible and residual oils (with high water and free fatty acid contents) and ethanol into biodiesel. Thus, LOBE4 emerges as a promising tool to produce second-generation biofuels, with significant implications for establishing a circular economy and reducing the carbon footprint.


2013 ◽  
Vol 824 ◽  
pp. 451-458
Author(s):  
A.K. Temu

One of the disadvantages of homogeneous base catalysts in biodiesel production is that they cannot be reused or regenerated because they are consumed in the reaction. Besides, homogeneous catalysed process is not environmentally friendly because a lot of waste water is produced in the separation step. Unlike homogeneous, heterogeneous catalysts are environmentally benign, can be reused and regenerated, and could be operated in continuous processes, thus providing a promising option for biodiesel production. This paper presents catalytic activity of single and mixed solid catalysts in production of biodiesel from palm oil using methanol as well as ethanol at atmospheric pressure. The catalysts used are CaO, K2CO3, Al2O3, and CaO/K2CO3, CaO/Al2O3, K2CO3/Al2O3 mixtures. Results show that methanol is a better reactant with biodiesel yield ranging from 48 to 96.5% while ethanol gives yields ranging from 20 to 95.2%. The yield data for single catalysts range from 20 to 89.2% while that for mixed catalysts range from 52 to 96.5% indicating improvement in the activity by mixing the catalysts. The study also shows that biodiesel yield increases with catalyst loading which emphasizes the need for sufficient number of active sites. The properties of biodiesel produced compares well with ASTM D6751 and EN 14124 biodiesel standards.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (17) ◽  
pp. 5506
Author(s):  
Daniel Carreira Batalha ◽  
Márcio José da Silva

Nowadays, the synthesis of biofuels from renewable raw materials is very popular. Among the various challenges involved in improving these processes, environmentally benign catalysts compatible with an inexpensive feedstock have become more important. Herein, we report the recent advances achieved in the development of Niobium-containing heterogeneous catalysts as well as their use in routes to produce biodiesel. The efficiency of different Niobium catalysts in esterification and transesterification reactions of lipids and oleaginous raw materials was evaluated, considering the effect of main reaction parameters such as temperature, time, catalyst load, and oil:alcohol molar ratio on the biodiesel yield. The catalytic performance of Niobium compounds was discussed considering the characterization data obtained by different techniques, including NH3-TPD, BET, and Pyr-FT-IR analysis. The high catalytic activity is attributed to its inherent properties, such as the active sites distribution over a high specific surface area, strength of acidity, nature, amount of acidic sites, and inherent mesoporosity. On top of this, recycling experiments have proven that most Niobium catalysts are stable and can be repeatedly used with consistent catalytic activity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 521-530
Author(s):  
W. Widayat ◽  
◽  
Marcelinus Christwardana ◽  
S. Syaiful ◽  
Hantoro Satriadi ◽  
...  

This study is aimed to use fly ash and limestone as raw materials for preparing alkali methoxide heterogeneous catalysts for transesterification of palm oil into biodiesel. The heterogeneous catalyst was synthesized from fly ash and limestone through wet and dry methods and calcined within 1073–1273 K. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy analyses indicated the well-dispersed presence of the Ca(OCH3)2 crystal over the fly ash and limestone framework, which was mixed using wet method and calcined at 1073 K (W-800). Results showed that W-800 exhibited larger surface area and more uniform active sites than the other catalysts. About 88.6 % of biodiesel was produced from commercial palm oil with W-800 as the catalyst. The product possesses physicochemical characteristics, such as density, kinematic viscosity and free fatty acid content, which satisfy the international biodiesel standard. The catalyst was used for biodiesel production for four cycles, and the biodiesel yield was maintained up to 91.87 % from the initial value.


Author(s):  
K. Malins ◽  
V. Kampars ◽  
R. Kampare ◽  
T. Rusakova

The transesterification of vegetable oil using various kinds of alcohols is a simple and efficient renewable fuel synthesis technique. Products obtained by modifying natural triglycerides in transesterification reaction substitute fossil fuels and mineral oils. Currently the most significant is the biodiesel, a mixture of fatty acid methyl esters, which is obtained in a reaction with methanol, which in turn is obtained from fossil raw materials. In biodiesel production it would be more appropriate to use alcohols which can be obtained from renewable local raw materials. Ethanol rouses interest as a possible reagent, however, its production locally is based on the use of grain and therefore competes with food production so it would implicitly cause increase in food prices. Another raw material option is alcohols that can be obtained from furfurole. Furfurole is obtained in dehydration process from pentose sugars which can be extracted from crop straw, husk and other residues of agricultural production. From furfurole the tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol (THFA), a raw material for biodiesel, can be produced. By transesterifying rapeseed oil with THFA it would be possible to obtain completely renewable biodiesel with properties very close to diesel [2-4]. With the purpose of developing the synthesis of such fuel, in this work a three-stage synthesis of rapeseed oil tetrahydrofurfurylesters (ROTHFE) in sulphuric acid presence has been performed, achieving product with purity over 98%. The most important qualitative factors of ROTHFE have been determined - cold filter plugging point, cetane number, water content, Iodine value, phosphorus content, density, viscosity and oxidative stability.


Author(s):  
Saidat Olanipekun Giwa ◽  
Maku Barbanas Haggai ◽  
Abdulwahab Giwa

In the recent time, there is increasing research in the area of alternative fuels as the exhausts of presently used petroleum-based fuels have been identified to have negative effects on the environment. Fuels produced from plant oils and animal fats have the tendencies of replacing petro fuels since they are renewable in nature. One of these renewable fuels is biodiesel. However, the homogenous catalyst used in biodiesel production has some drawbacks such as difficulty in separation from the fuel, soap formation and corrosiveness of the product mixture. In this work, the use of heterogeneous catalyst sourced from local raw materials (kaolin and eggshell) for the production of biodiesel from oil of desert date seed has been investigated. The kaolin obtained from Alkaleri Mining Site, Bauchi, was calcined in an oven at 800 °C for 3 h. The calcined kaolin was then chemically activated. Also, the eggshell-based catalyst was produced from raw eggshells after washing, drying, grinding, sieving using 0.3 mm sieve size and calcining at 900 °C for 3 h. Furthermore, the oil content of the desert date seed, which was acquired from a local market in Bauchi, was extracted via solvent extraction in a laboratory with a yield of 42%. Then, the biodiesel was subsequently prepared by mixing the oil, methanol and catalyst in a flat bottom flask and heating the mixture for a specified period. The catalyst concentration, methanol to oil ratio and time of reaction were subsequently varied to obtain the best yield. The results obtained revealed that an optimum yield of 29% could be obtained at methanol to oil ratio of 6:1 and a reaction time of 60 min using 1.5 g of eggshell-based catalyst while an optimum yield of 22% was obtained with 0.6 g for kaolin-based catalyst at a reaction time of 60 min and methanol to oil ratio of 4:1. It is recommended that further work should be carried out to improve on the yield of the biodiesel obtained using the heterogeneous catalysts.


2019 ◽  
Vol 967 ◽  
pp. 150-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoel Pasae ◽  
Lyse Bulo ◽  
Karel Tikupadang ◽  
Titus Tandi Seno

The use of heterogeneous catalysts in the biodiesel production process provides advantages because it is easier in the catalyst separation process. One type of heterogeneous catalyst that can be used is CaO. The raw materials for CaO are abundant in nature and can be obtained from various sources including agricultural waste such as eggshells. The alkalinity level of CaO can be increased to super baser CaO through the activation process of CaO by using an ammonium carbonate solution. Super base CaO which is used as a catalyst for transesterification reaction in the production of biodiesel made from palm oil. This research was carried out by varying the reaction time starting from 1, 2 and 3 hours. The highest yield was obtained at 3 hours reaction time of 93.92%. The results of the analysis of the physical properties of biodiesel obtained density in the range 853-854 kg/m3, kinematic viscosity 3.24-3.26 mm2/s (cSt), saponification number 193-201 mg-KOH/g biodiesel and acid number 0.3-0.7 mg-KOH/g. These characteristics meet the biodiesel quality standards based on Indonesian National Standard (SNI) 04-7182-2015. Thus the use of super base CaO from eggshells can be used as a catalyst in the process of biodiesel production.


Catalysts ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1025
Author(s):  
Mohammed O. Faruque ◽  
Shaikh A. Razzak ◽  
Mohammad M. Hossain

The depletion of fossil fuel reserves and increased environmental concerns related to fossil fuel production and combustion has forced the global communities to search for renewable fuels. In this regard, microalgae-based biodiesel has been considered as one of the interesting alternatives. Biodiesel production from the cultivation of microalgae is eco-friendly and sustainable. Moreover, microalgae have several advantages over other bioenergy sources, including their good photosynthetic capacity and faster growth rates. The productivity of microalgae per unit land area is also significantly higher than that of terrestrial plants. The produced microalgae biomass is rich with high quality lipids, which can be converted into biodiesel by transesterification reactions. Generally, the transesterification reactions are carried out in the presence of a homogeneous or heterogeneous catalyst. The homogeneous catalysts have many disadvantages, including their single use, slow reaction rate and saponification issues due to the presence of fatty acids in the feedstock. The acidic nature of the homogeneous catalysts also causes equipment corrosion. On the other hand, the heterogeneous catalysts offer several advantages, including their reusability, higher reaction rate and selectivity, easy product/catalyst separation and low cost. Due to these facts, the development of solid phase transesterification catalysts have been receiving growing interest. The present review is focused on the use of heterogeneous catalysts for biodiesel production from microalgal oil as a reliable feedstock with a comparison to other available feedstocks. It also highlights optimal reaction conditions for maximum biodiesel yields, reusability of the solid catalysts, cost, and environmental impact. The superior lipid content of microalgae and the efficient concurrent esterification and transesterification of the solid acid−base catalysts can offer new advancements in biodiesel production.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marisa B. Navas ◽  
José F. Ruggera ◽  
Ileana D. Lick ◽  
Mónica L. Casella

AbstractThis paper describes the preparation and characterization of MgO and ZnO-based catalysts, pure and mixed in different proportions, supported on γ-Al2O3. Their catalytic performance was studied in the transesterification of soybean oil and castor oil with methanol and butanol, attempting to produce biodiesel. XRD (X-ray diffraction), SEM–EDS (scanning electron microscopy–energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy), CO2-adsorption and N2-adsorption allowed characterizing the prepared catalysts. The characterization results were in all cases consistent with mesoporous solids with high specific surface area. All the catalysts exhibited good results, especially in the transesterification of castor oil using butanol. For this reaction, the reuse was tested, maintaining high FABE (fatty acid butyl esters) yields after four cycles. This good performance can be attributed to the basic properties of the Mg species, and simultaneously, to the amphoteric properties of ZnO, which allow both triglycerides and free fatty acids to be converted into esters. Using these catalysts, it is possible to obtain second-generation biodiesel, employing castor oil, a raw material that does not compete with the food industry. In addition, butanol can be produced from renewable biomass.


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