A concise review on alternative route of biodiesel production via interesterification of different feedstocks

Abstract

Environmental challenges and decreasing fossil reserves due to increased utilization of fossil fuels have propagated the importance of alternative energy sources. Increased biodiesel production promoted excess waste crude glycerol leading to environmental issues, thereby inhibiting the sustainability of the process. This review paper discusses the different types of feedstocks utilized to produce glycerol-free biodiesel by reacting with methyl acetate via interesterification. Methyl acetate is used as an advantageous alternative to methanol in biodiesel production to overcome the environmental challenge associated with excess waste glycerol. The by-product, triacetin from the interesterification reaction, has shown excellent qualities as a fuel additive, thereby making the process cleaner and more sustainable as a result of not separating the triacetin from biodiesel. The resulting product referred to as biodiesel fuel (BDF) has been found to exhibit useful properties and applications as fatty acid methyl esters (FAME). The promising environmental and sustainability merits of the process far outweigh the slow interesterification kinetics demerits of the process, which can be overcome by suitable processing conditions. The prospects associated with biodiesel production by interesterification are also pointed out.