A New Process for Biodisesel Production based on Waste Cooking Oils and Heterogeneous Catalysts

Biodiesel is a renewable and clean form of energy produced from biomass materials. Although interest in biodiesel is rapidly increasing, the process by which biodiesel is synthesized has not changed much in the last twenty years. In the United States, the vast majority of biodiesel is made commercially from soybean oil by an energy and labor-intensive alkali-catalyzed process. This homogeneous catalyst based process is far from being efficient and could be improved substantially. To improve this process and produce a cost-effective biodiesel product, a heterogeneous catalyst biodiesel production process has been proposed in this project. This technology addresses all the problems associated with the alkali-catalyzed process and can effectively convert low-cost waste cooking oils to biodiesel with high yield and high quality. In Phase I, the two heterogeneous catalysts developed in this company were fully tested, and the optimal reaction conditions for biodiesel production were determined. The technical feasibility of this proposed technology was verified. This technology has demonstrated a strong commercial potential. The work in phase II will focus on bringing this new technology from a laboratory scale to a pilot scale and evaluating the commercial viability of this technology.