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Green Chemistry of Microwave-Enhanced Biodiesel Production

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Production of Biofuels and Chemicals with Microwave

Part of the book series: Biofuels and Biorefineries ((BIOBIO,volume 3))

Abstract

Biodiesel as a renewable fuel has the potential to replace non-renewable fossil fuels and associated environmental pollution. The most commonly used method for biodiesel production is transesterification of virgin and used oil feedstock. Although the basic chemistry of this reaction (transesterification) is very efficient, it does not proceed spontaneously. Excess reactants should be employed to move the reaction to completion. The biodiesel reaction efficiency can be improved by incorporating the green chemistry principles and process intensification effects. Green chemistry is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances. Microwave based biodiesel synthesis can enhance the reaction efficiency due to higher product recovery, low by-product formation, and reduced energy consumption . In addition, a few green metrics such as E-factor, atom economy (utilization), mass intensity or mass productivity, and reaction mass efficiency can help design safer and highly efficient biodiesel synthesis. This chapter describes the green chemistry principles for microwave enhanced biodiesel production in detail for the first time in the literature.

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Abbreviations

α:

Reaction order with respect to triglyceride

β:

Reaction order with respect to methanol

CA0 :

Initial concentration of triglyceride, (g/L)

CB0 :

Initial concentration of methanol, (g/L)

CA :

Concentration of triglyceride after time t, (g/L)

CB :

Concentration of methanol after time t, (g/L)

\( \theta_{B} \) :

Ratio of CB0 to CA0

k:

Rate constant

t:

Time, min

X:

Conversion, %

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the Bagley College of Engineering, and the Office of Research and Economic Development (ORED) of Mississippi State University (MSU).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Mississippi State University, 501 Hardy Rd, PO Box 9546, Starkville, MS, 39762, USA

    Veera Gnaneswar Gude & Edith Martinez-Guerra

Authors
  1. Veera Gnaneswar Gude
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  2. Edith Martinez-Guerra
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Veera Gnaneswar Gude .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Ga Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China

    Zhen Fang

  2. Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan

    Richard L. Smith, Jr.

  3. Nankai University, Tianjin, China

    Xinhua Qi

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Gude, V.G., Martinez-Guerra, E. (2015). Green Chemistry of Microwave-Enhanced Biodiesel Production. In: Fang, Z., Smith, Jr., R., Qi, X. (eds) Production of Biofuels and Chemicals with Microwave. Biofuels and Biorefineries, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9612-5_11

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