Microfluidic devices or microdevices refer to systems with a characteristic length in the micrometer range. Systems in this size allow handling small quantities of reagents and samples, with reduced residence time, better control of chemical species concentration, high heat and mass transfers, and high surface/volume ratio. These characteristics led to the application of these microdevices in several areas, such as biological systems, energy, liquid-liquid extraction, food, agricultural sectors, pharmaceuticals, flow chemistry, microreactors, and biodiesel synthesis. Microreactors are devices that have interconnected microchannels, in which small amounts of reagents are manipulated and react for a certain period of time. The traditional characteristics of microreactors are less quantities of reagents and samples, high surface area in relation to volume (10000 m² m^-3), reduction of resistance to heat and mass transfer, reduced reaction times, and narrower residence time distributions. In recent years, several studies have been carried out on biodiesel production in microreactors that explore the influence of operating conditions, mixing and reaction yield, numbering, and especially the microdevices design. Despite all the advantages of microreactors, the literature shows that there are only a few applications on an industrial scale. Two main reasons that hinder the adoption of this technology are the scale-up to a large enough volume to deliver the necessary production capacity and the costs related to industrial manufacturing microreactors. It is often stated that large-scale production of microreactors can be easily achieved by numbering-up. However, researches show that an incredibly high number of microdevices would be needed, which results in a technical unfeasibility and a strong impact on the construction costs of the industrial system. The present review aims to show whether microreactors can replace conventional biodiesel production processes and how this replacement technology could be carried out. The current chapter was divided into the following sections: Introduction, Synthesis and Purification of Biodiesel in Microreactors, Fundamentals of CFD, and Fundamentals of Scale-up. Finally, conclusions and future perspectives are exposed.

In this study, we used Chlorella vulgaris (C.vulgaris) grown in the dairy wastewater as biomass to produce a third-generation biodiesel. The lipids were extracted from the biomass and the biodiesel obtained by transesterification. Following ASTM and EN guidelines, the biodiesel was assessed along with its density, viscosity, heating value, and flash point. Gas chromatography was used to evaluate the concentration, composition, and type of fatty acid methyl esters. The results showed a biodiesel yield of 93% with a composition of 33% saturated, 28% monounsaturated, and 37% polyunsaturated. Engine testing was carried out to monitor the levels of CO, CO2, NOx, and smoke emissions as well as to assess the biodiesel performance. Results demonstrate the possibility of producing third-generation biodiesel from C. Vulgaris cultivated in dairy wastewater. The proposed process valorize the dairy wastewater and might represent an alter-native approach for biodiesel production and the disposal of the wastewater.

Application of solid catalysts synthesized from agricultural wastes provides an environmentally benign and low-cost process route to the synthesis of biodiesel. An ash containing equal mixture of cocoa pod husk, plantain peel and kola nut pod husk ashes (CPK) which was obtained by open combustion of each biomass in air and calcined at 500 oC for 4 h. The calcined CPK ash was characterized to determine its catalytic potential. Two-level transesterification technique was used to synthesize biodiesel using the developed catalyst. The process parameters involved were optimized for the microwave-aided transesterification of a blend of honne, rubber seed and neem oils in volumetric ratio 20:20:60, respectively. The study showed that ash derived from combination of various biomass wastes provides a catalyst which consists all necessary catalytic ingredients in their relative abundance. The calcined CPK consists of 47.67% of potassium, 5.56% calcium and 4.21% magnesium attesting to its heterogenous status. The physisorption isotherms reveals that it was dominantly mesoporous in structure made up of nanoparticles. Maximum of 98.45 wt.% biodiesel was obtained through MeOH:oil blend of 12:1, CPK concentration of 1.158 wt.% and reaction time of 6 min under microwave irradiation. Quality of the synthesized biodiesel satisfied the requirements stipulated by standard specifications. Thus, this work demonstrates that blend of agrowastes and mixture of non-edible oils could be used to synthesize quality and sustainable biodiesel that can replace fossil diesel.

Biodiesel, a potent replacement for petroleum diesel, is derived from fatty acids in biomass through transesterification, which is renewable, non-toxic, and biodegradable and is a powerful replacement for petroleum diesel. Lewis acid has been proven effective for esterification and transesterification. The Lewis base enhances the electrophilic and nucleophilic properties of the molecules that bind to it, leading to the remarkable versatility in the Lewis base catalytic reaction. Many studies have shown that Lewis acid/base catalyzed in-situ transesterification is a fast and environmentally friendly method for producing biodiesel. The utilization of Lewis acid-base sites to catalyze transesterification has been shown to enhance their efficiency and utilization of ac-id-base active sites. This review explores biodiesel production by different catalysts using Lewis acid-base sites, the conditions for catalytic transesterification, the effects of different reaction parameters on biodiesel production, and biodiesel production process.

Globally, the fuel demand is increasing rapidly and the conventional method to produce fuel is toxic which causes environmental degradation and climate crisis. Therefore, biodiesel emerges as the substitute to overcome the conventional fuel problems because biodiesel is renewable and non-toxic. Biodiesel synthesis is the process of using fats and oils to produce biodiesel ester and glycerol. Biodiesel can be produced using edible and non-edible feedstock but using the edible feedstocks problems like fuel vs food, nutritional value and economic considerations were raised. Therefore, non-edible feedstocks are being used to overcome problems arising from edible feedstock. As non-edible feedstocks can easily be grown anywhere on land, doesn’t cause imbalance to food economy and has low cost. Many non-consumable seeds like Mahua, Jatropha, Castor, Neem etc. are used to produce biodiesel. Now a days, researchers are using nanoparticles to enhance the stability, quality, and properties of biodiesel. In future, researchers can use algae and microbial oils for production of biodiesel. Research can also use biojet fuel in such a way that it reduces the carbon emission. In future, production of biodiesel can be integrated into circular economy models to reduce environmental waste and impact. In this review we will discuss the production methods for biodiesel, catalysts for biodiesel production, and non-edible feedstock properties of biodiesel.

Polyvinyl guanidineacetic (PVG) was prepared by the chemical grafting between poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and guanidineacetic acid. The results showed that the guanidineacetic groups were successfully introduced into the polyvinyl alcohol by fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and thermogravimetry (TG). The effects of the amount of catalyst and reaction time on the PVG grafting rate were investigated. The PVG/NWF composite membrane as a heterogeneous catalyst for biodiesel production was successfully prepared by the solvent phase inversion. The effects of mass ratio of methanol/soybean oil and reaction temperature on the conversions using the composite membrane for transesterification were studied. And the reusability of the composite membrane and the kinetics of the reaction catalyzed by the composite membrane were also investigated. The conversions obtained from the model are in good agreement with the experimental data.

The conjugation of phytosterols (PSs) with fatty acids results in producing phytosterol esters (PSEs) characterized with enhanced lipophilicity and improved functional properties of major interest in food and nutraceutical applications. The use of immobilized lipases to catalyze direct transesterification reactions between PSs and plant oils to form PSEs as a green alternative to conventional chemical production methods has attracted interest during the last two decades. The low solubility of PSs in common plant oil triglycerides, typically below 3% at ambient temperatures, remains the main challenge for bringing lipase-catalyzed direct transesterification reactions of PSs and oil triglycerides to commercial scales. This study focuses on the enzymatic synthesis of PSEs starting from solubilized PSs at concentrations of up to 30% wt./wt. of oil mixtures comprising fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs), monoglycerides (MGs), diglycerides (DGs) and triglycerides (TGs) as a homogeneous medium for the direct transesterification reaction. The results of this study show for the first time that the addition of FAEEs into the reaction medium results in altering of the substrate preference of the enzyme making MGs as the favorite fatty acyl group donors for PSs amongst all other fatty acyl donors present in the reaction system. The proposed new enzymatic route allows starting with high concentrations of solubilized PSs making the direct transesterification of oil glycerides attractive for production of PSEs at industrials scales.

Triglycerides of waste cooking oil reacted with methanol in refluxing toluene to yield mixtures of diglycerides, monoglycerides and fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) in the presence of 20% (w/w) catalyst/oil using the hydrophilic sulfonated silica (SiO₂-SO₃H) catalyst alone or with the addition of 10% (w/w) co-catalyst/oil [(Bun4N)](BF₄) or Aliquat 336]. The addition of the ammonium salts to the catalyst lead to a decrease in the amounts of diglycerides in the products, but the concentrations of monoglycerides increased. Mixtures of [(Bun4N)](BF4)/catalyst were superior to catalyst alone or Aliquat 336/catalyst for promoting the production of mixtures with high concentrations of FAMEs. The same experiments were repeated using DMSO as the solvent. The use of the more polar solvent resulted in excellent conversion of the triglycerides to FAME esters with all three-catalyst media. A simplified mechanism is presented to account for the experimental results.

The use of biolubricants as an alternative for petroleum-based products has played an important role in the last decade. Thus, due to the encouragement of global policies, which mainly support green chemistry and circular economy, there has been an increasing interest in bio-based products, including biolubricants, from scientific and industrial points of view. Due to the different applications of biolubricants for a wide range of practical uses, the raw materials, production, and characteristics might vary, making this field a continuously changing subject of study by researchers. The aim of this research work was to focus on biolubricant production from vegetable oil crops in a bio-refinery perspective, paying attention to the main raw materials used, the corresponding production methods (with special focus on double transesterification), the role of catalysts and techno-economic studies. Thus, the main factors affecting quality parameters such as viscosity or oxidative stability have been covered, including catalyst addition, reaction temperature or the use of raw materials, reagents or additives were also analyzed. The latest research trends were included, updating previous studies about this matter, considering current conclusions and future research.