Biodiesel advantages compared with

The use of methanol offers the best results in the trans-esterification of oils and fats. Compared with other alcohols, methanol requires shorter reaction times and smaller catalyst amounts and alcohol/oil molar ratios [10,12,15,16,51,52]. These advantages lead to reduced consumption of steam, heat, water, and electricity, and use of smaller processing equipment to produce the same amount of biodiesel. Biodiesel applications continue to expand. Thus, in addition to its use as fuel, biodiesel has been employed in the synthesis of resins, polymers, emulsifiers, and lubricants [53-64]. Concerning the range of applications, new biodiesel production processes should be considered as alternatives to the production based on methanol. Currently, methanol is primarily produced from fossil matter. Due to its high toxicity, methanol may cause cancer and blindness in humans, if they are overexposed to it. Methanol traces are not desired in food and other products for human consumption [15]. In contrast, ethanol emerges as an excellent alternative to methanol as it is mainly produced from biomass, is easily metabolized by humans, and generates stable fatty acid esters. Additionally, fatty acid ester production with ethanol requires shorter reaction times and smaller amounts of alcohol and catalyst compared to the other alcohols, except methanol, used in transesterification processes [11,15,16]. 

In the case of Amyris a different biological platform, in this case yeast, was modified to produce a completely different molecule as a biodiesel drop-in replacement when compared to the usual type of biodiesel molecule. The advantages for a molecule like farnesane are that it is a true drop-in replacement upon combustion it does not have emissions fike SO c or excessive NO c, and burns more cleanly than traditional biodiesel. Interestingly, at the moment, Amyris finds greater demand and profitabihty for molecules like squalene, a molecule used in cosmetics and personal care products. For the next few years at least, it is hkely that Amyris will not be able to compete with petroleum-derived diesel given the recent precipitous drop in oil prices and this will push them... 

BTL diesel is a renewable fuel of excellent quality, compared to both fossil-derived diesel and first-generation biodiesel produced via the transesterification of vegetable oils. BTL synthetic fuel consists mainly of linear paraffinic hydrocarbons with almost zero aromatics and sulfur compounds. The physical properties of BTL diesel presented in Table 18.6 (Rantanen et al., 2005) demonstrate its very high cetane number that can reach up to 75, much higher than conventional diesel. The big advantage of BTL diesel is that it is directly usable today in the transportation sector and furthermore it may be suitable for future fuel cell vehicles via on-board reforming since it is free of sulfur. 

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