Biodiesel improvement

Usually more difficult to handle at low temperatures than conventional diesel fuel when blended with conventional diesel fuel, low-temperature handling of biodiesel improves. 

The MCFAs laurate and myristate available from Cuphea species would fill commercial niches that are key to production of surfactants, plasticizers, biodiesel improvement, and a food source of nutriceutical and pharmaceutical value. Although Cuphea shows some promise as a temperate crop producing MCFA, it has not yet reached commercial potential. Cuphea will require additional breeding efforts to achieve acceptance as an economically viable crop. 

Biodiesel improves the energy security of nations, particularly developing nations without fossil fuel reserves, with potential to play an important role in world primary energy. Producing biodiesel can help a country lessen their reliance on imported fuel or reduce the impact of volatile foreign markets. Biodiesel can also help support local economies where it creates a new job infrastructure for people (Lin et al., 2011). 

This prompted us to investigate the possibility of selectively hydrogenate highly unsaturated oils, unsuitable for the production of Biodiesel, in order to improve their oxidative stability while keeping the cold properties. 

Although technologies for both bioethanol and biodiesel are well established, improved catalysts are still needed. 

For biodiesel, catalytic or bio-catalytic technologies need to be either developed or improved in the following areas ... 

In conclusion, the economically competitive, non-subsidized production of liquid biofuels requires (a) the use cheaper and more reliable sources of renewable raw material (b) efficient conversion, with minimum waste, of cellulosic, fiber or wood-based, waste biomass into fermentable sugars (c) significantly improved efficiency of the production processes and (d) use by-products (e.g., glycerol in biodiesel production). Several of these aspects are discussed in details in various chapters. 

Biodiesel can be produced by a sustainable continuous process based on catalytic reactive distillation. The integrated design ensures the removal of water byproduct that shifts the chemical equilibrium to completion and preserves the catalyst activity. The novel alternative proposed here replaces the liquid catalysts with solid acids, thus dramatically improving the economics of current biodiesel synthesis and reducing the number of downstream steps. The key benefits of this approach are ... 

Substantially higher than conventional diesel fuel BOCLE and HFRR values both improve in biodiesel blends. 

Very poor biodiesel and biodiesel blends do not shed water as effectively as conventional diesel fuel fuel haze, gelling, and low-temperature handling problems can develop if biodiesel is contaminated with water in storage and transport. Poor double bonds present in the methyl ester compounds are active sites for oxidation and condensation reactions peroxide values can increase fuel darkening and deposit formation in storage systems can occur the addition of oxidation inhibitors to biodiesel helps improve storage stability. 

Finally, as indicated in this chapter, many opportunities exist for improving the synthesis of biodiesel. Use of solid catalysts and continuous processing with... 

Bournay, L., Casanave, D., Delfort, B., Hillion, G. and Chodorge, J.A. (2005) New heterogeneous process for biodiesel production a way to improve the quality and the value of the crude glycerin producedby biodiesel plants. Catal. Today, 106, 190. 

To improve the cold properties of biodiesel, the use of alcohol with longer alkyl chain has been studied in the alkaline-catalyzed method. The cloud point for ethyl esters is approx 2°C lower than that of the corresponding methyl esters, while butyl esters are 10°C lower than methyl esters (6). Furthermore, cetane number is appropriate for alkyl esters from the alcohol with the longer alkyl chain (7). 

The olefin metathesis of biodiesel (mixture of fatty acid methyl esters) in the presence of 1 -hexene was used by Meier et al. as a way to improve the distillation... 

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