Biodiesel production from waste edible

Du et al. (6) have recently reported that methyl acetate was an effective acyl acceptor for biodiesel production. To the best of our knowledge, the biodiesel production from waste edible oil with methyl acetate as the acyl acceptor has not yet been reported. Therefore, the transesterification of different kinds of waste edible oil to biodiesel with methyl acetate in a solvent free system was explored in this paper and the major influential factor on the reaction was further investigated. 

Presently industrial production of biodiesel from waste edible oil is performed by chemical alkaline catalysts, but it has been found that high content of free fatty acid (FFA) in waste edible oil (FFA>2%) would decrease the yield sharply due to soaps formed in the process (7). Several studies showed that enzymatic methanolysis with waste edible oil was a promising alternative owing to its mild reaction condition and free of chemical waste (2, 5). However, this conventional protocol was associated with many drawbacks such as deactivation of lipase caused by methanol and absorption of glycerol to lipase surface, thus resulting in serious negative effect on the reaction (4,5). 

Caldas, B.S., Nunes, C.S., et al., 2016. Supercritical ethanolysis for biodiesel production from edible oil waste using ionic liquid HMim HSO4 as catalyst. AppUed Catalysis B-Environmental 181, 289—297. 

Wastes edible oil, originated from restaurants and household disposals, is creating serious problems of environmental control and food safety. Production of biodiesel with waste edible oil as feedstock not only could reduce disposal problems, but, more importantly, would decrease the cost of biodiesel. 

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