Noncatalytic Supercritical Transesterification

Although supercritical alcohol reactions seem promising, as they solve most of the existing problems, there has been a lot of debate on the efficiency of the reaction in terms of energy utilization and also safety issue due to the high pressure and temperature employed in this technique (Rajan and Senthilkumar, 2009 Sinhaetal., 2008). Hence, there are issues and challenges that need to be addressed before this technology can play a major role in biodiesel production. 

Generally, the three transesteriflcation processes—alkaline- and acid-catalyzed processes and supercritical noncatalytic processes—have several drawbacks. The use of enzymes, especially lipase, can overcome these problems, and this presents a more environmentally friendly alternative at lower temperatures (Al-Zuhair, 2007 Haas and Foglia, 2005). 

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Noncatalytic Vegetable Oils Transesterification Using Supercritical Alcohols for Biodiesel Production... 

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