The journal, Energy & Environmental Science, has recently published a research report announcing the development of a new catalyst that makes continuous manufacture of biodiesel feasible.
The research was performed by a team of researchers in Centre de Recherches Paul Pascal (CRPP) at CNRS jointly with the researchers Bordeaux located the Institut des Sciences Moléculaires (CNRS/Université Bordeaux 1/Institut Polytechnique de Bordeaux) and Paris located the Laboratoire de Chimie de la Matière Condensée (CNRS/UPMC/ENSCP/Collège de France).
Biofuel is considered as an effective substitute for the use of fossil fuels. Biodiesel, a biofuel product that is produced from oils, developed from oleaginous plants such as soybeans, sunflower, palm, and rape oilseed. The fuel is developed in a chemical reaction process known as transesterification caused by catalysts and converts the vegetable oil (90%) and alcohol (10%) into methyl ester and glycerol,. In the process, a chemical reaction cuts down the yield of methyl ester and this necessitated the development of alternative catalysts. Though some of the enzymatic catalysts related to the family lipases (triglyceride hydrolases) are found to be efficient the higher level of costs and low level conformational stability ruled out their usage at industrial level.
The researchers have formulated a new method that produces the cellular hybrid biocatalyst in situ within a chromotography column. The present development has enabled it to perform regular unidirectional flow synthesis for longer duration because the catalytic activity and ethyl ester generation are kept at almost in steady levels for two months and produced excellent results. The research still continues to develop triesters that does not require solvents for conversion to cut down the wastage during production and to control the use of metals and solvents in the chemical change procedure.
The developed systems have overcome a number of technical obstructions such as detaining of the enzymes within macropores to assist continuous availability to reactants in solution and to prevent the slowing down of chemical reactions by the Fickian dispersal transport. The process also utilized unpurified enzymes to cut down production costs and to maintain stability. The hybridization of the silica surface makes most of the enzyme/substrate interactions. The mechanical solidity of the silica framework assists in up keeping high level inlet pressure and pressure drop devoid of making any damage thus allowing the usage of high reactant flow.
Source: http://www.cnrs.fr/