Trends in catalytic production of biodiesel from various feedstocks

Biodiesel offers to be one of the renewable fuel that is in great demand due to hike in price and exploitation of various conventional resources. Biodiesel has gained wide attention as it emits less carbon monoxide and other pollutants. Biodiesel is known as mono-alkyl esters of long fatty acid, produced by transesterification in the presence of triglycerides and alcohol. The choice of catalyst and feedstock are the most important criteria for effective production of biodiesel. Catalyst and raw material selection play a significant role in the cost of biodiesel production. The heterogeneous catalyst offers a wide option for the catalytic selection because of its high selectivity and reusability characteristics. Recent advances in the field of catalytic technology for biodiesel production using nanosized catalyst is because of high stability over the repeated use. Nanocatalyst solves various bottleneck problem associated in the production of biodiesel. The present review is focused on various technologies and challenges linked to the production process, including some important aspects of feedstock selection. Thus the present review is maily focused on various catalytic technology used for biodiesel production using different production methods and potential feedstocks. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.