Biodiesel synthesis in microreactors

Tianming Xie, Lixiong Zhang, Nanping Xu

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

50 Scopus citations

Abstract

As a renewable and environmentally friendly fuel, biodiesel has been widely produced and its demand will continue to grow globally. Innovative technologies and process integration are needed to produce biodiesel in an energy efficient way. The application of microreactors on biodiesel production, may provide a solution for this purpose, for short residence times, high production efficiency and low operating cost and energy consumption in biodiesel production via transesterification. This review provides an overview on the current status of research on biodiesel synthesis in microreactors, including the types of microreactors used in biodiesel production, the main factors influencing biodiesel synthesis in microreactors, the types of catalysts used, and application of the microfluidic technique in the purification of biodiesel. Some issues to be considered for commercialization of this technique are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)61-70
Number of pages10
JournalGreen Processing and Synthesis
Volume1
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2012

Keywords

  • Biodiesel
  • Microreactor
  • Synthesis

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