Upgrading waste oil to biodiesel via catalytic distillation

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The reduction of green house gases recently became an important social and political issue for many countries including Canada. Energy efficiency and the utilization of renewable resources as feedstock for fuel and chemicals are among the solutions to reduce green houses gases in the immediate future. This proposal is focused on the development of a more energy efficient and green process for the production of biodiesel. Biodiesel is a renewable green fuel which is generally produced by the transesterification of triglycerides present in oils with methanol using a basic catalyst such as NaOH. Presently vegetable oils are the predominant feedstocks for biodiesel, but there is a social concern of using food supply and agricultural land for the production of transportation fuels. Using waste oils containing free fatty acids to produce biodiesel will reduce waste and at the same time produce a renewable fuel. Unfortunately the free fatty acids will react with the basic