Designer Catalysts for High Efficiency Biodiesel Production

解决当前的世界能源危机被认为是发达国家和发展中国家的首要任务。因此，迫切需要寻找替代能源，以应对世界石油储量不断减少和对全球气候变化日益增加的环境关切。为了真正可行，这种替代能源必须是可持续的，即有能力满足21世纪的能源需求，而不损害后代的能源需求。虽然一些可持续技术目前正在获得大量投资，但最容易实施和低成本的运输需求解决方案是基于生物质衍生燃料的技术。引领这种可再生燃料的是生物柴油--一种可生物降解的无毒燃料，由动物脂肪或从谷物或非粮食作物中提取的植物油合成。我们最近开发了一系列第一代固体酸和碱催化剂，分别去除不需要的游离脂肪酸（FFA）杂质，并将植物油中天然存在的甘油三酯转化为清洁的生物柴油。在这里，我们建议通过结合新的合成材料化学和反应器技术，结合计算机辅助催化剂和工艺设计，实现催化剂和整体工艺效率的逐步变化。我们的目标是提供第二代介观结构的固体酸和碱，优化了大体积甘油三酯和FFA的有效扩散和反应，以及允许植物油串联酯化和酯交换的强化工艺。这些新的绿色化学技术共同提供了大大简化的生物柴油生产，以目前的生产速度，每年可节省55亿千瓦时的能源，并减少240万吨的二氧化碳排放量。

Tackling the current world energy crisis is recognised as a top priority for both developed and developing nations. Alternative energy sources are therefore urgently sought in response to both diminishing world oil reserves and increasing environmental concerns over global climate change. To be truly viable such alternative energy sources must be sustainable, that is have the ability to meet 21st century energy needs without compromising those of future generations. While a number of sustainable technologies are currently receiving heavy investment, the most easily implemented and low cost solutions for transportation needs are those based upon biomass derived fuels. Spearheading such renewable fuels is biodiesel - a biodegradable, non toxic fuel synthesised from animal fats or plant oils extracted from cereal or non-food crops. We recently developed a range of first-generation solid acid and base catalysts that respectively remove undesired free fatty acid (FFA) impurities, and transform naturally occurring triglycerides found within plant oils into clean biodiesel. Here we propose to achieve a step-change in both catalyst, and overall process efficiency, through a combination of new synthetic materials chemistry and reactor technologies, in combination with computer-aided catalyst and process design. Our goal is the delivery of second-generation mesostructured solid acids and bases, optimised for efficient diffusion and reaction of bulky triglycerides and FFAs, and an intensified process allowing tandem esterification and transesterification of plant oil. Together these new green chemical technologies offer vastly streamlined biodiesel production, with associated annual energy savings of 5.5 billion kWh and a reduction in CO2 emissions by 2.4 million tonnes per annum at current production rates.