Designer Catalysts for High Efficiency Biodiesel Production

应对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的减少和对全球气候变化日益加剧的环境关切。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，而不会损害子孙后代的需求。虽然一些可持续技术目前正在得到大量投资，但最容易实施和最低成本的交通需求解决方案是基于生物质衍生燃料的解决方案。带头使用这种可再生燃料的是生物柴油，这是一种可生物降解的无毒燃料，从谷类或非粮食作物中提取的动物脂肪或植物油中合成。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，并将植物油中发现的自然生成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阶梯变化。我们的目标是提供第二代中观结构固体酸和碱，优化了大量甘油三酯和脂肪酸的有效扩散和反应，以及允许植物油串联酯化和酯交换的强化工艺。总而言之，这些新的绿色化学技术极大地简化了生物柴油的生产，相关的年节能55亿千瓦时，按照目前的生产速度，每年减少二氧化碳排放240万吨。

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.