Continuous biodiesel production from waste cooking oil using novel catalysts

全球为减少电力和运输部门的碳排放而做出的环保努力，已经导致了对替代燃料来源的大量投资和研究。生物柴油可以作为一种低碳能源替代化石燃料，然而，它对粮食安全的影响促使人们考虑非食用原料和生物质废物。例如，用过的食用油（UCO）就是这样一种替代品，作为廉价的原料来源，它为生物柴油的生产提供了有益的循环经济，而且对粮食安全没有影响。为了高效、经济地将UCO转化为生物燃料，必须开发出对生物柴油生产具有高选择性和抗原料杂质（如游离脂肪酸）的催化剂。这样的催化剂必须要么是连续可再生的，要么在长时间的操作中保持活性，并且很容易从流出的生物柴油流中分离出来。这种新型催化剂是一种核壳功能化的磁性纳米粒子，将作为这项工作的一部分进行合成和表征。具有不同杂质水平（例如不同水平的FFAs）的UCO将被用作廉价的原料。催化剂的选择性和稳定性最初将在间歇操作中进行研究，但最终将作为连续反应系统的一部分。还将探索通过外部磁场持续去除催化剂和应用射频加热来控制温度的可能性。最后，将研究催化剂性能对所生产生物柴油性能的影响，以全面确定这种纳米催化剂在全面工业环境中的适用性。

Global environmental efforts to decarbonise the power and transport sectors has led to significant investment and research into alternative fuel sources. Biodiesel could be an alternative to fossil fuels as a source of low carbon energy, however, its implication on food security urges consideration of non-edible based feedstocks and biomass wastes. For instance, used cooking oil (UCO) is one such alternative, offering a beneficial circular economy for biodiesel production as a cheap source of feedstock and with no implications on food security. For efficient and economical conversion of UCO to biofuel, suitable catalysts must be developed with high selectivity towards biodiesel production and resistance to feedstock impurities, such as Free Fatty Acids (FFAs). Such catalysts must either be continually regeneratable or remain active throughout extended operation, as well as being easily separated from the effluent biodiesel stream. The novel catalyst is a core-shell functionalised magnetic nanoparticle that will be synthesised and characterised as part of this work. UCO with varying levels of impurities (e.g. different levels of FFAs) will be used as a cheap feedstock. The catalyst selectivity and stability will be studied initially in batch operation, however ultimately as part of a continuous reaction system. The potential to continually remove catalyst via external magnetic field and apply radiofrequency heating for temperature control will also be explored. Finally, the effect of the catalyst performance on the properties of the produced biodiesel will be investigated to overall determine the suitability of such nanocatalysts in a full-scale industrial setting.