Logo image
Graphene-based catalysts for biodiesel production: Characteristics and performance
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Graphene-based catalysts for biodiesel production: Characteristics and performance

E.K. Nazloo, N.R. Moheimani and H. Ennaceri
Science of The Total Environment, Vol.859(Pt. 1), Art. 160000
2022
pdf
biodiesel production2.78 MBDownloadView
Author’s Version Open Access

Abstract

Biodiesel is a promising alternative to reduce the dependency on fossil fuels. However, biodiesel's cost is still higher than its petroleum counterpart, hence its production process must be modified to make it economically viable. Microalgae are an alternative feedstock to replace agricultural crops for biodiesel production, and offer several advantages such as fast growth, use of non-arable land, growth in saline and wastewater, and high lipid yield. Unfortunately, biodiesel production from microalgae is very energy-intensive and costly, mainly due to the high energy consumption required for dewatering and drying. Therefore, utilizing wet microalgal biomass instead of dry biomass can be a promising solution to reduce the biodiesel production cost Furthermore, the use of heterogeneous catalysts offers high efficiency, recoverability, and reusability, and is therefore very promising from the economic and environmental perspectives. The unique characteristics of graphene-based nano-catalysts, such as their high surface area, two-dimensional structure, and functional groups, make them suitable candidates for biodiesel production. In this review, the use of graphene-based catalysts for biodiesel production is analyzed in depth, and their efficiency compared to other heterogeneous catalysts is scrutinized. Moreover, their recoverability, reusability, and economic feasibility are critically discussed, and their potential to produce biodiesel from wet microalgae is explored as a sustainable and cost-effective approach.

Details

Metrics

87 File views/ downloads
69 Record Views

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Citation topics
7 Engineering & Materials Science
7.177 Combustion
7.177.261 Biodiesel Combustion
Web Of Science research areas
Environmental Sciences
ESI research areas
Environment/Ecology
Logo image