Pre-esterification of high acidity animal fats to produce biodiesel: A kinetic study

Optimization of the esterification reaction of free fatty acids present in waste salmon oil

Biodiesel is gaining importance as a substitute for diesel with special focus on the transportation sector due to its advantages over petroleum‐based alternatives. Waste fish oil was used as a feedstock for this study, and an acid pre‐esterification process was examined. The effects of three main variables on the biodiesel yield were studied and their combined effects were investigated. Temperature, molar ratio, and catalysts were varied and the remaining parameters were kept constant. A quadratic model was found to fit the experimental data best, with a regression coefficient of 0.82. An increase in the reaction temperature led to an increase in the reaction yield. However, this increase became considerably weaker after 323 K. The reactant molar ratio and the catalysts amount had a similar tendency within the domain under consideration – the product yield increased for all operational conditions evaluated. It was found that the optimal predict yield was 96.29% for a reaction temperature of 325.53 K, a molar ratio of 8.37, and 3.93 wt% of catalyst. © 2022 The Authors. Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining published by Society of Industrial Chemistry and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Valorization of agro-industrial wastes for biorefinery process and circular bioeconomy: A critical review

Energy recovery from waste resources is a promising approach towards environmental consequences. In the prospect of environmental sustainability, utilization of agro-industrial waste residues as feedstock for biorefinery processes have gained widespread attention. In the agro-industry, various biomasses are exposed to different unit processes for offering value to various agro-industrial waste materials. Agro-industrial wastes can generate a substantial amount of valuable products such as fuels, chemicals, energy, electricity, and by-products. This paper reviews the methodologies for valorization of agro-industrial wastes and their exploitation for generation of renewable energy products. In addition, management of agro-industrial wastes and products from agro-industrial wastes have been elaborated. The waste biorefinery process using agro-industrial wastes does not only offer energy, it also offers environmentally sustainable modes, which address effective management of waste streams. This review aims to highlight the cascading use of biomass from agro-industrial wastes into the systemic approach for economic development.