• CSIR - Central Salt & Marine Chemicals Research Institute
  • G20
Bio-based Fuels & Chemicals (other than seaweeds)

Title of Process/ Know-how/ Product/Design/Equipment

Preparation biodiesel (fatty acid methyl esters) from various vegetable oils using recyclable solid base catalyst

  • IPR
    IPR Status & Details:
  • US 9029583B2, CN 103370405B, JP 5964327B2, EP 2675879B1, ES 2800023T3, IN 0371/DEL/2011, WO 2012111023A8, CA 2827063A1, KR 20140006030A, BR 112013020651A2, MY165640A
Application/Uses/Problem being addressed
  • FAME (main-product) - Fuel, lubricants, surfactants, oleochemicals and in polymers, etc.
  • Glycerol (By-product) - Pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food and plastic industries and as building block chemical, etc.
    • Salient Technical Features including Competing Features/ Impact
  • Low-cost and easily synthesizable catalyst precursor (layered double hydroxides, LDHs).
  • Highly active solid base catalyst (oxides) are prepared from precursors by simple calcination process.
  • Basic nature of the catalyst was altered to achieve the maximum yield.
  • Developed LDH derived oxides is very active for the FAME production from the non-edible oils that had very high acid values (Jatropha: 31 mg KOH/g).
  • ˃ 90% yield of FAME for various vegetable oils (edible, non-edible & used cooking oils) is obtained at 65 °C within 5 h using methanol:oil molar ratio of 5.6:1 (in few cases nearly 10:1) using developed solid catalyst.
  • Even deliberate addition of water (up to 2 %) showed only a marginal decrease in the yield of FAME.
  • Transesterification of sunflower oil with alcohols such as ethanol, propanol and butanol results ˃ 85% yield of fatty acid alkyl esters (FAAE) under reflux conditions. • Catalyst was recycled up to 4 cycles (94% in the first cycle to 77% in the fourth cycle).
  • Important physical properties of sunflower FAME match well with the standard DIN values.
    • TRL Level & Scale of Development:
    TRL 4
    • For sunflower oil scaled up at 1 Kg scale. Successfully collected ~ 800 g (excluding handling loss) of FAME and ~ 85 g of glycerol with > 95 and > 97% purity respectively.
    • At 25 g scale, Jatropha, pungai and karingatta oil results ˃ 95% yield of FAME.
    • At 25 g scale, using LR grade methanol (high water content (0.05%)) results ˃ 90% yield of FAME.
    Business scope & opportunity (in terms of scale, cost, market etc.):

    This process relates to the preparation of biodiesel from various vegetable oils which can probably replace to restricted available, depleting fossil source derived fuels. Simple and scalable method is used for the preparation of low-cost catalyst precursors by using only water as synthesis medium. Active catalyst is prepared from precursor by simple calcination process under static air condition that reduces the cost of inert gases which are generally required for the preparation of oxide catalysts. In this process, very less amount of methanol (nearly 2 stoichiometric ratio of oils) is used as alcohol source which makes this process more cost-effective. Catalyst is separated from the reaction mixture by simple filtration without using any further chemicals and are successfully recycled. By-product glycerol is separated from bio-diesel by phase-separation technique without using any further chemicals. Both FAME and glycerol have huge application potential and so the developed process provides scope to oleo-chemical industries.

    Environmental Considerations:
    • Requires less amount of methanol (nearly 2 times of stoichiometric of oil – In most of the cases).
    • Catalyst is easily recoverable (simple filtration) without any further addition of chemicals and reusable.
    Status of Licensing:
    Licensed technology
    Status of Commercialization:
    Not applicable
    Major Raw Materials Needed
    • Various edible (9 sources), non-edible (7 sources) and waste cooking oils (3 sources) are used as vegetable oil source – Totally 19 different oil sources (mainly sunflower oil).
    • HPLC grade methanol and LR grade methanol are used as alcohol source.
    Major Plant Equipment and Machinery Required

    For reaction - Stirred tank reactor with water cooler system; Filtration assembly; Rotary evaporator to remove the unreacted alcohols; Phase separating unit for separation of FAME and glycerol

    Techno-Economics

    Tentative Price:

    Vegetable oils: approx. ₹40-80/L. Rates may be less (25-50%) in wholesale places.

    Methanol: approx. ₹20-30/L

    Biodiesel: ₹100-120/L

    Glycerol: ₹30-90/Kg (local vendors)

    Technology Package

    Know-how for process of FAME from vegetable oils; Demonstration of the process; Equipment necessary for pilot scale; License fee, royalty and other financial details are available on request.