TECHNOLOGIES AND EQUIPMENT FOR BIODIESEL SYNTHESIS (REVIEW)

Abstract

The depletion of exhaustible natural energy resources leads to the need to search for alternative renewable energy sources. One of the promising areas is the development of technologies for the production of biodiesel, which is produced because of the transesterification reaction between alcohol and fatty acids from animal fat or vegetable oil in the presence of a catalyst. The raw materials for biodiesel production can be: oils produced from waste soybean, rapeseed, sunflower, as well as microalgae. The basic technologies for biodiesel production are cyclic using alkaline catalysts; catalyst-free cyclic; multi-reactor continuous. Current scientific trends in the development of technologies and technical means for the production of biodiesel. The best results in the production of biodiesel are achieved by transesterification of natural oils with alcohols, based on a chemical reaction between triglycerides of natural oils and methanol or ethanol, which is known as alcoholysis.The product obtained because of transesterification is a mixture of ethyl and methyl esters of fatty acids. In the production of modern biodiesel, vegetable oils and methanol are used as reagents. The reaction is carried out in the presence of an alkaline homogeneous catalyst. Homogeneous alkaline catalysts are used for the transesterification reaction of vegetable oils. Ultrasonic waves can be used to accelerate transesterification reactions. The use of ultrasonic biodiesel flow reactors allows converting low-quality feedstock into high-quality biodiesel while simultaneously reducing energy consumption and the amount of catalyst, resulting in a more sustainable and cost-effective process.