Recyclable Solid Acid Catalysts for the Production of Biodiesel from Grease

Technology Overview: Biodiesel a mixture of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) is traditionally produced from the base-catalyzed transesterification of triglycerides in vegetable oil with methanol but suffers from the high cost of vegetable oil. Low cost waste grease is an attractive feedstock but due to the high free fatty acid (FFA) content (>15 wt%) grease cannot be converted into biodiesel via base-catalysis. A possible solution to solve the problem is the use of two-step reactions: the acid-catalyzed esterification to reduce the FFA content followed by the base-catalyzed transesterification of the resulting product. While homogeneous acid catalysts suffer from several drawbacks such corrosive and environmental problem the current reported heterogeneous acid catalysts are either less active with low conversion or less stable with low recyclability for such pretreatment. This invention overcomes these problems by developing an active and recyclable solid acid catalyst for the pretreatment of grease. The conversion of FFA to biodiesel is very high the recycling can be performed via a simple means of physical separation and the catalyst remains high productivity after > 8 cycles. Technology Features: 1) Low cost production of biodiesel from waste grease 2) High yielding transformation of FFA to biodiesel 3) Catalyst is simple to manufacture easy to recycle and stable to react even after > 8 cycles 4) Raw materials are waste products and available at a low cost Applications: Biodiesel production from grease trap oil / brown grease Patent: Patent Pending Opportunity: 1) Licensing 2) Partnership for further development