Biodiesel is more Efficient and in Harmony with the Environment

Researchers at the University of Cádiz (UCA) propose a technological change in the current process to make biodiesel production more efficient and in harmony with the environment. The Department of Innovation, Science and Enterprise has financed the project of excellence ‘Development of a monolithic catalyst alumina / aluminum for the production of biodiesel’ with 62,000 euros.

Biofuels are all those liquid fuels derived from agricultural products. A more concrete form, biodiesel is a constituent group of oils obtained from oil seeds are used as substitutes for diesel fuel or mixtures that can participate in this from 5 up to one hundred percent. Currently, biodiesel production technologies are based on the use of common varieties of conventional species such as sunflower and rapeseed.

The project, led by researcher Serafin Bernal Marquez, proposes the preparation, characterization and testing of a series of monolithic catalysts of alumina / aluminum specially designed for use in the transformation of vegetable oils into fuel for automotive high-quality, type biodiesel.

Changes in Technology Use

The objective of this study is the development of materials that allow the replacement of the technology in use, based on homogeneous catalysts, strongly basic; the other would be used in heterogeneous catalysis. The advantages of this technological change are important. As Serafin Bernal says, “would reduce production costs, particularly those inherent in the separation of reactants and catalyst. Environmental problems would be eliminated and corrosion of the facilities arising from the management of large volumes of strongly basic solutions required in the homogeneous process. It could also very significantly reduce the size of the existing industrial plants. In the search for greater efficiency and cost savings, there is a step further on the ongoing investigations, i.e. the use of monolithic catalysts in place of powdered polycrystalline material.

The project involves a total of eight researchers from three different groups in the area of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics, with scientific training and equipping additional purely instrumental and extensive prior experience of collaboration.