Keogh John, Inrirai Patcharaporn, Artioli Nancy, Manyar Haresh
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Queen's University Belfast, David-Keir Building, Stranmillis Road, Belfast BT9 5AG, UK.
Department of Civil, Environmental, Architectural Engineering and Mathematics, University of Brescia, Via Branze, 43, 25123 Brescia, Italy.
Nanomaterials (Basel). 2024 Mar 31;14(7):615. doi: 10.3390/nano14070615.
Owing to the growing concerns about the dwindling fossil fuel reserves, increasing energy demand, and climate emergency, it is imperative to develop and deploy sustainable energy technologies to ensure future energy supply and to transition to the net-zero world. In this context, there is great potential in the biorefinery concept for supplying drop in biofuels in the form of biodiesel. Biodiesel as a fuel can certainly bridge the gap where electrification or the use of hydrogen is not feasible, for instance, in heavy vehicles and in the farm and marine transportation sectors. However, the biodiesel industry also generates a large amount of crude glycerol as the by-product. Due to the presence of several impurities, crude glycerol may not be a suitable feedstock for all high-value products derived from glycerol, but it fits well with glycerol esterification for producing glycerol acetins, which have numerous applications. This review critically looks at the processes using nanostructured solid/liquid acid catalysts for glycerol esterification, including the economic viability of the scale-up. The homogeneous catalysts reviewed herein include mineral acids and Brønsted acidic ionic liquids, such as SOH-functionalized and heteropoly acid based ionic liquids. The heterogeneous catalysts reviewed herein include solid acid catalysts such as metal oxides, ion-exchange resins, zeolites, and supported heteropoly acid-based catalysts. Furthermore, the techno-economic analysis studies have shown the process to be highly profitable, confirming the viability of glycerol esterification as a potential tool for economic value addition to the biorefinery industry.
由于对化石燃料储备减少、能源需求不断增加以及气候紧急状况的担忧日益加剧，开发和部署可持续能源技术以确保未来能源供应并向净零世界过渡势在必行。在此背景下，生物炼制概念在以生物柴油形式供应替代生物燃料方面具有巨大潜力。生物柴油作为一种燃料，肯定可以填补电气化或使用氢气不可行的空白，例如在重型车辆以及农业和海上运输部门。然而，生物柴油行业也会产生大量粗甘油作为副产品。由于存在多种杂质，粗甘油可能并非所有源自甘油的高价值产品的合适原料，但它非常适合用于甘油酯化以生产具有众多应用的甘油三乙酸酯。本综述批判性地审视了使用纳米结构的固体/液体酸催化剂进行甘油酯化的过程，包括放大生产的经济可行性。本文综述的均相催化剂包括无机酸和布朗斯特酸性离子液体，如SOH功能化离子液体和基于杂多酸的离子液体。本文综述的多相催化剂包括固体酸催化剂，如金属氧化物、离子交换树脂、沸石和负载型杂多酸基催化剂。此外，技术经济分析研究表明该过程具有很高的盈利能力，证实了甘油酯化作为生物炼制行业经济增值潜在工具的可行性。
