Bio fuel: Environmentally benign biodiesel production from renewable sources

© 2018 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. Renewable energy has become an important alternative resource in many countries and considered to be a potential substitute to the conventional fossil fuel. In particular, renewable energy in the form of biodiesel is considered to be one of the best available energy resources (Abidin, 2012; Atabani et al., 2012; Liu et al., 2012). As the fuel‘s feedstock is originated from renewable sources, this type of fuel is well known to be biodegradable and environment friendly (Kaercher et al., 2013). Apart from this, it also owns a good combustion profile, produces less particulates, i.e., unburned hydrocarbon and hazardous gases (i.e., carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide), has a higher cetane number, higher flash point, and higher lubricity (Lin et al., 2011) compared to conventional diesel. Biodiesel, comprises monoalkyl esters of fatty acids, is derived from renewable lipid feedstocks, such as edible oil (i.e., palm, sunflower, and soybean) non-edible oils (i.e., jatropha and mahua), animal fats (chicken and lard), and algae. The cost of feedstock alone comprises 75%-85% of the overall cost of biodiesel production (Abbaszaadeh et al., 2012; Atabani et al., 2012). Currently, the popular feedstocks for biodiesel production are the edible oils; however, this was restricted due to the higher price of vegetable oil. The use of vegetable oils in biodiesel production also creates controversial issues on the usage of food elements as the source of fuels.