Technological progress in biodiesel production: An overview on different types of reactors

Abstract

Nowadays, research on biodiesel focuses on enhancing the conversion and production yield to fulfill the demand. Utilization of new feedstocks, development of highly efficient catalysts, determination of effective and economical reaction approaches, and application of process system engineering tools are efforts for the optimization purposes. This paper reviews the technological progress of reactors used for biodiesel production. The first part gives an overview of previous findings available in the literature. Many factors affecting the production yield of biodiesel have been reviewed such as reaction time, agitator rotational speed, temperature, types of catalyst, catalyst concentration, the molar ratio of oil and alcohol, types of solvent, and types of feedstock. However, the review of different types of reactors used for the biodiesel production is still lacking. The appropriate selection of reactor type is necessary to enhance the product yield and the productivity. Thus, the second part of this paper aims at compiling the information on various reactors. The description of key operating conditions and process design, relevant integrated reaction and separation techniques, recent achievement and progress, and challenges for future development are highlighted. This review provides the basis for exploitation and selection of reactor to enhance optimization, scale-up development, and implementation in industrial-scale biodiesel production.