Review of Microwave Irradiation Assisted Transesterification of Vegetable Oil Using Calcium Oxide Derived from Renewable Sources as Heterogenous Catalyst

Abstract

Conventional transesterification for biodiesel production is well-established and becoming increasingly important, there remain considerable inefficiencies in existing transesterification processes. The application of microwave irradiation of vegetable oil for biodiesel production significantly reduces the reaction time. Although microwave technology has advanced in other food industries, pharmaceutical and polymer chemistry related research in industry; its potential large scale biodiesel is yet to be exploited. Recent laboratory scale microwave applications in biodiesel production have shown that this technology can achieve superior results over conventional techniques. This paper review the application of calcium oxide derived from renewable resources as heterogeneous catalyst for biodiesel production in a microwave irradiation assisted transesterification process. The review shows that calcium oxide derived from different renewable sources can be effectively used as heterogeneous catalyst for biodiesel production in microwave irradiation assisted transesterification process. It was further revealed that the process is characterized with short reaction time and reduced energy consumption when compared to conventional transesterification method. The biodiesel obtained from this process shows similar properties to biodiesel obtained from conventional process and petroleum diesel. The potential viability of waste derived calcium oxide as as a reusable heterogeneous catalyst in biodiesel production was established.