Renewable diesel Production: A Review

Abstract

Biodiesel is considered an alternative to petroleum diesel as it is more environmentally friendly, cleaner, decreases greenhouse gas emissions, non toxic and biodegradagable. Although, low energy density, relatively high cost of production and poor cold flow are some of its demerits. Some of these problems can be reduced by renewable diesel. The demand for renewable diesel is increasing especially due to its high qualities including cetane, cloud point, oxidative stability, cold flow and can be produced and transported using the existing refinery facilities. The current work discusses the feedstocks used in renewable diesel production, catalysts, methods of production, factors affecting the production, reaction pathway/kinetics of renewable diesel production, and analysis of renewable diesel based on existing literature. The review shows that the production of the renewable is increasing globally due to favourable Government policy, and high demand. The utilization of renewable diesel will help to reduce the greenhouse gases by 50%.