An overview of the potential utilization of solid acid catalysts for enhanced biodiesel production through hydrodynamic cavitation assistance: A mini-review

Abstract

Utilizing a catalytic approach for producing biodiesel from non-edible oils holds promise as a solution for the next generation of fuels. Therefore, the emerging research on replacing conventional catalysts and developing new waste-derived heterogeneous catalysts with acid–base properties in the intensified biodiesel production process aims to achieve significant scientific outcomes including developing a low-cost biorefinery and mitigating the increasing energy demand. Hence, a prospective replacement of green renewable solid acid catalysts over conventional or regularly used catalysts in the production of biodiesel using hydrodynamic cavitation-assisted reactors has been discussed in this review. The synthesis and importance of different solid acid catalysts zeolite-based and heteropolyacids is also discussed in this review. It is concluded that, to date, these catalysts are well used in biomass pyrolysis and very minimal in the pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass, but there is no proper report on their application in the biodiesel synthesis from various non-commercial feedstocks. In this study, it is also reported that the hydrodynamic cavitation-assisted synthesis of biodiesel represents a novel approach with the potential to significantly boost yield and serve as a breakthrough method for industrial applications. The economic survey, circular economy, and life-cycle assessment studies concerning the proposed study are also presented in this study, from which it is concluded that the complete replacement of these green catalysts in the production of biodiesel will aid in the development of a clean and green sustainable environment.