Solid-Acid Catalyst for Conversion of Glycerol & T-Butanol to Biofuel

Nowadays, the important factor that has gained much attention towards renewable energy resources by reason of the depletion of non-renewable fossil fuels. Biodiesel is believed as an attractive alternative to diesel fuels and obtained by transesterification reaction of triglycerides with methanol in presence of base catalyst. Such a catalytic process, excess amount of glycerol is produced as main by-product (equivalent to 10 weight % of the total product) of biodiesel and it is delivered similar properties as diesel fuel. It is necessary to find the platform the conversion of Glycerol into value added products for increase the economy of biodiesel manufacture. Heterogeneous catalysts are more advantageous over homogeneous catalysts such as they can be easily recovered from reaction mixture by simple filtration, reusability, enhanced selectivity and reactivity, easy product isolation making the process more economically and environmentally viable. However, there is always the need better methodology for this type of widely used. The acid-base properties of these heterogeneous solid acid catalystscan be modified by incorporation of transition metals to improve the catalytic activity.