Transforming Glycerol into High-Energy Biofuels: Process Optimisation & Techno-Economic Viability

With an increasing energy demand, decreasing fossil fuel reserves, and climate emergency it is imperative to develop and deploy large bio-refineries. However, bio-diesel production is associated with formation of up to 10wt% of waste glycerol as a liability. To enhance economic viability of biorefineries, it is essential to add value to glycerol, for instance, by esterification of glycerol using renewable acetic acid. Glycerol esters have a wide range of applications, both di- and tri-acetins are high energy density fuel additives, improving the combustion and fuel economy of the biodiesel, whilst also decreasing harmful emissions. In this work, we have shown that low-cost and commercially available Bronsted acidic ionic liquids are efficient, scalable and reusable liquid acid catalysts for esterification.