Research progress in catalytic transesterification during biodiesel prodution

Biodiesel fuel, as a renewable energy and pro-environmental energy, can be produced by the transesterification reaction of vegetable oils or fatty acids with short chain alcohols. This paper summarized worldwide catalytic techniques during biodiesel synthesis in recent years which included acid esterification, alkaline esterification, immobilized lipase esterification and supercritical esterification. In the meantime, the advantages and disadvantages were discussed in the process of transesterification procedure and relevant improvement measures were proposed such as strengthening rheology, ultrasonic and microwave study.