Starch-derived Solid Acid Catalyst for Biodiesel Production: A Mini Review

Abstract

An international agreement to combat the global climate change issue - Paris Climate Agreement which involved participation of 190 parties as of January 2021, showed the world’s concern on the global climate change issue. Greenhouse gas emission, especially carbon emission due to combustion of fossil fuels for both industrial and residential uses has created a severe effect on environment. In the last few decades, significant attention has been paid on biodiesel as a potential alternative source of energy for replacement of fossil fuel. Biodiesel is commonly produced through transesterification process with the presence of catalyst. Homogeneous catalysts that had been widely used in the biodiesel production caused difficulty in separation, unable to be reused and easily to be consumed during the process, while heterogeneous solid acid catalyst hold multiple competitive advantages such as their surface hydrophobicity features, reusability and mechanical stability. Various effective heterogeneous metal-based catalysts are costly, consequently more study has been focused on heterogeneous carbon-based catalyst that synthesized by biomass which is more cost effective. Among numerous carbon-based catalysts, carbohydrate-derived catalyst especially starch emerged as an effective and potential catalyst for sustainable biodiesel production. In this study, starch-derived heterogeneous solid acid catalysts for biodiesel production are briefly reviewed. The utilization of these catalysts may be the new direction towards a cheaper, cleaner and greener synthesis of biodiesel.