Efficient Production of Biodiesel Catalyzed by Acidic Nanoporous Carbon Materials: A Review

Background: With the gradual decrease in fossil energy, the development of alternatives to fossil energy has attracted more and more attention. Biodiesel is considered to be the most potent alternative to fossil energy, mainly due to its green, renewable, and biodegradable advantages. The stable, efficient and reusable catalysts are undoubtedly the most critical in the preparation of biodiesel. Among them, nanoporous carbon-based acidic materials are very important biodiesel catalysts. Objective: The latest advances of acidic nanoporous carbon catalysts in biodiesel production was reviewed. Methods: Biodiesel is mainly synthesized by esterification and transesterification. Due to the important role of nanoporous carbon-based acidic materials in the catalytic preparation of biodiesel, we focused on the synthesis, physical and chemical properties, catalytic performance and reusability. Results: Acidic catalytic materials have a good catalytic performance for high acid value feedstocks. However, the preparation of biodiesel with acid catalyst requires relatively strict reaction conditions. The application of nanoporous acidic carbon-based materials, due to the support of carbon-based framework, makes the catalyst exhibit good stability and unique pore structure, accelerates the reaction mass transfer speed, which in turn accelerated the reaction. Conclusion: Nanoporous carbon-based acidic catalysts have the advantages such as, suitable pore structure, high active sites, and high stability. In order to make these catalytic processes more efficient, environmentally friendly and low cost, developing new catalytic materials with high specific surface area, suitable pore size, high acid density, and excellent performance would be an important research direction for the future biodiesel catalysts.