Chemical Conversion of Glycerol from Biodiesel into Products for Environmental and Technological Applications

Abstract

Currently, fossil fuels represent over 80% of energy consumption in the world. However, due to environmental and geopolitical issues the development of new energy sources is mandatory. For example, only the Middle East holds 63% of global reserves, which directly influences in the final price of fuel. In developed nations there is a growing trend towards employing modern technologies and efficient bioenergy conversion using a range of biofuels, which are becoming cost competitive with fossil fuels (Puhan et al., 2005). In Brazil, this work is focused on the production of bioethanol and biodiesel. There are discussions around the world on the feasibility of using renewable fuels, which may cause a much smaller impact to global warming, because the balance of CO2 emissions decreases when using these fuels. (Demirbas, 2008) In 1997 at a meeting in Kyoto, Japan, many of the developed nations agreed to limit their greenhouse gas emissions, relative to the levels emitted in 1990. In this occasion Brazil established social and environmental policies to collaborate with those global goals (Puhan et al., 2005). An example is the biodiesel program which in 2008 implemented the use of B2 (2% biodiesel into conventional diesel). In other countries, like Germany, it is possible to supply only with B100 biodiesel (100% biodiesel).