Biodiesel

• Biodiesel is a fuel that works in a diesel engine, but it is made from natural, renewable resources. These sources include vegetable oils or fatty acids and can even be synthesized from garbage and used cooking products. Fuel is made from these products as the result of a chemical reaction.
  
  

Chemistry

• Currently, most biodiesel is produced using what's called the transesterification process. This process begins when a triglyceride (a fat or oil) is reacted with alcohol, usually in the presence of a strong catalyst like sodium hydroxide or another powerful alkaline. This results in the formation of glycerol and esters. Mono-alkyl esters, which are formed by this reaction, are the basis of biodiesel. The byproduct that's created is crude glycerol.
  
  

Problems

• This process of creating biodiesel can be energy intensive, and the by-product glycerol can be difficult to separate and clean up. One method of making biodiesel more feasible is to use enzymes that can act as a catalyst instead of the alkaline materials.
  
  

Enzymatic Production

• The process of creating biodiesel through enzymatic production is very similar to the conventional process. However, when the alcohol and the triglyceride interact, the catalyst is a lipase enzyme instead of an alkaline agent. This can lead to several improvements, and may make the production of biodiesel more efficient.
  
  

Benefits

• One of the benefits of the enzymatic production of biodeisel is that the glycerol is much easier to remove from the biodiesel fuel when it is produced enzymatically. There is also no need to filter out any alkaline materials. Also, there is as much as a 90 percent conversion rate, which is extremely efficient.
  
  

Outlook

• As of late 2009, the enzymatic production of biodiesel was being tested, but it is not yet available commercially.