IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v71y2017icp63-76.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Utilization of the residual glycerol from biodiesel production for renewable energy generation

Author

Listed:
  • He, Quan (Sophia)
  • McNutt, Josiah
  • Yang, Jie

Abstract

A rapid growth in biodiesel production has naturally led to a surplus of crude glycerol generated. Due to the impurities present in the crude glycerol, expensive refining processes are often necessary in order for the crude glycerol to be used in the same applications as pure glycerol. As a result, the demand for crude glycerol is quite low, and biodiesel producers must find ways to dispose it. Disposal can be costly, detrimental to the environment, and wasteful. Exploration of crude glycerol utilization is of significance for not only reducing the negative impact on the environment but also for increasing the economic benefits of biodiesel production. This paper reviewed a number of valuable and practical applications of crude glycerol in the sector of renewable energy generation through processes such as fermentation, digestion, gasification, pyrolysis, liquefaction, combustion, and steam reforming. Studies indicated that an integration of crude glycerol to other systems for energy production is a promising option despite the impurities in crude glycerol, and some processes even benefit from their presence.

Suggested Citation

  • He, Quan (Sophia) & McNutt, Josiah & Yang, Jie, 2017. "Utilization of the residual glycerol from biodiesel production for renewable energy generation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 63-76.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:71:y:2017:i:c:p:63-76
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2016.12.110
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032116311637
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2016.12.110?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Athanasoulia, E. & Melidis, P. & Aivasidis, A., 2014. "Co-digestion of sewage sludge and crude glycerol from biodiesel production," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 73-78.
    2. Kong, Pei San & Aroua, Mohamed Kheireddine & Daud, Wan Mohd Ashri Wan, 2016. "Conversion of crude and pure glycerol into derivatives: A feasibility evaluation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 533-555.
    3. Gholami, Zahra & Abdullah, Ahmad Zuhairi & Lee, Keat-Teong, 2014. "Dealing with the surplus of glycerol production from biodiesel industry through catalytic upgrading to polyglycerols and other value-added products," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 327-341.
    4. Mangayil, Rahul & Aho, Tommi & Karp, Matti & Santala, Ville, 2015. "Improved bioconversion of crude glycerol to hydrogen by statistical optimization of media components," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 583-589.
    5. Gupta, Mayank & Kumar, Naveen, 2012. "Scope and opportunities of using glycerol as an energy source," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(7), pages 4551-4556.
    6. Pedersen, T.H. & Grigoras, I.F. & Hoffmann, J. & Toor, S.S. & Daraban, I.M. & Jensen, C.U. & Iversen, S.B. & Madsen, R.B. & Glasius, M. & Arturi, K.R. & Nielsen, R.P. & Søgaard, E.G. & Rosendahl, L.A., 2016. "Continuous hydrothermal co-liquefaction of aspen wood and glycerol with water phase recirculation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 1034-1041.
    7. Varrone, C. & Liberatore, R. & Crescenzi, T. & Izzo, G. & Wang, A., 2013. "The valorization of glycerol: Economic assessment of an innovative process for the bioconversion of crude glycerol into ethanol and hydrogen," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 349-357.
    8. Hejna, Aleksander & Kosmela, Paulina & Formela, Krzysztof & Piszczyk, Łukasz & Haponiuk, Józef T., 2016. "Potential applications of crude glycerol in polymer technology–Current state and perspectives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 449-475.
    9. Đurišić-Mladenović, Nataša & Škrbić, Biljana D. & Zabaniotou, Anastasia, 2016. "Chemometric interpretation of different biomass gasification processes based on the syngas quality: Assessment of crude glycerol co-gasification with lignocellulosic biomass," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 649-661.
    10. Markočič, Elena & Kramberger, Boris & van Bennekom, Joost G. & Jan Heeres, Hero & Vos, John & Knez, Željko, 2013. "Glycerol reforming in supercritical water; a short review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 40-48.
    11. Pachapur, Vinayak Laxman & Sarma, Saurabh Jyoti & Brar, Satinder Kaur & Le Bihan, Yann & Buelna, Gerardo & Verma, Mausam, 2016. "Surfactant mediated enhanced glycerol uptake and hydrogen production from biodiesel waste using co-culture of Enterobacter aerogenes and Clostridium butyricum," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 542-551.
    12. Schwengber, Carine Aline & Alves, Helton José & Schaffner, Rodolfo Andrade & da Silva, Fernando Alves & Sequinel, Rodrigo & Bach, Vanessa Rossato & Ferracin, Ricardo José, 2016. "Overview of glycerol reforming for hydrogen production," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 259-266.
    13. Quispe, César A.G. & Coronado, Christian J.R. & Carvalho Jr., João A., 2013. "Glycerol: Production, consumption, prices, characterization and new trends in combustion," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 475-493.
    14. Trchounian, Karen & Poladyan, Anna & Trchounian, Armen, 2016. "Optimizing strategy for Escherichia coli growth and hydrogen production during glycerol fermentation in batch culture: Effects of some heavy metal ions and their mixtures," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 335-340.
    15. Calero, Juan & Luna, Diego & Sancho, Enrique D. & Luna, Carlos & Bautista, Felipa M. & Romero, Antonio A. & Posadillo, Alejandro & Berbel, Julio & Verdugo-Escamilla, Cristóbal, 2015. "An overview on glycerol-free processes for the production of renewable liquid biofuels, applicable in diesel engines," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1437-1452.
    16. Ayoub, Muhammad & Abdullah, Ahmad Zuhairi, 2012. "Critical review on the current scenario and significance of crude glycerol resulting from biodiesel industry towards more sustainable renewable energy industry," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 2671-2686.
    17. Leoneti, Alexandre Bevilacqua & Aragão-Leoneti, Valquiria & de Oliveira, Sonia Valle Walter Borges, 2012. "Glycerol as a by-product of biodiesel production in Brazil: Alternatives for the use of unrefined glycerol," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 138-145.
    18. Talebian-Kiakalaieh, Amin & Amin, Nor Aishah Saidina & Hezaveh, Hadi, 2014. "Glycerol for renewable acrolein production by catalytic dehydration," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 28-59.
    19. Bagheri, Samira & Julkapli, Nurhidayatullaili Muhd & Yehye, Wageeh A., 2015. "Catalytic conversion of biodiesel derived raw glycerol to value added products," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 113-127.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yang, Jie & (Sophia) He, Quan & Yang, Linxi, 2019. "A review on hydrothermal co-liquefaction of biomass," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 250(C), pages 926-945.
    2. Takeda, Paula Yumi & Oliveira, Cristiane Arruda & Dias, Maria Eduarda Simões & Paula, Carolina Tavares & Borges, André do Vale & Damianovic, Márcia Helena Rissato Zamariolli, 2022. "Enhancing the energetic potential of sugarcane biorefinery exchanging vinasse and glycerol in sugarcane off-season in an anaerobic reactor," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 1218-1229.
    3. Robert White & Freddy Segundo Navarro-Pineda & Timothy Cockerill & Valerie Dupont & Julio César Sacramento Rivero, 2019. "Techno-Economic and Life Cycle Impacts Analysis of Direct Methanation of Glycerol to Bio-Synthetic Natural Gas at a Biodiesel Refinery," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-20, February.
    4. Zhang, Jianan & Wang, Yuesen & Muldoon, Valerie L. & Deng, Sili, 2022. "Crude glycerol and glycerol as fuels and fuel additives in combustion applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    5. Trchounian, Karen & Sawers, R. Gary & Trchounian, Armen, 2017. "Improving biohydrogen productivity by microbial dark- and photo-fermentations: Novel data and future approaches," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1201-1216.
    6. Tamošiūnas, Andrius & Gimžauskaitė, Dovilė & Uscila, Rolandas & Aikas, Mindaugas, 2019. "Thermal arc plasma gasification of waste glycerol to syngas," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C), pages 1-1.
    7. Zhao, Man & Wang, Yanan & Zhou, Wenting & Zhou, Wei & Gong, Zhiwei, 2023. "Co-valorization of crude glycerol and low-cost substrates via oleaginous yeasts to micro-biodiesel: Status and outlook," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    8. Abel Rodrigues & João Carlos Bordado & Rui Galhano dos Santos, 2017. "Upgrading the Glycerol from Biodiesel Production as a Source of Energy Carriers and Chemicals—A Technological Review for Three Chemical Pathways," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-36, November.
    9. Sedghi, Reza & Shahbeik, Hossein & Rastegari, Hajar & Rafiee, Shahin & Peng, Wanxi & Nizami, Abdul-Sattar & Gupta, Vijai Kumar & Chen, Wei-Hsin & Lam, Su Shiung & Pan, Junting & Tabatabaei, Meisam & A, 2022. "Turning biodiesel glycerol into oxygenated fuel additives and their effects on the behavior of internal combustion engines: A comprehensive systematic review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Monteiro, Marcos Roberto & Kugelmeier, Cristie Luis & Pinheiro, Rafael Sanaiotte & Batalha, Mario Otávio & da Silva César, Aldara, 2018. "Glycerol from biodiesel production: Technological paths for sustainability," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 109-122.
    2. Okoye, P.U. & Hameed, B.H., 2016. "Review on recent progress in catalytic carboxylation and acetylation of glycerol as a byproduct of biodiesel production," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 558-574.
    3. Hejna, Aleksander & Kosmela, Paulina & Formela, Krzysztof & Piszczyk, Łukasz & Haponiuk, Józef T., 2016. "Potential applications of crude glycerol in polymer technology–Current state and perspectives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 449-475.
    4. Muhammad Harussani Moklis & Shou Cheng & Jeffrey S. Cross, 2023. "Current and Future Trends for Crude Glycerol Upgrading to High Value-Added Products," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-30, February.
    5. Okoye, P.U. & Abdullah, A.Z. & Hameed, B.H., 2017. "A review on recent developments and progress in the kinetics and deactivation of catalytic acetylation of glycerol—A byproduct of biodiesel," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 387-401.
    6. Talebian-Kiakalaieh, Amin & Amin, Nor Aishah Saidina & Hezaveh, Hadi, 2014. "Glycerol for renewable acrolein production by catalytic dehydration," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 28-59.
    7. Kong, Pei San & Aroua, Mohamed Kheireddine & Daud, Wan Mohd Ashri Wan, 2016. "Conversion of crude and pure glycerol into derivatives: A feasibility evaluation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 533-555.
    8. Cornejo, A. & Barrio, I. & Campoy, M. & Lázaro, J. & Navarrete, B., 2017. "Oxygenated fuel additives from glycerol valorization. Main production pathways and effects on fuel properties and engine performance: A critical review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 1400-1413.
    9. Silva, Wellington Costa & Castro, Maria Priscila Pessanha & Perez, Victor Haber & Machado, Francisco A. & Mota, Leonardo & Sthel, Marcelo Silva, 2016. "Thermal degradation of ethanolic biodiesel: Physicochemical and thermal properties evaluation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 1093-1099.
    10. Mariem Harabi & Soumaya Neji Bouguerra & Fatma Marrakchi & Loukia P. Chrysikou & Stella Bezergianni & Mohamed Bouaziz, 2019. "Biodiesel and Crude Glycerol from Waste Frying Oil: Production, Characterization and Evaluation of Biodiesel Oxidative Stability with Diesel Blends," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-15, April.
    11. Sedghi, Reza & Shahbeik, Hossein & Rastegari, Hajar & Rafiee, Shahin & Peng, Wanxi & Nizami, Abdul-Sattar & Gupta, Vijai Kumar & Chen, Wei-Hsin & Lam, Su Shiung & Pan, Junting & Tabatabaei, Meisam & A, 2022. "Turning biodiesel glycerol into oxygenated fuel additives and their effects on the behavior of internal combustion engines: A comprehensive systematic review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    12. Ramalingam, Senthil & Ezhumalai, Manikandan & Govindasamy, Mohan, 2019. "Syngas: Derived from biodiesel and its influence on CI engine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    13. Ardi, M.S. & Aroua, M.K. & Hashim, N. Awanis, 2015. "Progress, prospect and challenges in glycerol purification process: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1164-1173.
    14. Zhao, Man & Wang, Yanan & Zhou, Wenting & Zhou, Wei & Gong, Zhiwei, 2023. "Co-valorization of crude glycerol and low-cost substrates via oleaginous yeasts to micro-biodiesel: Status and outlook," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    15. Moreira, Rui & Bimbela, Fernando & Gandía, Luis M. & Ferreira, Abel & Sánchez, Jose Luis & Portugal, António, 2021. "Oxidative steam reforming of glycerol. A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    16. Tamošiūnas, Andrius & Gimžauskaitė, Dovilė & Uscila, Rolandas & Aikas, Mindaugas, 2019. "Thermal arc plasma gasification of waste glycerol to syngas," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C), pages 1-1.
    17. Stanislaw Szwaja & Michal Gruca & Michal Pyrc & Romualdas Juknelevičius, 2021. "Performance and Exhaust Emissions of a Spark Ignition Internal Combustion Engine Fed with Butanol–Glycerol Blend," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-15, October.
    18. Jan Sprafke & Vicky Shettigondahalli Ekanthalu & Michael Nelles, 2020. "Continuous Anaerobic Co-Digestion of Biowaste with Crude Glycerol under Mesophilic Conditions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-14, November.
    19. Rafael Estevez & Laura Aguado-Deblas & Diego Luna & Felipa M. Bautista, 2019. "An Overview of the Production of Oxygenated Fuel Additives by Glycerol Etherification, Either with Isobutene or tert -Butyl Alcohol, over Heterogeneous Catalysts," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-20, June.
    20. Pachapur, Vinayak Laxman & Sarma, Saurabh Jyoti & Brar, Satinder Kaur & Le Bihan, Yann & Buelna, Gerardo & Verma, Mausam, 2016. "Surfactant mediated enhanced glycerol uptake and hydrogen production from biodiesel waste using co-culture of Enterobacter aerogenes and Clostridium butyricum," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 542-551.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:71:y:2017:i:c:p:63-76. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.