Review on latest developments in biodiesel production using carbon-based catalysts

Catalyst plays an important role in biodiesel production. Owing to the advantages of heterogeneous catalysts in terms of separation and reusability over the traditionally used homogeneous catalyst, the research has now been focused on these heterogeneous catalysts in recent years. In order to make the process fully “green”, researchers are trying to prepare catalysts from renewable sources such as biomass. Within this concept the carbon based catalysts have been introduced. Carbon based materials are considered as ideal catalysts due to desirable features such as low material cost, high surface area and thermal stability. They are easily prepared by functionalizing carbon surface with acids or bases; in other cases carbon material was reported to be used as a support. Additionally, the carbon could be produced from most of the waste generated in different industrial processes. Therefore, its utilization as catalyst makes the biodiesel production a “greener” one. Under optimal conditions biodiesel (FAME) yields up to 90–98.3% were reported over various carbon based catalysts.