Biotechnological Interventions for the Production of Glycerol-Free Biodiesel

Abstract

Advances in plant biotechnology and microbial genetics are speeding up because of the urgent need to provide a steady supply of resources. Growing cost of crude oil is having a negative impact on economies throughout the globe. Just biodiesel and bioethanol have been recognized as viable fossil fuel replacements. Chemical catalysis is primary way to synthesize biodiesel, besides enzymatic and microbial methods also play important role in biodiesel synthesis. These processes may play a significant part in the replacement of petroleum-based diesel in the future. The growth of sustainable, economically feasible biotechnological tools for the synthesis of biodiesel requires strong collaboration among several disciplines. In this age, lipases are the preferred enzymes for producing methyl esters (FAME), which are significant biological objects in biodiesel, from fatty acid esters (FAE) derived from fats and oils. It has also been shown that designed whole-cell microorganisms may directly produce FAE (MicroDiesel). The expensive cost of the biocatalyst continues to be a barrier to current enzymatic procedures, although advancements have recently been achieved, enabling the first synthetic enzymatic biodiesel synthesis. The fabrication of biodiesel which is enzymatic is primarily desirable due to the initial materials (waste frying oils, oils that were having high water content, etc.), where standard interesterification which is chemical is seldom applicable.