Process Biochemistry 37 (2001) 65 – 71

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Biodiesel production from crude palm oil and evaluation of

butanol extraction and fuel properties
Edward Crabbe, Cirilo Nolasco-Hipolito, Genta Kobayashi, Kenji Sonomoto,
Ayaaki Ishizaki *
Laboratory of Microbial Technology, Faculty of Agriculture Graduate School, Kyushu Uni6ersity, Hakozaki, Higashi-ku,
Fukuoka 812 -8581, Japan
Received 24 September 2000; received in revised form 28 February 2001; accepted 25 March 2001

Abstract

Three principal variables, molar ratio of methanol to oil, amount of catalyst, and reaction temperature, affecting the yield of
acid-catalyzed production of methyl ester (biodiesel) from crude palm oil were investigated. The biodiesel was then used as an
extractant in batch and continuous acetone–butanol–ethanol fermentation, and its fuel properties and that of the biodiesel–ABE
product mix extracted from the batch culture analyzed. The optimized variables, 40:1 methanol/oil (mol/mol) with 5% H2S04
(vol/wt) reacted at 95°C for 9 h, gave a maximum ester yield of 97%. Biodiesel preferentially extracted butanol, and enhanced its
production in the batch culture from 10 to 12 g l − 1. The fuel properties of biodiesel and the biodiesel– ABE mix were comparable
to that of No.2 diesel, but their cetane numbers and the boiling points of the 90% fractions were higher. Therefore, they could
serve as efficient No. 2 diesel substitutes. The biodiesel– ABE mixture had the highest cetane number. © 2001 Elsevier Science
Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Biodiesel; Diesohol; Palm oil; Methyl ester; Extractant; Transesterification

1. Introduction sustained interest in identifying and channeling renew-

For more than two centuries, the world’s energy
supply has relied heavily on non-renewable crude oil-
derived (fossil) liquid fuels out of which 90% is esti-
mated to be consumed for energy generation and
transportation. It is also known that emissions from the
combustion of these fuels such as carbon dioxide (CO2),
carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx ) and
sulphur-containing residues are the principal causes of
global warming and many countries have passed legis-
lation to arrest their adverse environmental conse-
quences [1]. With populations increasing rapidly and
many developing countries expanding their industrial
base and output, worldwide energy demand is bound to
increase. On the other hand, known crude oil reserves
could be depleted in less than 50 years at the present
rate of consumption. This situation initiated and has
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 81-92-6423019; fax: 81-92-6423030.
E-mail address: Ishizaki@agr.kyushu-u.ac.jp (A. Ishizaki).
able (biomass) raw materials into the manufacture of
liquid fuel alternatives because development of such
biomass-based power would ensure that new technolo-
gies are available to keep pace with society’s need for
new renewable power alternatives for the future.
Oil-seed crops are by far the largest group of ex-
ploitable renewable biomass resource for liquid fuel and
energy generation [2]. Their oils have long been consid-
ered as alternative or emergency fuels for diesel engines
because they have heat contents approximately 90% of
that of No. 2 diesel fuel, the transportation fuel [3].
However, their high viscosity, about 10 times that of
No.2 diesel fuel [4,5] has limited their use in modern
direct-injection type diesel engines because it affects
engine performance and in some cases engine damage is
inevitable. One main solution has been to transesterify
these oils with simple alcohols to their respective fatty
acid methyl esters (FAME) or ethyl esters (FAEE).
These products are collectively referred to as biodiesel
[6,7] because their fuel properties are comparable to
that of No. 2 diesel fuel.

0032-9592/01/$ - see front matter © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 0 3 2 - 9 5 9 2 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 1 7 8 - 9
66 E. Crabbe et al. / Process Biochemistry 37 (2001) 65–71
Studies to date based on biodiesel produced from
rapeseed or canola [8], sunflower [9], safflower [10] and
soybean oils [11], have shown that biodiesel is environ-
mentally friendly because there is substantial reduction
of unburned hydrocarbons, CO and particulate matter
emission when it is used in conventional diesel engine
[12]. Moreover, biodiesel contains no sulphur, so the
sulphate fraction in the fuel is eliminated; and since the
oil originates from vegetable matter, the CO2 produced
is sequestered and the net CO2 released into the atmo-
sphere would be greatly reduced. Biodiesel blends effi-
ciently with petroleum diesel, and this results in less
offensive exhaust odours which is a real benefit when
machinery or vehicles are used in confined environ-
ments. Additionally, it operates in modern combustion
engines just like petroleum diesel; therefore, no engine
modifications are required. Biodiesel is less flammable
than No. 2 diesel fuel, which makes it useful in mining
operations where the risk of fire outbreak in under-
ground shafts must be reduced to the minimum. Since it
can be produced domestically it would boost many
domestic economies and conserve foreign expenditure
on crude oil imports by providing an impetus for the
production of high yielding oil-seed crop varieties to
sustain a domestic biodiesel industry.
In addition to their fuel properties, FAMEs of veg-
etable oil origin are known to extract butanol [13,15],
an excellent fuel extender, which efficiently blends with
petroleum diesel to form diesohol [14]. Butanol is pre-
ferred to ethanol in diesohol formulation because un-
like the latter it has a lower vapour pressure and mixes
with petroleum diesel at all temperatures. Diesohol
production can also be achieved using FAME of veg-
etable oil origin as butanol extractant in the acetone–
butanol –ethanol (ABE) fermentation since the
composite product (FAME – butanol mix) would have
fuel properties comparable to diesohol obtained by
blending petroleum diesel and commercial butanol.
This process eliminates the need for further recovery of
butanol and would reduce the running cost of an ABE
fermentation industry.
However, unlike fossil reserves, different regions of
the world have their own vegetable oil resources that
could be exploited for biodiesel production. Biodiesel
has been produced from a variety of sources including
refined and crude vegetable oils, residues from veg-
etable oil extraction, used cooking oils, and animal
grease or tallow. In Southeast Asia, Malaysia has a rich
oil palm industry that generates excess crude palm oil
(CPO), in vast quantities for consumption. CPO is one
of the four leading vegetable oils traded on the world
market. It is also cheaper than canola, rapeseed or
soybean oil and would reduce the overhead cost of
biodiesel production and generate a ready supply of
diesel fuel substitute or blend.
In a preceding investigation we reported that CPO–
FAME or crude palm oil methyl ester (CPOE) is bio-
compatible with the process organism, selectively
extracted butanol and in so doing increased both bu-
tanol productivity and production in ABE fermentation
[15]. Therefore, the objective of this study was to
optimize the parameters that affect transesterification
of CPO to its corresponding methyl ester (CPOE) and
to evaluate its solvent extraction and fuel properties. In
addition, we report on the performance of CPOE as an
online butanol extractant in continuous ABE
fermentation.
2. Methods and materials
2.1. Chemicals
Crude palm oil (CPO) was obtained from the Palm
Oil Research Institute of Malaysia (PORIM, Serdang,
Malaysia) and stored at 4°C. Its quality characteristics
were determined according to the official methods of
fats and oils published by the Association of Oil
Chemists. The fatty acid composition was determined
by gas chromatography (GC) as described later.
Methanol, hexane, petroleum ether and sulphuric acid,
all of commercial grade quality, were purchased from
Nacalai Tesque Inc. (Kyoto, Japan). Fatty acid methyl
esters, methyl laurate, methyl myristate, methyl palmi-
tate, methyl palmitoleate, methyl oleate, methyl
linoleate, methyl linoleneate and methyl arachidate ob-
tained from Sigma Chemical Co. (St. Louis, MO) and
methyl stearate purchased from Wako Chemical Co.
(Osaka, Japan) were used as the reference standards for
GC analyses while methyl heptadecanoate purchased
from Sigma Chemical Co. was used as the internal
standard.
2.2. Transesterification 6ariables (biodiesel preparation)
Methylation was carried out in ordinary 250-ml
screw-capped bottles. Approximately 25 g of the melted
oil (at 400°C) was used in each experiment. All molar
ratios (mol/mol) are by convention written as methanol
to CPO. The reaction catalyst used was concentrated
H2SO4 which was added as volume by weight of the oil
(vol/wt%). The fatty acid composition of the oil was
determined using a large excess of methanol (167:1
mol/mol), in 3% H2SO4 and reacted at 95°C for 24 h.
This product was then used as the standard of compari-
son for subsequent ester yield. The effect of molar ratio
of methanol to oil was determined as 3:1 to 40:1
mol/mol in 3% H2SO4; and the effect of the amount of
acid was determined as 1 to 5% H2SO4 (vol/wt%) using
23:1. methanol to oil (mol/mol). Both reactions were
carried out at 95°C for 24 h. The effect of the reaction
 E. Crabbe et al. / Process Biochemistry 37 (2001) 65–71
temperature was determined at 70, 80 and 95°C over a
24-h period. In this experiment, the reaction mixtures
contained 40:1 methanol to oil (mol/mol) in 5% H2SO4
in a number of screw-capped bottles. The course of
transesterification was followed at 3, 6, 9, 12, and 24 h.
Reactions were quenched in a beaker filled with iced
water, and the ester yield determined. Controlled reac-
tion temperatures were made possible by incubation in
ordinary electric hot water pots. In all experiments, the
excess methanol was recovered by rotary evaporation
under reduced pressure and confirmed by GC, because
methanol inhibited the growth of the process organism.
The product was then extracted into hexane or
petroleum ether, and the glycerol was washed off with
deionized water. The hexane extract was then dried
over anhydrous sodium sulphate, and hexane removed
by rotary evaporation under reduced pressure. The
fatty acid composition of the refined product was then
determined by GC as described later.
2.3. Microorganism and growth conditions
Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum N1-4 (ATCC
13564) was maintained as spores in sterilized sand as a
long-term stock. For short-term storage, the organism
was maintained in 15% potato– glucose in [150 g
potato, 10 g glucose, 0.5 g ammonium sulphate, 3 g
calcium carbonate] medium at 4°C. Of this stock, 1 ml
was transferred into 9 ml of fresh potato– glucose
medium, heat-shocked in boiling water for 60 s, cooled
in iced water and subcultured at 30°C for 30 h. It was
transferred into fresh medium, subcultured for 18 h and
used as inoculum, which formed 10% of the total
volume of the culture.
Fig. 1. Experimental setup of the continuous extractive fermentation
with cell recycle. The components are designated as follows: A, feed
reservoir; B, acid pump; C, acid reservoir; D, alkali reservoir; E,
alkali pump; F, pH controller; G, feed pump; H, fermentor; I, pH
electrode; J, hollow fibre pump; K, hollow fibre module; L, permeate
pump; M, sparger; N, extractant; 0, filtrate; P, filtrate pump; Q,
product reservoir; and R, stirrer.
67
2.4. Medium
The medium used in all the investigations was Tryp-
tone–yeast extract– ammonium acetate (TYA) with the
following composition per litre of deionized water: 2 g
yeast extract (Difco, Detroit, MI), 6 g Bactotryptone
(Difco, Detroit, MI), 3 g ammonium acetate, 0.3 g
MgSO4·7H2O, 10 mg FeSO4·7H2O. Unless otherwise
indicated, batch fermentation was carried out using an
initial glucose concentration of 40 g l − 1. The initial
medium pH was adjusted to 6.5 and sterilized at 115°C
for 15 min.
2.5. CPOE as an extractant in an integrated extracti6e
ABE fermentation
Initially, a stirred batch fermentation was carried out
in 40 g l − 1 glucose in TYA medium, with and without
CPOE extraction, at a working volume of 400 ml in
1-litre fermentors at 30°C without pH control and
agitated at 130 rpm. The media were inoculated with
10% inoculum and the culture headspace briefly
sparged with purified N2 gas (99.9%) to ensure anaero-
biosis. Where CPOE was added, an equal volume was
pumped onto the surface of the culture medium at the
start of the experiment. The concentration of products
and fuel properties of the CPOE–ABE mixture ob-
tained as the organic phase were analyzed.
The experimental set-up used to evaluate the perfor-
mance of CPOE as an online extractant in continuous
fermentation with cell–recycle system is shown in Fig.
1. The cultivation was carried out in a 1-litre fermentor
at a working volume of 400 ml at 30°C and agitated at
130 rpm. The pH was regulated between pH 5.4 and 5.5
by automatic addition of 2.5 M of H2SO4 or NaOH.
After inoculation, purified N2 gas (99.9%) was sparged
through the culture headspace to ensure anaerobiosis.
The culture was operated in batch mode and switched
to continuous feeding with biomass recycling when the
residual glucose concentration was approximately 5 g
l − 1. The dilution rate was 0.14 h − 1 and the feed
medium contained 60 g l − 1 glucose. An extraction unit
containing 150 ml of CPOE was incorporated at the
permeate outlet of the microfiltration membrane. Sam-
ples were periodically withdrawn from the fermentor
and both phases of the extraction unit starting from the
4th residence time.
2.6. Analysis
2.6.1. Fatty acid composition and ester yield
A mixture of the fatty acids (10 g l − 1 each in hexane)
served as the standard for gas chromatographic analysis
with methyl heptadecanoate as the internal standard.
The fatty acids were quantified by injecting 2 ml of each
sample into the Shimadzu GC 8A chromatograph (Shi-
68 E. Crabbe et al. / Process Biochemistry 37 (2001) 65–71

Table 1 determined using reference methods published by

Quality characteristics of crude palm oil
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM):
Parameters PORIMa Present study
density (D 1298), distillation characteristics (D 86),
specification flash point (D 93), cetane number (D 2622), and ele-
mental composition. The results were compared to that
Moisture (% w/w) ND 0.02 of No. 2 diesel fuel.
Acid value (mg KOH/g) ND 6.9
Fatty acid composition
Lauric 0–0.4 0.46
Myristic 0.6–1.6 1.22 3. Results and discussion
Palmitic 41–47 47.9
Palmitoleic 0–0.6 0.04 3.1. Quality characteristics of crude palm oil
Stearic 3.7–5.6 4.23
Oleic 38.2–43.5 37.0
Linoleic 6.6–11.9 9.07 Table 1 shows that the fatty acid composition of
Linolenic 0–0.5 0.26 CPO determined in this study was within the range
Arachidic 0–0.8 0.31 specified by the Palm Oil Research Institute of
Mean molecular weight (g) 847.3 Malaysia (PORIM). Based on this result, the calculated
Unsaturated fatty acids (%) 44.8–57.3 45.9
mean molecular weight of CPO was 847.3. The esti-
Saturated fatty acids (%) 45.3–55.4 54.1
mated acid value was 6.9%. This value confirmed that
a
PORIM — Palm Oil Research Institute of Malaysia. CPO is a crude vegetable oil which contains a large
portion of free fatty acids (FFA). For this reason, a
large excess of methanol would be required and acid-
catalyzed transesterification would be the preferred
madzu Co., Tokyo) fitted with a flame ionization detec- method of methylation to ensure a high yield of the
tor (FID) employing Shinchrom E71 on 80/100 Shi- methyl ester.
malite® (AW 201) (Chromato Packings, Fukuoka)
packed into a glass column 3-m long by 3 mm in 3.2. Influence of transesterification parameters
internal diameter. The injector and detector tempera-
tures were set at 250°C and the column temperature The three most important parameters affecting
was 230°C. Nitrogen was used as the carrier gas at a triglyceride transesterification are the molar ratio of the
pressure 1.5 kg cm2. The concentrations of the individ- methanol to the triglyceride, the nature and the amount
ual esters were recorded with a Chromatopac C-R6A of catalyst, and the reaction temperature [16]. Stoichio-
integrator (Shimadzu Co., Kyoto). The percentage of metrically, complete transesterification should occur at
methyl ester yield was calculated by comparing the a molar ratio of 3:1 (methanol to triglyceride) yielding
fatty acid composition of the sample to that of the 3 mol of ester and 1 mol of glycerol. However, other
control. reports have shown that at this stoichiometry, the
reaction rate is slow and rarely proceeds to completion
2.6.2. Fermentation products necessitating the use of excess methanol. As shown in
The samples withdrawn from the broth were cen- Fig. 2, ester yield increased as the molar ratio of
trifuged (12 000× g, 10 min) and the supernatant methanol to palm oil increased although the reaction
acidified using 2 M HCl. The solvents and acids were did not proceed to completion. The highest yield of
quantified a using a Shimadzu GC 8A gas chro- 78% using 3% H2SO4 as the reaction catalyst was
matograph (Shimadzu Co., Kyoto) equipped with a 3 obtained at 23:1 mol/mol. By extrapolation, the highest
m-glass column (i.d. 1.2 mm) packed with Chromo- molar ratio needed to achieve complete methylation
sorb® 101 and fitted with a FID. Injector and detector was found to be between 35:1 and 45:1 mol/mol.
temperatures were held at 250°C and the column tem- Although alkali-catalyzed transesterification proceeds
perature was 200°C. Nitrogen was used as the carrier faster than acid catalysis, the type of oil used deter-
gas at a pressure of 1.2 kg cm2 and isobutanol was the mines the mode of chemical catalysis. Alkali-catalyzed
internal standard. For the quantification of products in reactions are one-step reactions and proceed faster
the extractant, the same GC conditions were used with- when the acid value is low (i.e. in refined oils) whereas
out an internal standard and any pre-treatment. acid catalysis favours vegetable oils with high acid
value (i.e. in crude oils). A high FFA also deactivates
2.6.3. Fuel properties alkali catalysts, and the addition of excess amount of
Samples of the purified methyl ester (CPOE) and the alkali as compensation gives rise to the formation of
CPOE –ABE mixture obtained from the batch culture emulsion, which increases viscosity, leads to the forma-
experiment were sent to Tonen Co. Ltd (Saitama, tion of gels and to problems associated with glycerol
Japan) for analysis. The following fuel parameters were separation and loss in ester yield. To confirm this
 E. Crabbe et al. / Process Biochemistry 37 (2001) 65–71 69

assumption, preliminary reactions carried out using 1%

by weight of NaOH and KOH as the reaction catalyst
at a molar ratio of 8:1 resulted in emulsion formation
that led to losses in yield during glycerol separation.
Therefore, acid-catalyzed methylation was the adopted
procedure. Fig. 3 shows the effect of the catalyst con-
centration on the ester yield using a 23:1 (mol/mol)
ratio of methanol to oil. Ester yield increased as the
acid concentration increased; the highest yield of 82%
was obtained using an acid concentration of 5%. At this
acid concentration, the ester yield increased to 96.7% at
40:1 mol/mol when methylation was carried out be-
tween 35:1 and 45:1 mol/mol, which compared to the
methyl ester yield of the control as indicated in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4. Effect of reaction temperature on ester yield. The reaction mix

contained 40:1 mol/mol methanol to oil and 5% acid. The study was
carried out at 70°C, ; 80°C, ; and 95°C, .

Acid-catalyzed methylation is energy-intensive be-

Fig. 2. Effect of increasing molar ratio of methanol to triglyceride on
methyl ester yield. The arrow indicates transesterification carried out
under optimized conditions (methanol to oil, 40:1; acid concentration,
5%; and reaction temperature, 95°C).
cause it is usually conducted at high temperature. Since
this could affect the economy of the whole biodiesel
process, the effect of reaction temperature was investi-
gated at 75, 80 and 95°C using 5% H2SO4 as catalyst
and a 40:1 molar ratio of methanol to oil over a 24-h
period. As shown in Fig. 4, the rate of the reaction
increased as the reaction temperature increased; 99.7%
yield was obtained after 9 h at 95°C while a similar
yield was obtained at 80°C after 24 h. Methylation at
70°C was slow and incomplete after 24 h. Therefore,
the optimized variables for the acid-catalyzed transes-
terification of CPO were 40:1 mol/mol, 5% H2SO4
(vol/wt%) at 95°C for 9 h.
3.3. Performance of CPOE as an online extraction
sol6ent

In a previous report [15], it was demonstrated that

CPOE was non-metabolizable and biocompatible with
Table 2
Comparison of product concentrations between extractive and non-
extractive ABE fermentation in glucose medium

Fermentation Product concentration (g l−1)

ABE
Butanol Acetone Ethanol (g l−1)

Non-extractive 10.55 4.26 0.68 15.49

Extracti6e
CPOE 5.74 0.65 0.14
Broth 5.86 3.09 0.70
Total 11.60 3.74 0.84 16.18

Fig. 3. Effect of acid concentration on methyl ester yield. Initial glucose 40 g l−1.
70 E. Crabbe et al. / Process Biochemistry 37 (2001) 65–71

Table 3
Performance of CPOE as an online extractant

Products (g l−1) Total

Fermentation stage ABE
Butanol Acetone Ethanol Acetate Butyrate (g l−1)

Fermentor 8.07 6.73 0.84 1.65 0.00 15.64

Permeatea 7.65 6.69 0.54 1.13 0.00 14.88
Extractant 10.51 6.69 0.80 0.00 0.00 18.00

a
Permeate values reported are product concentrations after solvent extraction.

this microorganism. Furthermore, CPOE remained
thermally and chemically stable even after autoclave
sterilization at high temperature (121°C) and pressure
and as an extractant during in situ batch fermentation.
In the present batch culture experiment, CPOE selec-
tively extracted about 40–50% of the total butanol
produced while enhancing its production (Table 2).
Therefore, to further enhance solvent extraction during
continuous fermentation, a 3:2 (vol/vol) ratio of CPOE/
cell-free permeate was used. Fig. 5 shows the profile of
ABE products in the fermentor and in the two phases
of the extraction unit at steady state. Butanol was
preferentially extracted into the CPOE layer. About
10.5 g l − 1 of butanol and 18 g l − 1 of total ABE
solvents accumulated in the extractant, which also in-
cluded a high concentration of acetone (Table 3).

3.4. Fuel properties of CPOE and CPOE–ABE

mixture

In Table 4 the fuel properties of CPOE and the

CPOE –ABE mixture obtained from batch extractive
Table 4
Fuel properties of CPOE, CPOE+ABE mixturea and No. 2 Diesel
fuel

Property ASTMb No. CPOE only CPOE+ABE

2-D

Density (g 0.8383c 0.8587 0.8548

cm−3), 15°C
Cetane number, 40 49 52
minimum
Flash Point, 52 27 26
°C, minimum
Elemental composition (wt%)
Carbon, max 74.3 74.16
Hydrogen 13.0 12.4
Oxygen 12.7 13.0
Sulphur, max 0.01 6 1.0
Nitrogen 3 1.0
Distillation range, °C
IBFd 179 63 54
10% 211 71 69
50% 264 335 339
90% 282–338 360 360
FBPd 610 597

a
From batch extractive ABE fermentationusing 40 g l−1 sago
glucose in TYA medium. CPOE contained 5.74 g l−1 butanol ex-
Fig. 5. Concentration of ABE solvents, at the various stages of the tracted from the broth during cultivation.
continuous extractive fermentation with cell recycle experiment. The b
Annual Book of ASTM Standards, American Society for Testing
graphs are (A) butanol; (B) total ABE solvent. Key to symbols: and Materials Philadelphia, 2000.
Product concentration in the first fermentor,
; in permeate after c
From ASTM 1994.
solvent extraction, ; in CPOE, . d
IBP, FBP — Initial and final boiling point, respectively.
 E. Crabbe et al. / Process Biochemistry 37 (2001) 65–71
ABE fermentation in (40 g l − 1) glucose medium have
been compared to that of No. 2 diesel fuel. The charac-
teristics of biodiesel produced from CPO and CPOE–
ABE mixture were comparable to that of No. 2 diesel
fuel, and that makes them excellent diesel fuel substi-
tutes. The greatest differences are in the sulphur, nitro-
gen, and cetane number (CN), and the distillation
range, which were all higher in the CPOE biodiesel and
CPOE –ABE mixture. The higher sulphur and nitrogen
content, attributed to sulphates and nitrogenous com-
pounds in the broth and the acid used as catalyst, were
readily eliminated by repeated washing with deionized
water. However, the cetane number was higher in the
biodiesel and increases further in the CPOE–ABE mix-
ture. This parameter, which is a prime indicator of
diesel fuel quality, is related to the ignition delay time
of a fuel in the combustion chamber. The higher CNs
of CPOE and CPOE – ABE mixture signify shorter igni-
tion delay time or reduced cold starts. It also indicates
that there would be a good control of fuel combustion,
which would enhance engine performance while reduc-
ing the level of contaminants in exhaust gases. More-
over, storage and transportation would be facilitated
because the boiling points of the 50 and 90% fractions
are higher than that of No.2 diesel fuel.
In this study, we have shown that acid-catalyzed
methylation is an effective procedure for obtaining a
high yield of CPOE biodiesel. We also demonstrated its
utility as an online solvent extractant in producing
biodiesohol fermentatively using a simple continuous
ABE fermentation integrated with a solvent extraction
system. In terms of fuel characteristics, the CPOE
biodiesel and the CPOE – ABE mixture (as biodiesohol)
were comparable to that of No.2 diesel fuel, but supe-
rior in cetane number. Therefore, they could be excel-
lent substitutes and blends of No. 2 diesel fuel. This
study demonstrated an inexpensive process for produc-
ing diesohol fermentatively and eliminated the need for
expensive plant equipment for further butanol recovery.
In our opinion, it is the first report in which the fuel
properties of ABE-biodiesel composite product has
been determined.
71
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