ARTICLE IN PRESS

Energy 33 (2008) 1646 1653

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Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

Review

Feasibility of edible oil vs. non-edible oil vs. waste edible oil as
biodiesel feedstock
M.M. Gui, K.T. Lee , S. Bhatia
School of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Engineering Campus, Seri Ampangan, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

a r t i c l e in f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Biodiesel has high potential as a new and renewable energy source in the future, as a substitution fuel for
Received 2 January 2008 petroleum-derived diesel and can be used in existing diesel engine without modication. Currently, more
than 95% of the world biodiesel is produced from edible oil which is easily available on large scale from the
Keywords: agricultural industry. However, continuous and large-scale production of biodiesel from edible oil without
Biodiesel proper planning may cause negative impact to the world, such as depletion of food supply leading to
Edible oil economic imbalance. A possible solution to overcome this problem is to use non-edible oil or waste edible oil
Waste edible oil (WEO). In this context, the next question that comes in mind would be if the use of non-edible oil overcomes
Non-edible oil the short-comings of using edible oil. Apart from that, if WEO were to be used, is it sufcient to meet the
demand of biodiesel. All these issues will be addressed in this paper by discussing the advantages and
disadvantages of using edible oil vs. non-edible vs. WEO as feedstock for biodiesel production. The discussion
will cover various aspects ranging from oil composition, oil yield, economics, cultivation requirements, land
availability and also the resources availability. Finally, a proposed solution will be presented.
& 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1646
2. Characteristic of edible and non-edible oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1647
2.1. Oil yield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1647
2.2. Oil composition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1647
2.3. Properties of biodiesel from different feedstock. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1648
2.4. Cultivation requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1649
2.5. Cost of plantation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1649
2.6. Current techniques available for converting non-edible oil to biodiesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1650
3. Biodiesel from waste edible oil (WEO) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1650
3.1. Waste edible oil (WEO): availability, economic value and properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1650
3.2. Current techniques available in converting WEO into biodiesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1650
4. Current scenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1651
5. Recommendation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1652
6. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1652
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1652
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1652

1. Introduction energy resources worldwide. However, these energy resources are

In the past few decades, fossil fuels mainly petroleum, natural
gas and coal have been playing an important role as the major
 Corresponding author. Tel.: +604 5996467; fax: +604 5941013.
E-mail address: chktlee@eng.usm.my (K.T. Lee).
non-renewable and are projected to be exhausted in the near
future. The situation has worsened with the escalating energy
consumption worldwide due to rapid population growth and
economic development. This has caused the price of crude
petroleum to hit a record high of USD (US dollar) 90 per barrel
in October 2007 and still rising. Therefore, there is an urgent need
to nd a new energy resource that is renewable, clean, reliable

0360-5442/$ - see front matter & 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.energy.2008.06.002
 ARTICLE IN PRESS

M.M. Gui et al. / Energy 33 (2008) 16461653 1647

and yet economically feasible as a substitution to the current
fossil fuels. In this context, recently, biodiesel derived from
vegetable oil has been shown to be a potential alternative
replacing petroleum-derived diesel oil for diesel engine.
Biodiesel is mono alkyl ester derived from oils (plant or
animal) which have characteristics similar to petroleum-derived
diesel oil. Currently, about 84% the world biodiesel production is
met by rapeseed oil. The remaining portion is from sunower oil
(13%), palm oil (1%) and soybean oil and others (2%) [1]. Since
more than 95% of the biodiesel is made from edible oil, there are
many claims that a lot of problems may arise. By converting edible
oils into biodiesel, food resources are actually being converted
into automotive fuels. It is believed that large-scale production of
biodiesel from edible oils may bring global imbalance to the food
supply and demand market. Recently, environmentalists have
started to debate on the negative impact of biodiesel production
from edible oil on our planet especially deforestation and
destruction of ecosystem [2]. They claimed that the expansion
of oil crop plantations for biodiesel production on a large scale has
caused deforestation in countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and
Brazil since more and more forest has been cleared for plantation
purposes. Furthermore, the line between food and fuel economies
is blurred as both of the elds are competing for the same oil
resources. In other words, biodiesel is competing limited land
availability with food industry for plantation of oil crop. Arable
land that would otherwise have been used to grow food would
instead be used to grow fuel [3]. In fact, this trend is already being
observed in certain part of this world. There has been signicant
expansion in the plantation of oil crops for biodiesel in the past
few years in order to fulll the continuous increasing demand of
biodiesel. Fig. 1 shows the trend in global vegetable oil ending
stocks due to the production of biodiesel in the years 19912005
[4]. Although there is continuous increase in the production of
vegetable oil; however, the ending stocks of vegetable oils are
continuously decreasing due to increasing production of biodiesel.
Eventually, with the implementation of biodiesel as a substitute
fuel for petroleum-derived diesel oil, this may lead to the
depletion of edible-oil supply worldwide.
In order to overcome this devastating phenomenon, sugges-
tions and research have been made/conducted to produce
biodiesel by using alternative or greener oil resources such as
non-edible oils. In fact in India, nearly half a dozen states have set
aside a total of 1.72 million hectares of land for jatropha
cultivation and small quantities of jatropha biodiesel are already
being sold to the public sector oil companies. In this context, the
next question that comes in mind would be if the use of non-
edible oil overcomes the short-comings of using edible oil. Or
rather it just simply diverts the issue and not solving it completely
as plantations for non-edible oils still requires large plantation
land areas. Alternatively, can waste edible oil (WEO) be used
instead, and is it sufcient to meet the demand of biodiesel. All
these issues will be addressed in this paper by discussing the
advantages and disadvantages of using edible oil vs. non-edible vs.
WEO as feedstock for biodiesel production. The discussion will
cover various aspects ranging from oil composition, oil yield,
economics, cultivation requirements, land availability and also the
resources availability. The non-edible oils that were included in
this study are jatropha, rubber seed, castor (Ricinus communis L.),
sea mango (Cerbera odollam or Cerbera manghas), and Pongamia
pinnata (abbreviated hereafter as P. pinnata). Finally, at the end of
this paper, authors point of view to overcome this issue will be
presented.
2. Characteristic of edible and non-edible oil
2.1. Oil yield
The oil yield from the crops itself is always the key factor to
decide the suitability of a feedstock for biodiesel production. Oil
crops with higher oil yield are more preferable in the biodiesel
industry because it can reduce the production cost. Generally the
cost of raw materials accounts about 7080% of the total
production cost of biodiesel. Table 1 shows the oil yield in terms
of kg/ha and wt% and also the price for various types of edible and
non-edible oils in the world. It is clear that higher oil yield always
corresponds with lower cost. Some of the costs of the non-edible
oils cannot be obtained as they are currently not traded in the
open market.
From Table 1 we can see that palm oil was found to give the
highest oil yield with 5000 kg oil per hectare; this value is far
higher than other oils which are only in the range of hundreds to
2000 kg oil per hectare. On the other hand, among the various
non-edible oils shown in Table 1, jatropha was found to give the
highest yield. This is followed by P. pinnata and castor. However,
the oil yield in P. pinnata is not stable, depending on many factors
such as plantation and oil extraction technique of the oil crops.
2.2. Oil composition
Another important criteria to determine the suitability of oil as
a raw material for the production of biodiesel is the composition
of the oil itself. The composition of oil will subsequently
determine the properties of the biodiesel obtained. The effect of
oil composition on the properties of the biodiesel produced will

Table 1
14 4000 Oil yield for major non-edible and edible oil sources

12 3500
ENDING STOCKS (%)

Type of oil Oil yield Oil yield Prices

3000
MILLION LITERS

(kg oil/ha) (wt%) (USD/ton)

10
2500 Non-edible oil
8
VEGETABLE ENDING STOCK 2000 Jatropha [5,6] 1590 Seed: N/A
6 BIODIESEL PRODUCTION 3540,
1500 kernel:
4 1000
5060
Rubber seed [7] 80120 4050 N/A
2 500 Castor [5,9] 1188 53 N/A
Pongamia pinnata [8] 2252250 3040 N/A
0 0 Sea mango [9] N/A 54 N/A
19 1
19 2
19 3
19 4
95

19 6
19 7
19 8
20 9
00

20 1
20 2
20 3
20 4
05
9
9
9
9

9
9
9
9

0
0
0
0

Edible oil
19

19

20

Soybean [5,11] 375 20 684

YEAR Palm [5,12] 5000 20 478
Rapeseed [5,13] 1000 3750 683
Fig. 1. Global vegetable oil ending stock and biodiesel production.
 ARTICLE IN PRESS

1648 M.M. Gui et al. / Energy 33 (2008) 16461653

be discussed in the subsequent section. The composition for
various types of edible and non-edible oils is shown in Table 2.
From this table, it was observed that the major oil composition in
both non-edible and edible oils is generally similar except for
castor oil. The major fatty acids content in both non-edible and
edible oils are oleic, linoleic, stearic and palmitic acid. The fatty
acids in the oils are further categorized into saturated and
unsaturated fatty acids. The former include stearic, palmitic and
dihydroxystearic acid, while the latter include oleic, linoleic,
ricinoleic, palmitoleic, linolenic and eicosenoic acid. Castor oil has
the most unique composition with approximately 89.5% ricinoleic
acid. Ricinoleic acid is also known as castor oil acid, an
unsaturated fatty acid which is soluble in most organic solvents.
Apart from the content of fatty acids in the oil, edible oils such
as soybean, rapeseed and palm oil also contain valuable nutrients
that should not be ignored. For soybean oil, it has a high content of
protein (3540%), which contains all the essential amino acids
necessary for human growth and can sustain health at all stages of
development [18]. Apart from that, soybean oil and rapeseed oil
also has high content of linoleic acid, with 51% and 22.3%,
respectively. Linoleic acid is also known as polyunsaturated fatty
acid and is a member of the essential fatty acid group called
omega-6 fatty acids which is also an essential dietary compound
required for all mammals. This type of fat is a well-known healthy
fat that can help to lower the risk of heart disease [19]. On the
other hand, although palm oil has a high saturated acid content, it
is a rich source of polynutrients such as beta-carotene, alpha-
carotene, vitamin-E, lycopene, tocotrienols and other carotenoids.
These polynutrients can act as antioxidants that help in reducing
the risks of certain types of cancer [20]. Thus, with proper removal
of the saturated fatty acid in palm oil during the oil rening
process, palm oil can become a high-quality edible oil with high
nutrient content.
In contrast to edible oil, non-edible oils like jatropha, castor,
P. pinnata, rubber seed and sea mango are not suitable for human
consumption due to the presence to toxic compounds in the oil.
The main toxin compounds in jatropha plants are curcin and
purgative which are found mainly in the seeds, fruits and sap [21].
The toxic content in the seed is transferred into the oil after the
extraction process. The phytotoxin in castor plant is ricin, a water-
soluble protein which is concentrated in the seeds [22], while the
toxin in rubber seed oil is cyanogenic glucoside that yields
poisonous prussic acid (HCN) due to enzymatic reaction [23]. On
the other hand, sea mango tree is a well-known suicide tree
because of its highly poisonous nature. The leaves and fruits of sea
mango contain the potent cardiac substance (a glycoside) called
cerberin, which is extremely poisonous if ingested [24]. The seed
of P. pinnata contains pongam oil which is bitter and non-edible
with disagreeable taste due to the presence of avonoid
constituent, pongamiin and karajiin. This seed is usually used as
sh poison [25].
2.3. Properties of biodiesel from different feedstock
Apart from the cost of the raw materials, another important
factor to consider is the properties of the biodiesel obtained from
various types of oil. The properties of biodiesel vary accordingly to
the fatty acid composition in the feedstock oil which is used to
produce biodiesel. The properties of biodiesel have to be
comparable or better than petroleum-derived diesel oil in order
to ensure that it can be used in diesel engine without any
modication. The properties include ash point, viscosity, cetane
number, cloud point, pour point, caloric value, acid value, ash
content and cold ow properties. Table 3 shows some of the
important physical and chemical properties of biodiesel produced

Table 2
Oil composition of various non-edible and edible oil

Fatty acid Molecular Non-edible oil Edible oil

composition (%) formula
Jatropha Rubber Castor [14] Pongamia Sea mango Soybean Palm [16] Rapeseed
[6] seed [7] pinnata [8] [9] [15] [17]

Oleic C18H34O2 43.1 24.6 3.0 44.571.3 54.2 23.0 40.0 64.1
Linoleic C18H32O2 34.3 39.6 4.2 10.818.3 16.3 51.0 10.0 22.3
Palmitic C16H32O2 14.2 10.2 1.0 3.77.9 20.2 10.0 45.0 3.5
Stearic C18H36O2 6.9 8.7 1.0 2.48.9 6.9 4.0 5.0 0.9
Linolenic C18H30O2 16.3 0.3 7.0
Eicosenoic C20H38O2 0.3 9.512.4
Ricinoleic C18H34O3 89.5
Dihydroxystearic C18H36O4 0.7
Palmitoleic C16H30O2 0.1
Others 1.4 2.4 9.1

Table 3
Physical and chemical properties of biodiesel from different oil sources as compared to petroleum-derived diesel

Parameters Non-edible oil Edible oil Petroleum-

derived diesel
Jatropha Rubber seed Castor [27] Pongamia Rapeseed Palm [28] Soybean [7]
[26] [7] pinnata [9] [7]

Viscosity (Cst) at 40 1C 4.80 5.81 4.80 4.50 4.42 4.08 2.60

Specic gravity 0.874 0.960 0.882 0.8600.90 0.885 0.850
Caloric value (MJ/kg) 39.23 36.50 39.50 37.00 39.76 42
Flash Point (1C) 135 130 260 150 170 182 69 68
Cloud point (1C) 4 12 4 15 2
Pour point (1C) 2 32 12 15 3 20
Ash content (wt%) 0.012 0.020 0.005 0.020 0.010
Acid value (mg KOH/g) 0.400 0.118 0.620 0.080
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
M.M. Gui et al. / Energy 33 (2008) 16461653
from different oil sources as compared to petroleum-derived diesel
oil. Among all the properties listed in Table 3, cold ow properties
(pour point and cloud point) are among the most important
properties that are usually looked upon. Cold ow properties
basically concern the changes of biodiesel properties such as
crystallization, gelling or viscosity increase due to temperature
changes that might adversely affect the operability of the vehicles.
These properties are reected by the values of cloud point and pour
point. These properties will be the deciding factor if the biodiesel
produced can be used in cold climate countries. This is important
because currently the largest demand of biodiesel is in the
European countries. The cold ow properties of biodiesel are
determined by the types of fatty acid in the feedstock oil. Higher
percentage of unsaturated fatty acid in the feedstock oil will result
in biodiesel having better cold ow properties. For example,
biodiesel from palm oil has poor cold ow properties because it
has high content of saturated fatty acid (about 50%). Meanwhile
biodiesel from rapeseed oil which has high content of unsaturated
fatty acid has the best cold ow properties [29].
Fatty acid composition in the oil is also an important factor
that determines the storage stability of biodiesel. Bouaid et al. [30]
has conducted a research for a duration of 30 months to study the
long storage stability of biodiesel by using the allylic position
equivalent (APE) and bis-allylic equivalent (BAPE) concept. In this
concept, the oxidative stability is obtained based on the relative
rates of oxidation of these positions in unsaturated fatty acid as
well as their amounts. They have reported that the oxidative
stability of the oil may be more strongly inuenced by the
presence of small amounts of more highly unsaturated fatty
compounds than by increasing amounts thereof. Two important
factors affecting the degradation of biodiesel were also observed
in their study, which are water content and air exposure. However,
the effect of the presence of unsaturated fatty acid on the storage
stability of biodiesel can be avoided by taking proper precaution
during the storage such as limiting contact to oxygen and
exposure to light and moisture.
2.4. Cultivation requirements
With the increasing human population worldwide, effective
land utilization has now become an important issue particularly
in developed countries. Proper allocation of land for specic uses
such as for agricultural, commercial, domestic and forest reserve
is required to ensure efcient utilization and sustainability. If non-
edible oils were to be used as feedstock for biodiesel production,
more lands would have to be converted to plantations growing
these non-edible oils. Therefore, in this section, the requirements
for non-edible oil crop cultivation will be discussed in terms of
ecological requirements. Cultivation for edible oils will not be
discussed in this paper as it has been well reported.
Non-edible oil crops such as jatropha, castor and P. pinnata
have unique ecological requirements and botanical features that
make it suitable to be cultivated in lands that are not suitable for
food crops. It was reported that jatropha plant can grow almost
anywhere, even on gravely, sandy and saline soils [31]. Due to its
characteristic, jatropha can be easily cultivated without intensive
care and very minimal efforts are required to sustain its growth. It
has a healthy life cycle of 3050 years, which eliminates the need
for yearly re-plantation but yet can still sustain reasonably high
yield even with minimum irrigation.
Castor is another plant that is easily grown and is resistant to
drought. It has similar ecological requirements with jatropha.
Castor is currently cultivated on commercialized scale for the
seeds and oils which are used in textile and printing industry, in
the manufacturing of high-grade lubricants and as traditional
1649
medicine [32]. Castor plantation can be found currently in
many countries such as United States, India and Australia with
different cultivation cultures. Irrigation is a usual practice in
United States; but it is planted as dry crop in India. Due to the
similarities between jatropha and castor (ecological requirements
such as whether and soil properties), an Indian expert in non-
edible oil crops plantation, Lele [33] has suggested a more
economical and attractive way for the plantation of jatropha and
castor plant; that is by intercropped the castor plant during the
earlier plantation of jatropha. According to that report, there is
little income from the plantation of jatropha alone for rst 23
years. Therefore, castor can be intercropped to obtain income for
that initial duration as castor can give higher production yield in a
shorter period than jatropha. This would help to improve
economical viability of both jatropha and castor plantation on a
commercial scale.
On the other hand, P. pinnata is native to humid and
subtropical environments, thrives in areas having an annual
rainfall ranging from 500 to 2500 mm. It is one of the few
nitrogen xing trees (NFTS) that produce seeds with a signicant
oil content. P. pinnata is currently cultivated mainly for orna-
mental purposes due to its large canopy and showy owers.
Pongamia tree can be planted in degraded lands, wastelands, or
fallow lands and is highly tolerant to salinity. However, highest
growth rate and yield of oil are observed on well-drained soils
with assured moisture [34]. Moreover, with its unique role as an
NFTS plant, P. pinnata can be cultivated on land which has been
exhausted of nutrients due to long duration of plantation. It can
thus play an important role to help to improve the soil quality
so that the exhausted land can be reused for agricultural purpose
in future.
Sea mango is another type of plant that is cultivated for
ornamental purpose. It is naturally distributed at coastal habitats
and is often associated with mangrove forests [24]. Nevertheless,
sea mango trees are rarely cultivated on large scale or for
commercial purposes. Among all the non-edible oils discussed
in this study, rubber seed oil can be obtained without much
cultivation effort and land area requirement as rubber seed can be
obtained easily and abundantly from rubber estates. Rubber trees
are currently planted for latex production in tropical countries
such as South East Asia and India. Rubber tree requires a fairly
deep and well-drained acidic soil. Rubber tree can be grown in a
wide variety of soils ranging from clay foam to sandy foam,
however, it will grow adequately in impoverished soil with good
nutrient supply and balanced manuring program, based on the
nutrient status of the soil [23].
2.5. Cost of plantation
The estimated cost of plantation in USD per hectare and USD
per kg oil for edible and non-edible oil crops is shown in Table 4.
The difference in the plantation cost is due to different operating
cost required during the plantation process such as cost of
fertilizer, herbicides and insecticides. Generally, the cost of
plantation in terms of per kg oil for non-edible oil crops is lower
than the plantation cost for edible oil crops, with an exception for
palm oil. High requirement on soil nutrient and good irrigation
system during the cultivation of edible oil crops such as soybean,
rapeseed and oil palm has led to higher plantation cost. However,
in the case of palm oil, this factor is offset by the high oil yield.
Therefore, this factor allows palm oil to be very economically
competitive despite its high cost of plantation per hectare. On the
other hand, the low plantation cost for castor and P. pinnata
compared to the rest is basically because these two plants require
very minimum fertilizer and irrigation.
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
1650 M.M. Gui et al. / Energy 33 (2008) 16461653
Table 4
Plantation cost of several oil crops in USD/ha
Oil crops Plantation cost
(USD/ha)
Non-edible oil
Jatropha [33] 620
Rubber seed N/A
Castor [35,36] 140160
Pongamia pinnata [37] 310
Sea mango (estimated value) [38] 360690
Edible oil
Soybean [39] 615
Palm (estimated value) [12] 950
Rapeseed [40] 336
While conducting this study, the cost of plantation for sea
mango is unavailable because there is no large-scale plantation of
sea mango for commercial purpose. Thus, the cost of plantation
for sea mango was estimated by referring to the cost of plantation
for mango due to the ecological and biological similarity of these
two plants. Apart from that, the plantation cost for rubber is
negligible because rubber seeds can be obtained abundantly as
by-products from existing rubber estate.
2.6. Current techniques available for converting non-edible oil to
biodiesel
The technology for converting edible oil to biodiesel has been
well established, however, the main concern for converting non-
edible oil into biodiesel is always associated with the high free
fatty acid (FFA) content. For the production of biodiesel from
jatropha, P. pinnata and rubber seed oil, high FFA content in the oil
has caused conventional transesterication reaction especially the
alkaline-catalyzed process not feasible. The FFA will react with
alkaline catalyst to produce soap that inhibits the separation of
ester and glycerin. A two-step transesterication process is
reported by several researchers as the best method to produce
biodiesel from non-edible oil. At the initial step, the FFA content of
oil is reduced by acid-catalyzed esterication process; meanwhile,
at the second step, an alkaline-catalyzed process is used to
convert oil and methanol to methyl esters and glycerol. This two-
step process was found to be very effective with the yield of
biodiesel in the overall process reaching up to above 90% [810].
However, the disadvantage of this process is the requirement of
two steps, leading to higher production cost as compared to
conventional process.
3. Biodiesel from waste edible oil (WEO)
Waste edible oil is oil-based substance consisting of animal
and/or vegetable matter that has been used in cooking or
preparation of foods and is not longer suitable for human
consumption. Previously, WEO was used as an ingredient in
animal feed. However, EU has banned the use of waste cooking oil
as animal feed due to the concern on animal health and the
subsequent food chain [42]. However, due to the large amount of
WEO generated annually, the disposal of WEO has somehow
become a problematic issue in most countries. WEO cannot be
discharged into drains or sewers because this will lead to
blockages and odor or vermin problems and may also pollute
watercourses leading to problems for wildlife. It is also prohibited
and will cause problems if it is dumped in municipal solid
waste landll and municipal sewage treatment plant [41,42].
Nevertheless, recently, with the increase in world demand for
biodiesel, WEO can actually be a rather promising alternative as
biodiesel feedstock.
(USD/kg oil) 3.1. Waste edible oil (WEO): availability, economic value and
properties
0.39
N/A The amount of WEO generated from every country worldwide
0.120.14
is huge and varies accordingly to the amount of edible oil
0.25
N/A
consumed. Annually, a total of more than 15 million tons of WEO
is generated from selected countries in the world as shown in
Table 5. It should be noted that the worldwide WEO is way much
1.64
0.19
larger than that value. Therefore, WEO is readily available
0.34 feedstock that can be used for biodiesel production. The cost for
WEO is generally lower than fresh edible oil as a major fraction
contributing to the cost lies in the collection and purifying
processes. For comparison purposes, the costs of soybean and
WEO are given. Currently, WEO from soybean is sold as yellow
grease that has a market value of approximately $1.09/US gallon
and is expected to rise to $1.21/US gallon by the year 2013. On the
other hand, the price of soybean in the market is about $2.22/US
gallon in year 2004 and is expected to rise to $2.47/US gallon in
2013 [45].
Generally, the physical and chemical properties of WEO are
almost similar to fresh edible oil and are different from source to
source. For example, the chemical and physical properties of palm
WEO might be different from rapeseed WEO due to the different
oil composition. Apart from that, the water content and FFA
content in WEO are relatively higher than fresh edible oil as a
result of frying process. During the frying process, edible oil is
heated in the presence of air and light at temperatures of
160200 1C for a relatively long period of time. Some common
physical changes observed in edible oil after frying are: increase in
viscosity and specic heat, change in surface tension, color and
higher tendency of fat formation. All these changes are due to
three common reactions during the frying process: thermolytic,
oxidative and hydrolytic [47].
3.2. Current techniques available in converting WEO into biodiesel
Despite the changes in WEO chemical and physical properties
as compared to fresh edible oil, both of the oil feedstocks can still
be converted to biodiesel using similar method; that is via
catalytic reaction using alkali catalyst, acid catalyst and enzyme or
via non-catalytic reaction in supercritical transesterication
reaction. Nevertheless, the high content of FFAs and water in
WEO has caused alkaline-catalyzed transesterication reaction
less efcient. A more suitable method would be via non-catalytic
supercritical reaction or the two-step transesterication method
that consists of acid-catalyzed reaction followed by alkali-
catalyzed reaction. Table 6 summarizes the recently introduced
transesterication techniques to convert WEO into biodiesel as
reported in the literature.
Table 5
Quantity of waste edible oil (WEO) in various countries worldwide
Country Quantity (million tons/year)
China [43] 4.5
Malaysia [44] 0.5
United States [45] 10.0
Taiwan [46] 0.07
European [47] 0.71.0
Canada [47] 0.12
Japan [48] 0.450.57
 ARTICLE IN PRESS

M.M. Gui et al. / Energy 33 (2008) 16461653 1651

Table 6
Current techniques available to convert WEO into biodiesel

Technique Description Biodiesel Advantages Disadvantages Source

yield (%)

Acid-catalyzed Canola WEO transesteried with methanol 99% at 4 h High biodiesel yield Acid catalyst causes corrosive Zheng et al. [49]
transesterication catalyzed by sulfuric acid reaction to equipment
Solid base catalyzed Transesterication of WEO with methanol 99% at 2 h High biodiesel yield in Formation of calcium soap at Kouzu et al. [50]
transesterication catalyzed by calcium oxide as solid base reaction short reaction time initial stage of
catalyst transesterication

Acid-alkaline catalyzed Step 1: FFA esteried with methanol Overall: High biodiesel yield Involved two-step processes. Wang et al. [51]
transesterication catalyzed by ferric sulfate as acid catalyst 97.02% at Higher production cost might
Step 2: Transesterication with methanol 5 h reaction Easy recovery of be required
catalyzed by potassium hydroxide catalyst

Silica gel pretreatment Step 1: Palm WEO was pretreated by silica 99% High biodiesel yield Involved two-step processes. Loh et al. [44]
followed by gel as absorbent to remove FFA content Thus, higher production cost
alkaline-catalyzed Step 2: Transesterication of WEO with Characteristic of might be required
transesterication methanol using NaOH as alkaline catalyst biodiesel obtained
similar to biodiesel
from fresh edible oil

Lipase-catalyzed Lipase was immobilized on hydrotalcite 95% at Enable Long reaction time Yagiz et al. [52]
transesterication and catalyzed transesterication reaction 105 h transesterication in Might not be feasible for large-
at room temperature reaction room temperature scale production

The characteristics of the biodiesel produced from WEO are 3000

indeed similar to those obtained from their respective fresh edible
2800
PRICE (RINGGIT MALAYSIA)/ TON

oil. Loh et al. [44], who had conducted research in production of

biodiesel from WEO, have proved that the biodiesel derived from 2600
palm WEO has characteristic similar to biodiesel derived from
fresh palm oil if proper pretreatment process is conducted before 2400
transesterication process. In their study, silica gel has been used
2200
as absorbent to reduce the FFA content and peroxide value, while
the biodiesel is produced by using conventional transesterication 2000
process. The characteristics of both biodiesel from palm WEO and
1800
crude palm oil such as density, viscosity, sulfur content, pour
point, ash point and gross heat of combustion are found to be 1600
similar.
1400

4. Current scenario
Currently, the global biodiesel market is led by Europe and US.
In the year 2005, the total consumption of biodiesel reached
3.32 million tons/year; which is 3.07 million tons/year in Europe
and 0.25 million tons/year in US. These values are only 2% of the
total amount of diesel consumed for transportation in Europe and
0.51% in US. In a bid to further boost the use of biofuels in
European transport, EU leaders have committed to raise the share
of biofuels in transport to 5.75% and 20% in the year 2010 and
2020, respectively. Therefore, the demand for biodiesel in Europe
alone is expected to increase to more than 10 million tons/year in
the year 2010 and 68 million tons/year in 2020 [53].
At the moment, soybean and rapeseed oil are the widely used
biodiesel feedstock in EU and US market. This is not only because
of its large availability in these two regions, but also due to the
properties of the biodiesel produced. It was found that biodiesel
produced from rapeseed and soybean oil has good cold ow
properties making it suitable to be used during cold weather in
these two regions especially during winter. Nevertheless, the
relatively low yield (and also high cost) of these two oils will not
be sufcient to meet the increasing demand of biodiesel in the
future. Therefore, in the recent years, more and more biodiesel
producers have been targeting on palm oil. With the highest yield
per hectare, palm oil is currently the worlds cheapest and largest
edible oil that is being consumed. The low cost of palm oil makes
1200
1000
Jan-04 Jan-05 Jan-06 Jan-07
Fig. 2. Prices of crude palm oil in 20042007.
it a very suitable candidate to be converted to biodiesel. In the
recent years, more and more biodiesel production plants using
palm oil as the feedstock have been set up in Thailand, Malaysia
and Indonesia to take advantage of the low cost of palm oil.
Currently, in Malaysia alone, ve biodiesel plants are in operation
and another ve are coming on stream in the near future.
Nevertheless, it was reported that about 90 biodiesel plant
licences has been issued in early 2007 in order to reach the
targeted production rate of as high as 3 million tons annually [54].
However, since palm oil is also the worlds largest edible oil,
the competition of using palm oil as a source of edible oil vs.
biodiesel has caused the price of crude palm oil to rise
signicantly in the last 1 year as shown in Fig. 2 [12]. This trend
is a clear indication that edible oil might not be the best candidate
as the feedstock for biodiesel production. If the price of palm oil
continues to soar higher, it is just a matter of time, consumers
who use palm oil as a source of edible oil will protest. Apart from
that, edible oils such as soybean, rapeseed and palm oil are food
sources that have valuable nutrients that should not be ignored.
These nutrients are benecial for human health and are therefore
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
1652 M.M. Gui et al. / Energy 33 (2008) 16461653
more worthwhile to be used as food stock for human rather than
as engine fuel.
5. Recommendation
It is clear that the demand of biodiesel will increase
signicantly in the future and although edible oils, mainly palm
oil might be the cheapest feedstock for biodiesel production, but it
may not be a sustainable source. This justies the need to nd a
reliable, economical and sustainable feedstock for biodiesel
production. The data presented in the early section clearly
indicate that there are many other non-edible oils that can be
the alternative feedstock for biodiesel production. Although the
yield of oil from these non-edible oil plants is lower than oil palm,
they are still comparable with rapeseed and soybean, two of the
main biodiesel feedstock at the moment. Apart from that,
advancement in research has also shown that the quality of
biodiesel obtained from different feedstocks is no longer an issue
as additive can be added to improve the cold properties of
biodiesel produced from oils with high content of saturated fatty
acid. Furthermore, most of the non-edible plants can be grown in
wasteland and infertile land which otherwise would not have
much use. This would not only allow wasteland utilization but at
the same time would also be used to produce oil crops for
biodiesel production without the need to compete with food crops
for the limited arable land. Taking all these factors into
consideration, non-edible oils denitely have the advantage over
edible oils as biodiesel feedstock.
At the same time, we should always keep in mind that WEOs
are readily available feedstock for biodiesel production. Produc-
tion of biodiesel from WEO will avoid the competition of the same
oil resources for food and fuel. Apart from that, it will also
overcome the WEO disposal problem. The statistic presented in
the earlier part of this paper showed that on the basis of total
amount of WEO in certain countries in this world, it is sufcient to
meet the current world demand of biodiesel. Apart from that,
recent development in research has also proved that the quality of
biodiesel produced from various sources of WEO can meet
international biodiesel standard, provided proper pre-treatment
steps are taken. Therefore, WEO should be used as the primary
feedstock for biodiesel production throughout the world. How-
ever, in order to ensure that this ideology can be implemented
successfully, WEO should not only be collected from the industries
and bulks users but also every individual person and every single
household in this world would be required to play their role. This
is not something impossible, as it has been proved in Kyoto, Japan,
that the collection and conversion of WEO from household within
the city to biodiesel is sufcient to supply fuel for local buses. The
important factor here would be the awareness level among the
citizens of the city so that they would realize the importance of
their role in making the world a better place to live in. The cost
involved would mainly be the collection process. However, if the
truck used for the collection of WEO runs on the biodiesel
produced, this would keep the collecting cost at minimal level,
and would make this whole process very sustainable.
On top of that, fresh edible oils and non-edible oils should be
used as supplements to meet the remaining demand for biodiesel.
Economically, palm oil, being the worlds cheapest oil, would be
the most suitable candidate as the feedstock. Nevertheless, the
competition between palm oil as a source of fuel and food supply
has caused the price of palm oil to increase sharply within the last
1 year. This incident actually serves as a reminder that the world
should never be overdependent on a single resource, neither
as a food resource nor as fuel resource. The worlds dependence
on crude petroleum would serve as another perfect example.
Therefore, the feedstock for biodiesel should come from a
diversied oil sources, either edible or non-edible depending on
geographical locations. An ideal solution would be an equal share
contributed by edible oil and non-edible oil. Fertile agricultural
land should remain for edible oil cultivation while wasteland or
fallow land should be planted with non-edible oil crops such as
castor, jatropha and P. pinnata that has simpler ecological
requirements. This will allow optimum utilization of limited land
areas especially in developed countries. Diversied resources for
biodiesel feedstock will also ensure that the quality of biodiesel
obtained is suitable within that particular region. For example,
biodiesel produced from palm oil has poor cold ow properties
and is therefore not suitable for cold weather countries; however,
it can be used as a very good feedstock for hot weather countries
such as in the South East Asia, India, Brazil and South America
countries. On the other hand, biodiesel with good cold ow
properties produced from rapeseed oil, jatropha and castor can be
specically used in cold weather countries especially North
America and European countries.
6. Conclusion
The demand for biodiesel worldwide is expected to increase
sharply in the near future. Competition of edible oil sources as
food vs. fuel makes edible oil not an ideal feedstock for biodiesel
production. Instead, WEO should be made the primary source for
biodiesel feedstock due to its abundant availability. Fresh edible
and non-edible oils can then be used to supplement the shortfall
of WEO as feedstocks. This arrangement will ensure that biodiesel
can be produced from a variety of feedstocks. Ultimately, this will
make biodiesel a sustainable resource replacing petroleum-
derived diesel oil without signicantly affecting the global food
economy.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge Ministry of Science,
Technology and Innovation and Universiti Sains Malaysia for the
nancial support given.
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