Recent development in producing biodiesel from non-edible oil feedstocks

Researchers around the globe are scrambling to develop biofuel feedstocks that would not divert food crops to energy as the world confronts a severe rising fuel price as well as food shortage. It has become discernible that biodiesel is destined to make a substantial contribution to the future energy demands of the domestic and industrial economies as well as the capability of reducing greenhouse gas emissions significantly. There are different feedstocks for biodiesel production, among them, non-edible vegetable oils which are known as the second generation feedstocks can be taken into account as promising substitutions for traditional edible food crops for biodiesel production. Thus it becomes imperative to search for dedicated non-edible feedstocks and their suitability for biodiesel production. This paper presents recent development in producing biodiesel from non-edible feedstocks. Edible and non-edible oil feedstocks are identified and assessed first, then the potential of non-edible biodiesel feedstocks for producing biodiesel are discussed. Furthermore, methods and steps used for oil extraction from non-edible feedstocks and transesterification process of converting oil into biodiesel are presented and discussed.