In a world still heavily reliant on diesel, across transportation, agriculture, shipping, and power generation, the need for cleaner, more sustainable alternatives is urgent. Fossil fuels not only accelerate climate change, but they also lock developing economies into expensive, finite energy systems.
This has prompted interest in biodiesel, a carbon-neutral alternative made from biological sources like plant oils or used cooking oil (UCO). It burns cleaner, is biodegradable, and can be produced locally, offering both climate sustainability and economic resilience.
In their study titled “Borate Pathway to FAMEs at Near-Ambient Conditions from Used Oil”, Kevin C. Lofgren, Scott R. J. Oliver and other professors from University of California, Santa Cruz introduced a new method to turn used cooking oil into fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs), the chemical basis of biodiesel.
In general, Biodiesel production is dependent on using natural sources, including vegetable oils (like soybean, canola, and palm oil), animal fats, yellow grease, and used cooking oils. The natural source gets mixed with alcohol (methanol) and a catalyst. However, some catalysts used today produce byproducts that take more time to get rid of.
Also, some of the current methods for producing biodiesel results in soap as a byproduct, which makes purifying the fuel difficult and results in less actual product. Other approaches rely on palm oil, which require clearing trees in rainforests to make room for monoculture palm tree plantations. These methods are also energy intensive, requiring extremely high temperatures and pressures.
The objective of the study is to develop a mild, low-energy, and scalable method using a unique chemical which avoided the complexities of traditional methods of producing biodiesel.
“Making energy takes a lot of energy,” said co-author Scott Oliver, professor of chemistry and biochemistry in a press release of the university. “Our method uses waste oil and mild heating, compared to the common ways of producing diesel in petroleum refineries that are both energy consuming and pollution causing.”
Instead of using harsh chemicals like sodium hydroxide (NaOH), the researchers used a boron-based compound called sodium tetramethoxyborate (or NaB(OMe)₄). This chemical helps kickstart the reaction that turns oil into fuel, just like regular biodiesel methods, but it does so easily and environmentally friendly.
The professors obtained used cooking oil from a major fast food restaurant and mixed them with methanol, and this boron-based chemical in a basic container (like a glass flask). The components reacted together at a temperature around 40°C and in one hour the used oil was transferred to biodiesel.
The main advantage of this process is that it did not require extensive purification as no soap was formed from the chemicals’ reaction together. Instead, the byproducts, mainly a boron–glycerol mix, settled neatly at the bottom, leaving a clean layer of biodiesel ready to use.
To separate them apart, the researchers washed the biodiesel with water in order to extract remaining boron-containing residues. While, the solid boron-rich byproduct was collected to be reused in the process by adding it to methanol, making the whole process recyclable.
“This new method is special because it is simple and affordable. It has the bonus of being able to regenerate the starting material,” Lofgren said. “It’s already low-cost enough to make it competitive. But if you can buy the most expensive ingredient once and then regenerate it, it would be more cost efficient in the long run.”
This discovery has the potential to make the alternative fuel source much more appealing to the massive industrial sectors that are the backbone of the nation’s economy.
“Everybody needs energy—every farm, food production plant, and transportation vehicle depend on it,” Oliver said. “This could really impact people. This process can be done at just above room temperature and it is reusable. You do not need to have a refinery; you can potentially use this method on a farm.”
While the method developed at UC Santa Cruz is considered like lab-scale innovation, it speaks directly to real-world challenges already being tackled in Egypt. Companies like Tagaddod and Biodiesel Misr are leading the path in biodiesel production via collecting used oil from homes, restaurants, and factories.
However, new advancements could expand the adoption of biodiesel and help reduce reliance on fossil fuels in a carbon neutral and viable way.
