Abstract

Chuan-chao Dai*, Jie Tao, Yu Wang and Yu-min Hao

Lignocellulosic biowastes can be utilized to produce microdiesel, a promising alternative energy source for limited crude oil and food based biofuels. As an alternative fuel, microdiesel produced from biowastes it has superior environmental benefits, economically competitive, producible in sufficient quantities and the energy conversion efficiency is also estimated in the article in theory. Microdiesel derived from biowastes is a potential renewable and carbon neutral alternative to petroleum fuels. Unfortunately, microdiesel from biowastes cannot realistically satisfy even a small fraction of the existing demand for transport fuels. As demonstrated here, microdiesel appears to be the only source of renewable biodiesel that is capable of meeting the global demand for transport fuels. Approaches for making microdiesel economically competitive with petrodiesel are also discussed.